Savio Magala Nsereko (born 27 July 1989) is a 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 ...

or winger for German club

BSC Sendling The BSC Sendling is a German association football club from the Munich suburb of Sendling, Bavaria. The club's most notable era was between 1954 and 1974 when it spent six seasons in the Bayernliga, then the third tier of the German football lea ...

. Born in Uganda, Nsereko represented Germany internationally at youth level.

Club career

Early career

Nsereko was born in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

and started his career at

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...

. He was signed by

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

in the summer of 2005, aged 16, the minimum age limit allowed by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

for international transfer among

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

nations. He made his first team debut during

2005–06 Serie B The 2005–06 Serie B is the 74th season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy. Teams Cremonese, Rimini, Mantova and Avellino had been promoted from Serie C, while Bologna, Brescia and Atalanta ha ...

season against

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

, the last match of the season. He made 23 appearances for Brescia in all competitions, scoring three goals, before signing for West Ham.

West Ham United

On 26 January 2009, Nsereko signed for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

for an undisclosed fee, thought to have been in the region of £9 million dependent on appearances and other factors, on a four and a half-year contract. He was given the number 10 shirt, following the departure of

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward and is current assistant manager at EFL Championship side Burnley. Born in Cardiff, Bellamy began his senior playing career with Norw ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, which bore the name "Savio". His English football, Premier League and

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

debut came on 28 January 2009 in West Ham's 2–0 home win against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. He played an important part in

's win against

on 1 March 2009 by providing the assist for

Jack Collison Jack David Collison (born 2 October 1988) is a Welsh football manager and former player. He is the head coach for Huntsville City in MLS Next Pro. Collison began his career with Peterborough United's youth system in 1998, before moving to Camb ...

's 71st-minute goal.

Fiorentina and loans

He failed to settle at West Ham, making just one start and failing to score in any of his ten appearances. He was sold to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

for €2.7 million cash, with Manuel da Costa going the other way as part of the deal for free. West Ham retain the rights to 50 percent of the player's sell-on fee. Nsereko never broke into the first team and in January 2010 was loaned out to

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 ...

, in what proved to be another disappointing experience, with only two appearances with the ''Rossoblu''. In July 2010, he was sent back to Germany, joining

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

on a season loan; the loan agreement was however cancelled unilaterally on 23 October 2010, after the player was reported missing for a week before being found at his sister's place. In January 2011, Nsereko joined Bulgarian

A PFG The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

side

Chernomorets Burgas PSFC Chernomorets Burgas ( bg, ПСФК Черноморец Бургас) or simply Chernomorets ( bg, Черноморец) was a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas. The club never won any major competition, its most notable achie ...

on loan until the end of the season. After this loan spell, he was loaned again this time to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia currently plays in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football system. History The football in Castellammare di Stabia From St ...

. After only one game with the club, Savio was reported missing once again in September 2011, leading his club to ask for unilateral rescission of the contract. He was successively reported being in London, and, after returning to Italy with a medical certificate only two weeks later, he was allowed to leave to Germany to deal with unspecified personal problems. In January 2012, Nsereko joined Romanian Liga I side

FC Vaslui CS Sporting Juniorul Vaslui (), commonly known as Sporting Vaslui, Juniorul Vaslui or simply as Vaslui, is a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and re-founded in 2014. The club is currently playin ...

on loan until 31 December 2012. In July 2012, it was reported in Germany that Nsereko joined 3. Liga side

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league B ...

on loan for a season.

SpVgg Unterhaching

After months of speculation, Nsereko finally moved

of the third division in Germany on 3 September 2012 for free. In an interview on the club's website, Nsereko cited his desire to play in his home town of Munich as one of the motivating factors for his move. He was released by Unterhaching after 2 months with the club. Fiorentina also stated in its financial report ending on 31 December 2012, that Savio was released due to breach of contract on Savio's side. Fiorentina had rights to claim damages for Savio's residual contract which ending on 30 June 2016. It was reported that Savio faked his own kidnapping in Thailand.

FC Atyrau

On 24 December 2013, Savio signed an 18-month contract with

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

side

FC Atyrau Football Club Atyrau ( kk, "Атырау" футбол клубы, ''"Atyraý" fýtbol klýby'') is a professional association football, football club based in Atyrau, who last played in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh ...

. On 15 March 2014, he made his

debut and scored the winning goal for his team in the 1:0 away victory over

FC Kairat Football Club Kairat ( kk, Qaırat Fýtbol Klýby) is a professional association football, football club based in Almaty, which plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Kazakh football. Founded in 1954 ...

. In June 2014 after 10 appearances for the club, Savio executed a clause in his contract allowing him to leave Atyrau going on to have a trial with

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

at the end of the month. At the end of the 2014 season, Savio's only goal for Atyrau was voted as ''Goal of the Season'' by the club's fans. Savio returned to Kazakhstan in December 2014, joining

FC Irtysh Pavlodar FC Irtysh Pavlodar ( kk, Ертіс Футбол Клубы, ''Ertis Fýtbol Klýby'') was a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Pavlodar. Irtysh won the Kazakhstan Premier league in 1993 (as ''Ansat''), 1997, 1 ...

on trial, but failed to win a contract, going on trial with Beroe of the Bulgarian A Group in late January 2015, eventually joining the club. In February 2016, Savio went on trial with

side

FC Shakhter Karagandy Football Club Shakhter ( kk, "Шахтер" футбол клубы, Shakhter fýtbol klýby), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandı ;Russian: Караганда/Karaganda), is a professional footba ...

, but wasn't offered a contract.

Lietava Jonava

On 17 March 2016,

Lietava Lietava ( hu, Zsolnalitva) is a village and municipality in Žilina District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. Lietava Castle, the third largest castle in Slovakia, is in the village. History In historical records the village was firs ...

announced the signing of Savio. Four months later, 18 July 2016, Savio's contract with Lietava was terminated by mutual consent.

Later years

In May 2017 it was unveiled Nsereko had been signed by German amateurs

FC Pipinsried The FC Pipinsried is a German association football club from the town of Pipinsried, Bavaria. The club's greatest success came in 2013 when it qualified for the southern division of the Bayernliga, the fifth tier of the German football league ...

for the new season. His contract got terminated on 21 July 2017, because they couldn't agree on several terms. In January 2018, Nsereko went on trial with

FC Vereya Vereya ( bg, Верея) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Stara Zagora, which currently competes in the Southeast Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. Vereya was founded in 2001. The team made a remarkable rise ...

, signing with the club shortly after. He left the club in April. In the summer of 2018, Nsereko joined Armin München as a youth coach. During his time at SC Armin, Nsereko made two friendly appearances for the club, as well as training with the first team. On 10 March 2019, Nsereko made his debut for the club, scoring twice in a 5–0 win against Fürstenri II. Nsereko finished the 2018–19 season with seven goals in as many games. Following 14 further goals in 12 games the following season, Nsereko joined

. Nsereko also joined BSC Sendling's second team as manager.

International career

At international level, Nsereko won the

2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The final tournament of the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 24th UEFA European Under-19 Championship, UEFA's premier competition for players under the age of 19. The tournament was held in the Czech Republic with matches played fro ...

with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He made his U19 debut on 7 September 2007, beating the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He has also featured for the Under-20 Germany youth team at 2008–09 and 2009–10 Four Nations Tournaments. The Ugandan authorities wanted Savio to play for the Uganda national team after a new law allowed dual citizenship for Ugandans.

Personal life

In October 2012, Nsereko was arrested by the police in the

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

resort of

Pattaya Pattaya ( th, พัทยา, , ) is a city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, within, but not part of, Bang Lamung district in the province of Chonburi province, Chonburi. Pattaya City ( ...

on a false kidnap claim. He had reportedly attempted to

extort Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, al ...

€25,000 from his family by telling them he had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom.

References

External links

*
Gazzetta.it
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nsereko, Savio 1989 births Living people German people of Ugandan descent German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers TSV 1860 Munich players Brescia Calcio players West Ham United F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players Bologna FC 1909 players PSFC Chernomorets Burgas players SS Juve Stabia players CS Sporting Vaslui players SpVgg Unterhaching players FC Viktoria Köln players FC Atyrau players PFC Beroe Stara Zagora players FK Jonava players FC Vereya players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Lithuania Premier League players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players A Lyga players Serie B players Kazakhstan Premier League players Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Naturalized citizens of Germany Ugandan emigrants to Germany Footballers from Kampala Association football coaches German football managers