Manyumow Achol (born 10 December 2000) is a South Sudanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger or a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Vīrsliga club

Auda .au Domain Administration (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain, which is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was formed in 1999 to manage the .au ccTLD with the endorsement ...

and the South Sudan national team.

Early life

Achol was born in South Sudan, then part of Sudan, but left with his grandmother and arrived in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

aged six as a refugee, settling in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Club career

Achol played for his school team at St Patrick's College in

, alongside New Zealand international

Liberato Cacace Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace ( ; born 27 September 2000) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Empoli and the New Zealand national team. Club career Island Bay As a youth, Cacace played for Island Bay United a ...

. Achol helped his college team win the Wellington Premier Youth football league, scoring in the 2–1 final against

Hutt International Boys' School Hutt International Boys' School (usually known by its acronym, HIBS) is a state integrated boys' secondary school in Trentham, Upper Hutt, New Zealand founded in 1991. The school is multi-denominational and affiliated with the Anglican faith. ...

. Achol played for both

Wellington Olympic Wellington Olympic AFC is a New Zealand amateur football club based in Berhampore, Wellington. The club's premier team competes in the Central League through which they have qualified for the New Zealand National League. Club history The club w ...

reserves and their first team, who played in the

Capital Football Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for association football, soccer in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affili ...

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

. He was part of their under-19 team that finished runner-up in the Napier U-19 tournament to Ellerslie. Achol then had a brief spell with fellow Central League team

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

before he joined

Wellington United Wellington United AFC is an association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand, that competes in the Central League. History Wellington Diamond United Wellington Diamond United was the result of the merger of Diamond and Zealandia/Well ...

for the 2019 season, captaining the team. Achol made one appearance for the Wellington Phoenix Reserves in the

ISPS Handa Premiership The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a m ...

, coming on as a substitute in a 5–0 loss against

Waitakere United Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeu and The Trusts Arena. History Waitakere United ...

on 5 November 2017. In 2020, Achol signed with Australian club

Kingston City Kingston City was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Kingston riding. It consisted of the cit ...

who played in the second division of the

National Premier League The National Premier League, also known for sponsorship purposes as the Red Stripe Premier League, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the top division for men's association football in Jamaica. Contested between 12 clubs, it op ...

Victoria. Just before the season was due to start, Victoria went into lockdown due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the league was postponed for a month. Before the suspension was lifted,

Football Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the name Anglo Australian F ...

extended it again until 31 May 2020. Achol returned to New Zealand where he played for

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

in the

NRFL Premier The Northern League is a semi-professional New Zealand association football competition. It is a top-tier competition during the winter season, and sits at step two overall. The Northern League includes football clubs located in the northern pa ...

. In 2021, Achol signed with

Hawke's Bay United Hawke's Bay United was a professional Association football club based in Napier, New Zealand. HB United most recently played in the ISPS Handa Premiership – a semi-professional franchise based league, which ran independently of the winte ...

who play in the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership. He played his first game for the club against

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was a New Zealand semi-professional football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most succe ...

on 17 January 2021, coming on as a substitute in the second half. He got his first start in the league, a week later in their 4–1 win against

Hamilton Wanderers Hamilton Wanderers Association Football Club is a semi-professional Association football club from Hamilton, New Zealand, that currently competes in the Northern League. National League Hamilton Wanderers joined the New Zealand Football Champi ...

. On 31 March, it was announced that Achol had joined

Lower Hutt City Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most ...

who he had played for previously and are currently playing in the New Zealand

. His first game back was against

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

where Achol also scored in the 25 minute. In January 2022, Achol signed with

Gulf United FC Gulf United Football Club ( ar, نادي جلف يونايتد لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional Association football, football club that started as an academy in Dubai. They currently play in the UAE Second Division League, UAE Seco ...

in the UAE Third Division and was reunited with former

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

teammate Steven Taylor. In March 2022, Achol signed with

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian football club, playing in the highest division of Latvian football (Latvian Higher League). They are based in Ķekava, near the capital, Riga. Auda won their first ever major trophy in 2022, beating RFS 1–0 in ...

in the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

Gulf United Gulf United Football Club ( ar, نادي جلف يونايتد لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club that started as an academy in Dubai. They currently play in the UAE Second Division, after promotion from the UAE Third ...

were eventually crowned champions for the UAE Third Division 2021–22 Season, however Achol did not feature in enough competitive features to receive a medal. On 17 June 2022, Achol scored his first goal for

in the 94th minute during a

match against Spartaks Jūrmala.

International career

On 12 November 2020, Achol was called up to play for

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

in their qualifiers for the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

games against

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. Starting in the first game, Achol played 68 minutes before being substituted in a 1–0 loss. This was followed by another start in the return fixture that South Sudan won 1–0. Achol was again called up for the last two group games against

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

and

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

, getting a full 90 minutes in the first game and 60 minutes in the second. As South Sudan lost both of the games 1–0, they finished last in qualifying Group B.

References