Carlin Itonga (born 11 December 1982) is a former professional footballer who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Career

Itonga was born in the

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, and raised in England. He began his career with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, winning the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in 2001, but he made just one first-team appearance, as a substitute against

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the League Cup in November 2001. While at Arsenal, Itonga broke several youth team records, including once scoring seven goals in an under-19 match. He had a brief loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday, and also at Oxford United, in September 2002. After leaving Arsenal in early 2003, Itonga had a brief spell at Enfield, before later playing Cambridge City,

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

and

Fisher Athletic Fisher Athletic F.C. were a semi-professional football club from South East London, which last played in the Conference South, which is one of the two leagues that form the sixth tier of the English football league system. The Bermondsey-based ...

. Itonga retired from football in 2004 at the age of just 24 after a series of injuries. He has since been based in both his native DR Congo and London, working with football academies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Itonga, Carlin 1982 births Living people English men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Men's association football forwards Arsenal F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Enfield F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Fisher Athletic F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people Footballers from Kinshasa