Ricardo Kishna (born 4 January 1995) is a Dutch 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Ajax

Born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Kishna joined

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

in 2010 from

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

at 15 years old, where he had been active in the youth ranks from the age of 9 laying the foundation for his professional career. On 13 May 2011, Kishna signed his first professional contract with Ajax, joining the club until June 2014. He began the 2013–14 season playing for Ajax A1, the club's under-19 team, competing in the Nike A-Juniors Eredivisie and the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

. On 3 January 2014 it was then announced that Kishna,

Jaïro Riedewald Jaïro Jocquim Riedewald (born 9 September 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for club Crystal Palace. Club career Ajax 2013–14 On 15 March 2013, Riedewald signed his first professional contract wi ...

and

Riechedly Bazoer Riechedly Bazoer (born 12 October 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer of Curaçaoan descent who plays as a midfielder for Dutch club AZ. Club career Ajax Bazoer joined Ajax on a free from rival Eredivisie club PSV on 16 November ...

would join the first team on its training camp in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

during the Winter transfer window. After making his debut with the first team in the Antalya Cup, a friendly tournament, on 11 January 2014 against Turkish side

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

, head coach

Frank de Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

announced that Kishna would not be returning to the under-19 selection after the Winter break. But would join the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

in the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, while making appearances for the first team. On 15 January 2014 it was announced that Kishna had extended his contract with Ajax for an additional two seasons, now running until the Summer of 2016, with an option for an additional year. He made his professional debut on 17 January 2014 playing for

in the 4–0 away loss against

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie title. Founded in 1925, the club entered the professional Eerste Divisie in 1985. I ...

. He was substituted off in the match for Abdel Malek El Hasnaoui in the 59th minute. He scored his first professional goal for Jong Ajax on 10 February 2014 in a 4–1 home win over

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

scoring in the 52nd minute. He then scored again in the following match against first place in the league table

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

, leveling the score 1–1, and helping the reserves team to secure a point. On 19 February 2014 Frank de Boer announced that Kishna was selected as a member of the 18-man squad ahead of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match at home against Red Bull Salzburg, marking the first time he would be selected for the first team in a professional match. He then made his professional debut on 20 February 2014 against Red Bull Salzburg, replacing

Kolbeinn Sigþórsson Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (; born 14 March 1990) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a forward. Currently a free agent, he most recently played for Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Before being signed by Ajax for a fee of €4.5&n ...

in the 60th minute in the 0–3 home defeat. He made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

debut for the first team three days later in the 4–0 home victory over neighboring AZ, scoring on his league debut in the 61st minute, after being substituted on for

Bojan Krkić Bojan Krkić Pérez (; sr-Cyrl, Бојан Кркић Перез, ; born 28 August 1990), also known as simply Bojan, is a Spanish professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different t ...

in the 46th minute of the North Holland derby match.

Lazio

On 29 July 2015, Kishna joined

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

on a four-year contract from

. The reported transfer fee paid to Ajax was €4 million. He scored his first goal on his debut, a 2–1 win over

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

on 22 August.

Lille (loan)

On 31 January 2017, Kishna joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

on loan with an option given to Lille to sign him permanently.

ADO Den Haag (loan)

On 31 August 2017, Kishna signed for his former youth club

on a season-long loan deal. On 31 August 2018, Kishna joined

for the second time until 30 June 2019. After three years out due to a knee injury, he finally returned to the pitch in November 2020 coming on as a substitute in an Eredivisie match against Heerenveen.

International career

Kishna made his debut for the Netherlands national team in the youth ranks, appearing for the under-15 selection in an International friendly match against Turkey U-15 on 8 December 2009. The match ended in a 2–1 victory at home for the Dutch. He then went on to make four more appearances for the under-15 side. He made his debut for the Netherlands U-16 side on 26 October 2010 in the Tournoi du Val-de-Marne in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, playing against France U-16 in a 1–2 away win. Making two further appearances, while scoring once.

Personal life

Born in

, Kishna is of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se-Dutch descent, with his father being of

Indo-Surinamese Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Suriname with ancestry from India and the wider subcontinent. Their ancestors were Indian indentured workers brought by the Dutch and th ...

origin and his mother from the Netherlands.

Career statistics

Club

¹ Includes

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and

matches.
² Includes

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

and

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

matches.

Honours

Club

Ajax *

: 2013–14 *

Eusébio Cup The Eusébio Cup is a pre-season friendly football match hosted by Portuguese club S.L. Benfica since 2008. It has been played mostly at their home stadium, Estádio da Luz, with the two exceptions being the 2015 and 2018 editions (played at E ...

: 2014

References

External links

Voetbal International profile

Ajax Inside ProfileRicardo Kishna
at Topforward
Netherlands U15 stats
at OnsOranje
Netherlands U16 stats
at OnsOranje * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kishna, Ricardo 1995 births Living people Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch people of Indian descent Sportspeople of Indian descent Footballers from The Hague Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Dutch men's footballers Indian people of Dutch descent Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in France Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Serie A players Ligue 1 players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players SS Lazio players Lille OSC players ADO Den Haag players