| Intro | Kenyan association football player | ||||||||
| Is |
Athlete Football player Association football player |
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| From | Kenya | ||||||||
| Type | Sports | ||||||||
| Gender | male | ||||||||
| Birth |
26 March 1994, Nairobi, Nairobi County, Nairobi, Kenya |
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| Age | 26 years | ||||||||
| Star sign | Aries | ||||||||
| Stats |
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| Sports Teams |
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Michael Olunga (born 26 March 1994) is a Kenyan professional footballer who plays for Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol and the Kenya national team as a forward.
Club career
Early career and Gor Mahia
While still a student at the Upper Hill School, Olunga began his career with the Liberty Sports Academy in the Nairobi County League. He scored 32 goals for the side during the 2012 season, helping them finish the season unbeaten and earn promotion to the Nairobi Provincial League. He made headlines when he scored seven goals in a single match helping his team to an 8–0 win.
Initially reported to be attending trials in France, Olunga signed for Kenyan Premier League side Tusker on a one-year loan deal from Liberty on 19 December 2012.
After finishing the 2013 season with two goals for Tusker, Olunga was loaned to fellow Premier League side Thika United for another year, before joining Gor Mahia before the beginning of the 2015 season. He finished the season as the club’s top scorer in the league with 19 goals to help the side win a record 15th league title without losing a single match, including the second goal in a 2–0 win over Muhoroni Youth on their final league match of the season.
Djurgården
On 17 February 2016, Olunga joined Swedish side Djurgårdens IF on a four-year contract, after joining the team’s pre-season training camp on trial. He scored his first two goals for Djurgården on 8 August 2016 against IFK Göteborg in a 3–1 win. He was also named man of the match and Djurgården coach Mark Dempsey praised him for his match winning heroics. In the next match Olunga scored once again in the 2–2 draw versus IF Elfsborg at the Tele2 Arena. On 27 August, he scored the match-winning goal against Gefle with a volley in the 86th minute. In the last 12 games of the Allsvenskan Olunga scored 12 goals which earned him a fifth place in the Allsvenskan top scorer table. He was nominated for Newcomer of the year in Swedish football by a jury of Allsvenskan coaches and Swedish journalists as well as the coaches of the Swedish national teams. The prize later went to Alexander Isak.
On 10 November 2016, Kenyan football site Soka reported that Djurgården had turned down offers on Olunga from La Liga side Betis, Lokeren, Belgium champions Club Brugge and Swedish champions Malmö FF.
Guizhou Zhicheng
In 2017, Olunga joined Chinese club Guizhou Zhicheng.
Girona (loan)
On 1 September 2017, Olunga was loaned to La Liga side Girona FC, for one year. On 13 January 2018, he made his La Liga debut against Las Palmas scoring a hat-trick in the span of 22 minutes during a 6–0 win, becoming both the first Kenyan player and the first Girona player to score a hat-trick in La Liga.
Kashiwa Reysol
On 10 August 2018, Olunga joined Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol.
On 24 November 2019, he scored eight goals for Kashiwa in a 13–1 victory over Kyoto Sanga. Olunga finished the season with 27 league goals as Kashiwa finished the J2 season as champions and won promotion to the first division.
In J1 League play on 26 July 2020, Olunga scored a hat-trick against Vegalta Sendai; the match finished in a 5–1 victory.
International career
Olunga made his debut for the Kenya national team in a friendly against Seychelles at the Stade Linité in Victoria on 28 March 2015. He scored his first goal for the Harambee Stars in a friendly against South Sudan which resulted in a 2–0 win. On 27 July 2019, during the 2019 AFCON Olunga scored a double to complete a comeback against Tanzania.
International goals
- Scores and results list Kenya’s goal tally first.
| No | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 7 June 2015 | Amahoro Stadium, Kigali, Rwanda | South Sudan | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 2. | 30 May 2015 | National Heroes Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia | Zambia | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 3. | 7 October 2015 | Stade Anjalay, Belle Vue Maurel, Mauritius | Mauritius | 5–2 | 5–2 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4. | 13 November 2015 | Nairobi City Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya | Cape Verde | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 5. | 22 November 2015 | Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Uganda | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2015 CECAFA Cup |
| 6. | 25 November 2015 | Awassa Kenema Stadium, Awassa, Ethiopia | Burundi | 1–1 | 1–1 | |
| 7. | 4 October 2016 | Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa, DR Congo | DR Congo | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 8. | 23 March 2017 | Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos, Kenya | Uganda | 1–0 | 1–1 | |
| 9. | 26 March 2017 | DR Congo | 1–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 10. | 2–1 | |||||
| 11. | 10 June 2017 | National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone | Sierra Leone | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 12. | 5 October 2017 | Basra Sports City, Basra, Iraq | Iraq | 1–2 | 1–2 | Friendly |
| 13. | 27 March 2018 | Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh, Morocco | Central African Republic | 2–3 | 2–3 | |
| 14. | 14 October 2018 | Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi, Kenya | Ethiopia | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 15. | 15 June 2019 | Centro Deportivo Santa Ana, Madrid, Spain | DR Congo | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 16. | 27 June 2019 | 30 June Stadium, Cairo, Egypt | Tanzania | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2019 Africa Cup of Nations |
| 17. | 3–2 | |||||
| 18. | 14 November 2019 | Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt | Egypt | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
Personal life
Olunga studied geospatial engineering at the Technical University of Kenya and pursued a Bachelor of Engineering degree. For this reason, he is regularly known as “The Engineer” by Kenyan football fans. He has stated that he looks up to Dutch striker Robin van Persie as a role model.
Honours
Club
Tusker FC
- Kenyan Super Cup: 2013
- KPL Top 8 Cup: 2013
Gor Mahia
- Kenyan Premier League: 2014, 2015
- Kenyan Super Cup: 2015
- KPL Top 8 Cup: 2015
Kashiwa Reysol
- J2 League: 2019
Individual
- KPL Player of the Year: 2015