Benjamin George Cabango (born 30 May 2000) is a Welsh 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

club

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

, and represents the Wales national team.

Early life

Cabango was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

to an Angolan father and a Welsh mother. He has a younger brother named

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root ''Theo-'' derive from the Ancient Greek word (), which means God, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, Theophano and The ...

who plays rugby union for

. He attended

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr is a Welsh-medium comprehensive secondary school in Cardiff. It opened in September 1998 as the second school of its kind in Cardiff. Its buildings had formerly belonged to Waterhall Secondary Modern School and mor ...

, a Welsh language comprehensive school.

Club career

Cabango began his career as a youth player with local amateur side Maindy Corries, where his father Paolo was a coach, before joining the youth academy at Newport County, where he played from under-13 to under-15 levels. He moved to the academy at

when he is 14, where he captained the under-19 side to win the

FAW Welsh Youth Cup The FAW Welsh Youth Cup is a competition contested by teams affiliated to the Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futs ...

in 2018 and helped the under-23 side reach the final of the Premier League Cup. In June 2018, Cabango signed his first professional deal with Swansea City, then signed for reigning

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

champions

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

on a six-month loan deal. He made his senior debut for the side in a 5–0 defeat to Macedonian side

KF Shkëndija Klubi i Futbollit Shkëndija (), commonly known as Shkëndija, is a professional football club based in Tetovo, North Macedonia. Founded in 1979 by Macedonian Albanians, the club is widely recognized for its strong community identity and passio ...

in the first leg of the first qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. In the return leg, Cabango scored his first senior goal as The New Saints won 4–0 but were eliminated on aggregate. On 13 August 2019, he made his professional debut for Swansea in a 3–1 victory over

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

in the first round of the League Cup. He made his league debut as a substitute against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

on 26 November 2019. In March 2020, he signed a new deal with Swansea until 2023. On 8 July 2020, Cabango scored his first goal for Swansea City in a 3-1 win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. Following

Joe Rodon Joseph Peter Rodon (born 22 October 1997) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Leeds United and the Wales national team. A youth product of Swansea City, Rodon made 54 senior appearances for the club before mo ...

's departure, Cabango became a regular starter, starting 34 games across the season including all 3 matches in the

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

, as Swansea lost to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in the final. In March 2021, he signed a new contract with Swansea until 2025. In the 2021-22 season, Cabango was given the number 5 shirt. Cabango scored Swansea's second in a 4-0 victory over South Wales rivals and Cabango's hometown team,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

as Swansea became the first side to win both South Wales Derbies in a league season. Cabango repeated this feat in the following season, scoring a 99th minute winner in a 3-2 victory at the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium () is a stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City and the Wales national football team, Wales national team. Following expansion of the Ninian S ...

, marking a fourth consecutive Swansea City win in the derby. In December 2024, Cabango signed a new contract with Swansea, until 2028. In January 2025, following an accepted bid for

Matt Grimes Matthew Jacob Grimes (born 15 July 1995) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Coventry City F.C., Coventry City. He began his career at Exeter City F.C., Exeter City, where he made his ...

, Cabango was named club captain.

International career

Cabango made his senior

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

international debut as a second-half substitute during the team's

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

League B match against

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on 3 September 2020, which Wales won 1–0. In May 2021 he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament. In November 2022 he was named in the Wales squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Personal life

Ben Cabango is the elder brother of professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player

Theo Cabango Theo Cabango is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a wing for United Rugby Championship side Cardiff Rugby. Club career Cabango was named in the Cardiff academy squad for the 2021–22 season. He made his debut for Cardiff in the first rou ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabango, Ben 2000 births Living people Footballers from Cardiff Men's association football defenders Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Welsh people of Angolan descent Sportspeople of Angolan descent Newport County A.F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players The New Saints F.C. players Cymru Premier players English Football League players Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen