Erving Dzho Botaka-Ioboma (; born 5 October 1998) is a Russian

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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Arsenal Tula FC Arsenal Tula () is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League in 2014 for the first time in its histo ...

Club career

He made his debut in the

Russian Professional Football League The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the Professional Football Lea ...

for

FC Solyaris Moscow FC Solyaris Moscow () was a Russian football team based in Moscow. It was founded in 2014. In 2014–15 season, it started its professional history in the third-tier Russian Professional Football League The Russian Second League (), formerly th ...

on 20 July 2016 in a game against

FSK Dolgoprudny FC Olimp-Dolgoprudny () was a professional association football club from Dolgoprudny, Russia. It made its debut in the second-highest Russian Football National League in the 2021–22 season and was denied license by the Russian Football Union a ...

. In July 2018 his failed transfer back to

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...

caused a stir when it was reported the club canceled his contract because the

ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...

refused to allow a

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

footballer to play for the club. Torpedo later denied this via an official statement but the Torpedo ultras were adamant with their own statement. He made his

Russian Football National League The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used t ...

debut for Luch Vladivostok on 24 July 2019 in a game against

FC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk FC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk () is an association football club from Nizhnekamsk, Russia, founded in 1991. It played at the second-highest level in the Russian First League in 1993–1998, 2001–2004, 2012 to 2013–14, 2016–17 and from 2019– ...

. On 11 June 2021, he signed a long-term contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Ufa Ufa is a city in Russia and the capital of the republic of Bashkortostan. UFA or Ufa may also refer to: Places * Ufa (river), a river in Russia; a tributary of the Belaya * Ufa International Airport, near the Russian city * Ufa railway statio ...

, reuniting with his former

Veles Veles may refer to: *Veles (god), a Slavic god *Veles Municipality, in North Macedonia *Veles, North Macedonia, a city, seat of the municipality, formerly called Titov Veles *Veles Bastion, Stribog Mountains on Brabant Island, Antarctica *Veles, s ...

coach Aleksei Stukalov. He made his RPL debut for Ufa on 18 September 2021 in a game against

FC Khimki FC Khimki () was a Russian professional football club based in Khimki. History The team was formed in 1996 by merging two amateur clubs from Khimki, Rodina, and Novator. Khimki entered the amateur league and played their first official match on ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * 1998 births People from Pushkino Footballers from Moscow Oblast Russian people of Republic of the Congo descent Living people Russian men's footballers Russia men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders FC Solyaris Moscow players FC Samgurali Tskaltubo players FC Veles Moscow players FC Luch Vladivostok players FC Ufa players FC Arsenal Tula players Russian Premier League players Russian First League players Russian Second League players Erovnuli Liga 2 players Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Georgia (country) Russian expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country) 21st-century Russian sportsmen {{Russia-footy-defender-1998-stub