Curtis Osano (born 8 March 1987) is a Kenyan

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 ...

who plays as a defender, most recently for

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a rail ...

Career

Early years

Born in

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitants, making it the largest ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, Osano moved to England aged nine when his father joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

. However, he didn't start playing football until the age of 13, as a student at Oak Farm School in Farnborough. Around this time he also became involved in athletics, representing Surrey in the

English Schools Championships English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, winning silver in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down t ...

. He eventually rose through the ranks at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

as a defender under the guidance of future

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

manager

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed ...

and was involved with the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

youth set-up, though failed to make a league appearance for "The Royals". However, he did make two appearances in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

and

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. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Osano joined

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

in October 2006 on a month-long work experience deal, which was later extended. He then joined

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

in January 2007 on work experience until the end of the 2006–07 season.

Rushden & Diamonds

The right-back joined

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town. The cl ...

for the 2007–08 season on work experience. He joined Rushden on a two-year contract in July 2008 following his release by Reading. He scored his first career goal in a game against

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

in November 2008. He was released by Rushden in May 2011 due to the club's financial difficulties, having made over 160 league appearances for the club in total. Following his release by Rushden, he was taken on trial by

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and participated in their first pre-season game of 2011 against Burgess Hill Town. He played the first 45 minutes of the match but his stay with the club proved to be short-lived, following the signing of

Romain Vincelot Romain Marcel Georges Vincelot (born 29 October 1985) is a French former footballer who played as a midfielder in France and England across a 17-year career. He played for Chamois Niortais, Gueugnon, Dagenham & Redbridge, Brighton & Hove Alb ...

from

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

. During this period Osano sought work in a recycling centre to help make ends meet, staying with his former

Frimley Green Frimley Green is a large village and ward of in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. It is south of the town of Frimley. Lakeside Country Club was the national venue for the BDO in ...

youth manager, John McDonnell as he searched for a new club.

Luton Town

Osano went on trial with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

, earning a six-month contract on 29 July 2011 after his performances in two pre-season games. Luton Town extended his contract until the end of the season following strong performances for the club, with manager

Gary Brabin Gary Brabin (born 9 December 1970) is an English former professional footballer, coach and manager who is the Sporting Director at Cymru Premier team The New Saints. A midfielder with a 12-year career in the English Football League, he represe ...

said of Osano "Curtis has been excellent for us. He's a great athlete, has bags of enthusiasm, is a hard-worker and loves to get forward." He featured prominently for the club throughout the 2011–12 season and was a member of the starting eleven that competed in the 2012 Conference play-off Final defeat to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on 20 May 2012.

AFC Wimbledon

On 28 May 2012, Osano left Luton to sign for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...

side

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 season. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane. The cl ...

, where he once again linked up with former teammate

Will Antwi Agyei William Kwabena "Will" Antwi (born 19 October 1982), is an English-born Ghanaian former professional footballer and head coach for England U15s. As a player, he was a defender who played between 2002 and 2014. He represented the Ghana n ...

. Osano had an unfortunate start to the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

campaign when he picked up an ankle injury that prevented him from taking part in the first eight games of the season. He finally made his debut for AFC Wimbledon as a late substitution in a 2–1 loss against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete histor ...

on 29 September 2012. On 14 May 2013, Osano was released from his contract and left AFC Wimbledon having made twenty appearances in all competitions for the club.

Bengaluru FC

On 16 July 2013, Osano joined

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

side

Bengaluru FC Bengaluru Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bangalore, Karnataka. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 20 July 2013, and began its first ...

on a free transfer. Speaking of his move to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Osano said: "I love challenges and the idea of getting into a league with a completely different style of football intrigued me. The manager is trying to bring a different brand of football and I consider it as a once in a lifetime chance, a blessing that's fallen in my lap." He made his debut for the side in their first ever

match on 22 September 2013 against

Mohun Bagan A.C. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

in which he started and played the full match as Bengaluru drew the match 1–1.

Return to England

After three seasons in India, Osano returned to England, reportedly to sign with

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Hayes & Yeading United Hayes & Yeading United Football Club is an association football club based in Hayes, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. The club was formed in 2007 from a merger of Hayes Football Club (founded in 1909) and Yeading Football Club (f ...

, however on 28 July 2016 it was announced that he had signed instead for

Later years

After his career with football, Osano turned to web development as a profession in 2016.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Bengaluru FC *

: 2013–14, 2015–16 *

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: *Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

: 2014–15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osano, Curtis 1987 births Living people People from Nakuru County Kenyan footballers Association football defenders Reading F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Woking F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Bengaluru FC players Farnborough F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players I-League players Southern Football League players Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom Kenyan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in India Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in India