Genséric Kusunga (born 12 March 1988) is a former professional footballer. He played for Servette, FC Basel, Oldham Athletic, União de Madeira, Dundee and Cova da Piedade. Born in Switzerland, he represented Angola at international level.
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Genséric Kusunga[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 12 March 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Geneva, Switzerland | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1999–2005 | Servette | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2010 | Servette | 68 | (5) |
| 2010–2013 | FC Basel | 13 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | → Servette (loan) | 19 | (0) |
| 2013–2015 | Oldham Athletic | 30 | (2) |
| 2016–2018 | União da Madeira | 20 | (2) |
| 2018–2019 | Dundee | 33 | (2) |
| 2019–2020 | Cova da Piedade | 8 | (1) |
| Total | 191 | (12) | |
| International career | |||
| 2008 | Switzerland U-20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Switzerland U-21 | 1 | (0) |
| 2013–2017 | Angola | 14 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
editServette
editBorn in Geneva, Kusunga played his youth football with Servette. Having progressed through the club's youth teams, Kusunga joined their Under 21s team in the 2004–05 season. Following the club's bankruptcy in February 2005 all the professional players left the club and as a further consequence, the U-21 took over the club name playing two divisions lower, in 1. Liga. In the 2005–06 season, under head coach Jean-Michel Aeby , Kusunga made 17 appearances for the team in the 1. Liga, scoring once. The team won the division championship and thus secured promotion to the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Kusunga made a further 68 Challenge League appearances, scoring five times during his five-year tenure with the club.[2]
Basel
editIn May 2010, ahead of the 2010–11 Swiss Super League season, Kusunga signed for Swiss Super League side FC Basel, and was handed the number 21 shirt on his arrival. He joined Basel's first team during their 2010–11 season under head coach Thorsten Fink. After playing in nine test games, he played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 20 September, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute, as Basel won 3–2 against FC Zürich.[3] Basel started in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position. Therefore, they dropped to the 2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated by Spartak Moscow due to a last minute goal against them. Kusunga played in both Europa League games, but remained on the bench in the Champions League.[4] With Basel, Kusunga won the Swiss Championship at the end of the 2010–11 season, topping the table just one point clear of rivals Zürich.[5]
In the very first match of the new season, after just 3 minutes, Kusunga was substituted out due to a hamstring injury and this kept him out for two months. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the Double with his new club. They won the League Championship title with 20 points advantage.[6] The team won the Swiss Cup, winning the final 4–3 in a penalty shootout against Luzern.[7]
To the start of the 2012–13 season it was decided to loan Kusunga out to his club of origin for a year, so that he could obtain playing experience.[8] Servette had meantime been promoted to the Super League and he was able to play 19 league matches for them, but he could not help them from relegation as they finished in last position.
On his return to Basel he decided to leave the club. During his time with them Kusunga played a total of 50 games for Basel scoring a total of eight goals. 13 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, four in the Swiss Cup, four in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 29 were friendly games. He scored all his eight goals during the test games.[9]
Oldham Athletic
editKusunga signed for Oldham Athletic until the end of the 2013–14 season on 2 September 2013, with the option of extending the deal until the summer of 2015.[10] Kusunga was recommended to the Latics by Oldham legend, Joe Royle, his son Darren's agency heard about the player whilst scouting in Switzerland. Kusunga was offered more lucrative deals to clubs in Israel and Bulgaria but the sharp tongued Joe Royle stepped in along with his son to secure a deal with Lee Johnsons side. Kusunga scored his first goal for the club in the first round of the FA Cup, giving the Latics the lead against Wolverhampton Wanderers.[11]
Kusunga scored his first league goal on 25 January 2014 and it turned out to be a goal that will be remembered by Latics fans for many years to come, Oldham were 3–0 down against Peterborough United at half – time and many of the Latics faithful thought that the game was all over, with a minority of the fans even leaving at half – time, however, after the interval, the Latics got the score back to 3–2 and looked to have the momentum on their side to mount a comeback, however, they conceded again and the chances of that happening seemed to disappear with the scoreline at 4–2 but the Latics picked themselves up and scored straight away to make it 4–3 and the comeback was back on. Then in the dying minutes of the game, the Latics got a penalty and scored it to make it 4–4. And then something happened to turn the game into one of the most memorable games in Oldham's history, in the last seconds of the game, deep into injury time, Kusunga scrambled a shot into the back of the net from a corner in the 96th minute and Oldham won the game 5–4 after being 3–0 and 4–2 down during the game.[12]
The one – year contract extension option that the club had on Kusunga was exercised, extending his contract till the end of the 2014–15 season.[13] On 24 April 2015, Kusunga was released by Oldham.[14]
C.F. União
editAfter being without a club for ten months, Kusunga signed a deal with C.F. União in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
Dundee
editKusunga, who as a free agent was able to sign outside of the transfer window, signed for Scottish Premiership club Dundee on 2 February 2018.[15] He replaced Jack Hendry, who had been sold to Celtic on 31 January.[15] He was released by Dundee at the end of the 2018–19 season.[16]
Cova da Piedade
editOn 17 December 2019, Kusunga joined Portuguese LigaPro club C.D. Cova da Piedade on a free agent.[17] After leaving the club in 2020, Kusunga would retire from football.
International career
editIn 2008, Kusunga was called up five times for the Switzerland U-20 team, but played only once, against Germany U-21 on 22 April 2008. In 2009, Kusunga was called up twice for the Switzerland U-21 side in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifying stage, but was an unused substitute in both games.[18][19] He played in one friendly match against Norway U-21 on 3 March 2010.
He has, however, since committed his international future to Angola, and played a friendly for them in the buildup to the 2013 African Cup of Nations.[20]
Honours
editBasel
References
edit- ^ "Genséric Kusunga – Profile". Uefa.com. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ a b "Matches played by Genséric Kusunga". Soccerway. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (20 September 2010). "FC Basel - FC Zürich 3:2 (2:2)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ van Poortvliet, Richard. "Spartak shake off Basel revival". UEFA.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Zea, Anthony (2012). "Switzerland 2010/2011". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Stokkermans, Karel (2017). "Switzerland 2011/12" (in French). Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Swiss Football Verband (SFV) (16 May 2012). "FC Basel - FC Luzern 4:2 n.P. (1:1, 1:1, 0:0)". Swiss Football Verband (SFV) internet. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ dal (26 June 2012). "Genséric Kusunga wechselt zu Servette". Genséric Kusunga on loan to Servette (in German). Basler Zeitung. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2020). "Genséric Kusunga - FCB statistic". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Genseric Kusunga: Oldham sign ex-FC Basel defender". BBC Sport. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ "Oldham Athletic 1–1 Wolves". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ "Oldham 5–4 Peterborough". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ "Oldham Athletic retained list". Oldham Athletic A.F.C. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
- ^ "DEPARTURE: Genserix Kusunga Released". Oldham Athletic AFC. 24 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Genseric Kusunga: Dundee sign Angolan centre-back to replace Jack Hendry". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "Dundee: Fourteen players exit after relegation, including Martin Woods and Genseric Kusunga". BBC Sport. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ Cova da Piedade anuncia contratação de Genséric Kusunga, desporto.sapo.pt, 17 December 2019
- ^ "Switzerland U21 2–1 Armenia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
- ^ "Switzerland U21 1–0 Georgia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
- ^ "Kusunga on his Latics move". Oldham Athletic Football Club. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
Sources
edit- Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2189-1
- Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5
- Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage