Edwin Lavatsa (born 3 January 1993) 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 lea ...

who plays for Kakamega Homeboys in the

Kenyan Premier League The Kenyan Premier League (KPL), officially known as the FKF Premier League, is a professional league for men's football clubs in Kenya. Standing at the top of the Kenyan football league system, the league was formed in 1963 under the Kenya Foo ...

and the Kenya national team as a forward. Lavatsa spent three seasons with Gor Mahia, with whom he won the league title in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, before moving to

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (), known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat National 1, is the Algerian professional league for association football clubs. It is the co ...

side

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger (), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home stadium, Ali La Pointe Stadium, has a capacit ...

for half a season before being released. He joined

Mathare United Mathare United Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. The club competed in the Kenyan Premier League (the highest tier of the Kenyan football league system), but in 2023, the club was relegat ...

in 2015 and spent one season at the club before moving to Bandari, where he clinched silverware on his competitive debut at the 2016 Kenyan Super Cup. He has also appeared for the Kenya national team, and was part of the squad that won the 2013 CECAFA Cup Final, helping his side to a 2–0 win against

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

to win the title.

Club career

Gor Mahia

Lavatsa joined Gor Mahia ahead of the 2011 season after graduating from Upper Hill School. He made his first appearance for the club at the

Nyayo National Stadium Nyayo National Stadium is a 18,000-seater multipurpose stadium in Nairobi, Kenya.https://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2024-09/Hansard%20Report%20-%20Wednesday%2C%2025th%20September%202024%20%28P%29.pdf It is located at the square o ...

against Posta Rangers on 26 February 2011, and scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win against

Thika United Thika United Football Club is an association football club based in Thika, Kenya, which currently competes in the Kenyan Super League, the second tier of the Kenyan football league system. They play their home games at the Sea Joy Arena. The cl ...

on 17 April the same year. He went on to make several more appearances for the club, helping them win the FKL Cup in 2011, the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

and the Top 8 Cup in 2012, and the

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and

super cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

double in 2013.

MC Alger

Lavatsa joined

from Gor Mahia on 11 January 2014 for the second half of the 2013–14 Ligue Professionnelle 1 season. It was reported that he signed a contract for around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

10,000 (approx. KSh.1.2 million/=) a month. Lavatsa made his debut for the seven-time Algerian champions on 1 February 2014, coming on as a substitute for Hadj Bouguèche in the 69th minute of a 1–0 loss away to

Aïn Fakroun Aïn Fakroun is a town and commune in Algeria. According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 48,804. Localities of the commune The commune of Aïn Fakroun is composed of 28 localities Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical ...

. The following week, he made his first start for the club and played the full 90 minutes to help his side to a 2–0 home victory against

MC Oran (), known as , commonly referred to as MC Oran for short, is an Algerian professional Association football, football club based in Oran. Founded on 1 January 1917, the club was known as Mouloudia Chaâbia Ouahrania from 1971 to 1977, Mouloudia P ...

at the

Stade Omar Hamadi Omar Hamadi Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Bologhine, Algiers, Algeria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of USM Alger. The stadium has a capacity of 10,000 people. History Opening the stadium The ...

Bologhine Bologhine is a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast ...

. On 1 May 2014, Lavatsa bagged his first silverware with the Algiers club, albeit remaining an unused substitute, after a 4–3

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory in the 2013–14 Algerian Cup final against

JS Kabylie Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (Kabyle grammar, Kabyle: Ilemẓiyen inaddalen n leqvayel; Berber languages, Tamazight: ⵉⵍⵎⵣⵢⵏ ⵉⵏⴰⴷⴰⵍⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵇⵠⴰⵢⵍ; ), known as JS Kabylie or simply JSK, is an Algerian profession ...

, who had held them to a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes and

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. On 10 July 2014, it was announced that Lavatsa had been released by the club barely six months into his two-year contract. He was among 14 players released ahead of the 2014–15 season.

Mathare United

On 25 June 2015, it was announced that Lavatsa made a return to the

and signed for

. He made his debut for the side in a league match against his former club Gor Mahia, providing Eric Jonana with an assist in the 30th minute to help his side to a 1–1 draw.

Bandari

On 8 January 2016, it was announced that Lavatsa joined coastal side Bandari on a one-year contract after being released by Mathare United. He made his competitive debut for the club in the 2016 Kenyan Super Cup match against his former club Gor Mahia, starting the match and playing all 90 minutes to help his side to a 1–0 win for their first title in the competition.

International career

Lavatsa received his first call-up to the Kenya national team by being named in their

2012 CECAFA Cup The 2012 CECAFA Cup (known as the CECAFA Tusker Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 36th edition of the annual CECAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council for East and ...

squad. He made his first appearance for the side in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

against

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. He made four more appearances during the tournament on the way to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, where he scored his first international goal in the 87th minute to level the scores at 1–1 against

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

after tapping in from a

Paul Were Paul Were Ooko (; born 8 October 1993) is a Kenyan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Greek Football League Greece, Football League club Egaleo F.C., Egaleo and the Kenya national football ...

pass. However, he could not help his side prevent Geoffrey Kizito from heading in the winner just three minutes later. Lavatsa made his first FIFA appearance in a 2014 World Cup qualifier against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Cali and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language, as the Efik people dominate this area. The city is adjac ...

, Nigeria as a substitute. On 9 July, he scored a brace to hand Kenya a 2–0 win against

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

at the

Arthur Davies Stadium Arthur Davies Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Kitwe, Zambia, named after Arthur Walter Davies who was a FIFA-accredited referee and active member of the Zambian FA. Whilst General Manager of the Copperbelt Power Corporation (now the Copperbelt ...

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

in their second match of the

2013 COSAFA Cup The 2013 COSAFA Cup, sponsored by South African Breweries and officially named the 2013 COSAFA Castle Cup, was the 14th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council ...

, but could not save his side from elimination two days later when his side fell to a 2–1 loss against

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

at the

Nkana Stadium Nkana Stadium, previously known as Scrivener Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Kitwe, Zambia. It serves as home stadium for Zambian Premier League, MTN/FAZ Super League side Nkana F.C. The stadium underwent extensive renovations in 2013 that we ...

. Later that year, he made five appearances to help his side clinch the

2013 CECAFA Cup The 2013 CECAFA Cup (known as the DStv, GOtv CECAFA Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th edition of the annual CECAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of the national teams of member nations of the Council for E ...

on home soil. He played the full 90 minutes in the 2–0 win against

at the

International goals

:Source:

Honours

Club

Gor Mahia *

* FKL Cup/President's Cup: 2011,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Kenyan Super Cup The Kenyan Super Cup is a Kenyan football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Kenyan Premier League and the FKF President's Cup. Having been formed in 2009, it is the Kenyan equivalent to the FA Community Shield of Eng ...

: 2013 (pre-season) * Top 8 Cup:

MC Alger *

Algerian Cup The Algerian Cup () also known the Republic Cup (), is a football competition in Algeria, pitting regional teams against each other. It was established in October 1962, three months after independence, and has been played yearly since then apart ...

: 2013–14 Bandari *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

International

CECAFA Cup The CECAFA Cup, formerly the Gossage Cup (1926–1966) and the East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup (1967–1971), is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is organized by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associati ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavatsa, Edwin 1993 births Living people Men's association football forwards Gor Mahia F.C. players MC Alger players Mathare United F.C. players Kenyan men's footballers Kenya men's international footballers Kenyan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria Kenyan Premier League players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Bandari F.C. (Kenya) players Footballers from Nairobi 21st-century Kenyan sportsmen