Elvis Kamsoba (born 27 June 1996) is a Burundian 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 winger for

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

club

Balzan Balzan () is a municipality in the Northern Region, Malta, Northern Region of Malta, and together with Attard and Lija, forms part of the "Three villages of Malta, Three Villages" (). The village originally consisted of a group of small dwellin ...

and the Burundi national team.

Early life

Elvis Kamsoba was born on 27 June 1996 in Burundi. He moved with his family to a Tanzanian refugee camp when he was four months old, and lived there for 11 years before migrating to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, in 2008. His younger brother is footballer Pacifique Niyongabire.

Club career

In October 2016,

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

announced the signing of Elvis Kamsoba for the 2017 NPL Victoria season. Kamsoba scored six goals for Knights in 2017, as his side narrowly avoided relegation, defeating Dandenong City in the promotion-relegation playoff. Kamsoba came to Australia's attention after a brilliant

2018 FFA Cup The 2018 FFA Cup was the fifth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams contested the competition proper (from the round of 32), including the 10 A-League teams and 21 Football Federation Au ...

campaign for

Avondale FC Avondale FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club, with the men's and women's teams based in Parkville and the junior sides based in Avondale Heights, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the National Pre ...

. Avondale went on to make the quarter-final, the club's best finish before losing out to reigning champions

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

. As a result of his impressive performances with Avondale, Kamsoba was awarded the inaugural Mike Cockerill Medal, awarded to the best NPL player in the FFA Cup.

Melbourne Victory

Following a successful trial period, Kamsoba signed for

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

on an 18-month contract on 3 January 2019.Melbourne Victory signs Elvis Kamsoba
Melbourne Victory Official Website, 3 January 2019 He made his professional debut for the club on 9 January 2019 in an

match against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

. Alongside

Jake Brimmer Jake William Brimmer (born 3 April 1998) is an Australian soccer player who plays as a central midfielder for A-League club Auckland FC. Club career Brimmer began to show his skills at the Rowville Sports Academy and with his junior club Nuna ...

and Rudy Gestede, Kamsoba finished as Melbourne Victory's joint top goalscorer for the

2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The s ...

season, with 5 goals.

Sydney FC

At the end of his contract at

, Kamsoba departed the club and joined

on a two-year contract.

Sepahan

Following a successful season with the harbourside Sydney club, in which he contributed with 3 goals in 17 appearances Kamsoba departed the Sky Blues, with the club having accepted a transfer from Iranian club Sepahan, for an undisclosed six-figure amount. Kamsoba was released at the end of the season, having made only 15 appearances for Sepahan, the majority of which were sporadic, and off the bench.

PSS Sleman

On 21 November 2023, he signed a contract with Indonesian club

PSS Sleman Perserikatan Sepakbola Sleman ( 'Sleman Football Union'), or mostly known through its abbreviation PSS, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Sleman Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta. The club dons the nickname Super Elang Ja ...

to play in the second round of 2023–24 Liga 1. He made his debut with the team on 26 November 2023, during a home match against Barito Putera.

Other appearances

Elvis Kamsoba has played in the African Nations Cup of South Australia.

Career statistics

International career

Elvis was eligible to represent both Burundi and Australia. On 24 March 2019 he confirmed that he had rejected a call-up to the

Burundi national football team The Burundi national football team, (), nicknamed ''The Swallows'' (; ), represents Burundi in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Burundi. The team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Burundi previous ...

. Two months later, he accepted a call-up for Burundi's provisional squad ahead of the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

. He made his debut on 17 June 2019 in a friendly against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, as a starter.

Honours

Individual

* Michael Cockerill Medal:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamsoba, Elvis 1996 births Living people Burundian men's footballers Burundi men's international footballers Burundian expatriate men's footballers Burundian emigrants to Australia Australian men's soccer players Playford City SC players Adelaide Croatia Raiders SC players Croydon FC (Australia) players Melbourne Knights FC players Avondale FC players Melbourne Victory FC players Sydney FC players Sepahan S.C. footballers PSS Sleman players National Premier Leagues players A-League Men players Persian Gulf Pro League players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Burundian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Burundian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Burundian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Men's association football forwards 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Australian sportsmen