Maro Bonsu-Maro (born 26 February 1997) is a

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

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 currently plays for

Manukau United Manukau United FC are an association football club based in Māngere East, Auckland, New Zealand. Formed through a partnership of Manukau City and Mangere United in 2018, Manukau United currently play in the Northern League (New Zealand), Northe ...

and the Cook Islands national team.

Club career

Bonsu-Maro competed in the

2017 OFC Champions League The 2017 OFC Champions League was the 16th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 11th season under the current OFC Champions League name ...

with Puaikura. He scored three goals in the

Qualifying Stage Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

. Later that year he joined

Central United Central United Football Club is an amateur association football (soccer) club based in Sandringham, Auckland, New Zealand who complete in the NRF Championship. The team was officially called ''Central Soccer Club'' until 1996 when it changed ...

of 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 ...

. The following year he joined another Cook Islands club, Tupapa Maraerenga, and competed in the

2018 OFC Champions League The 2018 OFC Champions League was the 17th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, ...

. He went on to score a hattrick against Veitongo of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and a brace against

Pago Youth Pago Youth is an American Samoan football (soccer), football club located in Pago Pago, American Samoa. It currently plays in the FFAS Senior League, the nation's top-division football league, and has won it eight times, making Pago Youth the mos ...

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

. He went on to score against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

's Lae City in the

Group Stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

. For the next season he joined

Auckland City Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

of the

New Zealand Football Championship 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 ...

. He remained with the club through the 2021 season when he joined

of the

Cook Islands Round Cup Tower Insurance Premiership is the top division of the Cook Islands Football Association in Cook Islands. The winner qualifies for the OFC Champions League. Current champions Nikao Sokattak F.C. won the 2021 Tower Insurance Premiership. Competi ...

International

Bonsu-Maro represented the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

, the country of his mother's birth, at the youth level. He was part of the squad that competed in the

2013 OFC U-17 Championship The 2013 OFC U-17 Championship was the 15th edition of the OFC's Under 17 championship, the biennial football championship of the Oceanian Confederation. All matches took place at Chapuis stadium, Luganville in Vanuatu from 17 to 27 April. 6 t ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. He scored two goals in the team's opening match against Tonga. In 2019 he was included in the under-20 squad for the

2016 OFC U-20 Championship The 2016 OFC U-20 Championship was the 21st edition of the OFC U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 19 and below (despite the name remaining ...

but ultimately did not compete. In March 2022 Bonsu-Maro was included in the Cook Islands senior squad for

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

International career statistics

Personal

Bonsu-Maro was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

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 ...

to a

Pukapuka Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island, an ancient ...

n mother and a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian father.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsu-Maro, Maro Living people 1997 births Cook Island men's footballers Cook Islands men's international footballers New Zealand men's association footballers Cook Island people of Ghanaian descent New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand people of Ghanaian descent Men's association football defenders Auckland City FC players