Jai Quitongo (born 14 September 1997) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 le ...

who plays as a winger for

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

. He has previously played for Morton,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, Machine Sazi, Dumbarton and Queen's Park. Throughout his youth career, Quitongo played for Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen. Quitongo is a one-time capped Scotland U21 internationalist.

Background

Quitongo's father is ex- Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian and St Mirren winger

José Quitongo José Manuel Quitongo (born 18 November 1974) is an Angolan footballer. A winger, he spent the majority of his playing career in Scotland, where he made 61 appearances in the Scottish Premier League for Heart of Midlothian, St Mirren and Kilm ...

. His brother, Rico, plays as a left back for Scottish League One club Queen of the South.

Club career

Greenock Morton

After playing for the youth sides at Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen, Quitongo signed for

on a short-term deal in August 2015. He was offered an 18-month extension in December 2015 and made his debut for the first team as a late substitute against Raith Rovers. In December 2015, Quitongo signed a contract extension, making him contracted to the club until May 2017. His first goal for the club came against Kilmarnock in the League Cup and followed up with a winning strike against Hamilton Academical. On 31 August 2016, Morton rejected a bid from Doncaster Rovers for Quitongo's services. Quitongo underwent knee surgery in January 2017. While recovering from the injury, he signed a new contract with Morton that ran until June 2018. He was offered a new one-year deal but this was rescinded in August 2018 and he was released from the club.

Partick Thistle

After agreeing compensation, due to his age, Quitongo joined Partick Thistle on a short-term deal until January 2019. Jai scored his first goal for ''the Jags'' in a 2-1 home defeat against Dundee United.

Machine Sazi

After leaving Thistle, in March 2019, Quitongo moved to Iranian side Machine Sazi on a four-year deal.

Dumbarton

He left

Machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...

after just eight appearances and joined Scottish League One club Dumbarton on a short-term deal in January 2020, teaming up with his younger brother Rico and former manager at

Jim Duffy. He scored his first goal for the club against

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

in March 2020. He left the club in July 2020 after six appearances and one goal.

Queen's Park

Quitongo signed for League Two club Queen's Park in October 2020.

Greenock Morton

On 20th July 2022, Quitongo would return to his first club, Greenock Morton, signing a 1 year contract until the end of the season. He scored his first goal of the season in a 1-0 home win against

Cove Rangers Cove Rangers Football Club is a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Championship. They are based in the Cove Bay area of Aberdeen and play their football at Balmoral Stadium, having left their former home at Allan ...

, and scored later on in the season in a 1-1 draw with Ayr United. After the end of the season, Quitongo signed an extention to his contract, expiring in summer 2024.

International career

On 31 October 2016, Quitongo was selected by coach

Scot Gemmill Scot Gemmill (born 2 January 1971) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player, who is the head coach of the Scotland under-21 team. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Nottingham Fore ...

for the Scotland under-21 squad. He debuted as a substitute in a friendly defeat away to Slovakia.

Career statistics

Honours

Morton *SPFL Development League West: Winners 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quitongo, Jay 1997 births Living people Footballers from Wishaw Greenock Morton F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Men's association football wingers Scottish men's footballers Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Black British sportsmen Scottish people of Angolan descent Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Partick Thistle F.C. players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Machine Sazi F.C. players Persian Gulf Pro League players Dumbarton F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. players Sportspeople of Angolan descent Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Iran