Bile-Enoch Banza (born 4 February 2000) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Early life

Born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, Banza is of Congolese descent. His family had fled the war in

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

(present-day

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

), and moved to Finland: his father in 1991 and his mother and sister in 1995. He also has four brothers who were also born in Finland. Banza received

Finnish citizenship Finnish nationality law details the conditions by which an individual is a national of Finland. The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Act, which came into force on 1 June 2003. Finland is a member state of the Europe ...

in 2018.

Career

Banza started at the age of 5 at Malmin Palloseura (MPS), before he joined

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

youth sector at the age of 8. He made his

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

debut with HJK first team in 2017 when he was 17 years old, against

PS Kemi The Palloseura Kemi Kings is a Finnish football team based in the town of Kemi, that competes in the Kolmonen. The club have spent three seasons in the top flight in their history. History The club was established on October 21, 1999. Kemi Kin ...

. On 7 January 2019, Banza was loaned out to

KPV The KPV heavy machine gun (, an initialism for ) is a Soviet designed 14.5×114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s, the infantry version was taken out of production because it was ...

for the

2019 Veikkausliiga The 2019 Veikkausliiga was the 89th season of top-tier football in Finland. Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi were the defending champions. KuPS won the title. New league format Veikkausliiga adopted a new league format for the 2019 season. Each team play ...

season.HJK lainaa kaksi nuorta ja lahjakasta pelaajaansa – toinen sarjanousijan ja toinen hopeajoukkueen riveihin
hs.fi, 7 January 2019 In June 2020, he was then loaned out to

club

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

for the rest of 2020 season. In April 2021, Banza signed with Norwegian club

Raufoss IL Raufoss IL is a sports club from Raufoss, Norway. The club was formed in 1918. The football section played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937 and 1948, between 1957 and 1960, in 1964 and between 1973 and 1974. The club currently plays in 1 ...

. On 15 April 2022, Banza joined

AC Oulu AC Oulu is a Finnish professional football club based in Oulu, currently playing in Finland's premier division, ''Veikkausliiga''. Formed in 2002, the club have played six seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and 16 seasons ...

on loan for the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

season. On 26 July 2022, Banza was further loaned out to

Järvenpään Palloseura Järvenpään Palloseura (abbreviated JäPS) is a football club from Järvenpää, Finland. It was formed in 1947 and is based at the Järvenpää keskuskenttä. The club currently competes in Ykkösliiga, the new second-tier level of Finnish fo ...

(JäPS) in Finnish second tier

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

. He stayed with JäPS also for the 2023 season. On 1 March 2024, Banza joined Finnish

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

club

Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (abbreviated as KTP) is a Finnish association football, football club based in Kotka, and currently competing in Finland's top-tier, the Veikkausliiga. The club was founded in 1927 and its colours are green and whi ...

(KTP) on a permanent contract.

Career statistics

Honours

HJK *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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 ...

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

KTP *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual *

Player of the Month: April 2024KTP:n Enoch Banza Ykkösliigan huhtikuun pelaaja
Finnish FA, 8 May 2024

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banza, Enoch 2000 births Footballers from Helsinki Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Men's association football forwards Finnish people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Klubi 04 players Kokkolan Palloveikot players Rovaniemen Palloseura players Raufoss IL players AC Oulu players Järvenpään Palloseura players Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Norwegian First Division players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Naturalized citizens of Finland Ykkösliiga players Malmin Palloseura players