Joel Kojo (; born 21 August 1998) is a 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Persian Gulf Pro League club Esteghlal. Born in Ghana, he plays for the Kyrgyzstan national team.

Club career

Alay

Kojo finished the 2018 season as the club's and the league's top scorer with 26 goals.

Dordoi Bishkek

On 11 January 2022, Dordoi Bishkek announced the signing of Kojo on a one-year contract. Kojo finished the 2022 season as the club's top scorer, scoring 10 goals in the league and once in the

Kyrgyzstan Super Cup The Kyrgyzstan Super Cup is a Association football, football competition, held at the beginning of each domestic season and disputed between the winners of Kyrgyzstan League and the winners of Kyrgyzstan Cup. The first Kyrgyzstan Super Cup was hel ...

. On 24 January 2023, Dordoi Bishkek announced the departure of Kojo following the expiration of his contract the previous November.

Dinamo Samarqand

On 27 February 2023,

Uzbekistan Super League Uzbekistan Super League (; ), known as Artel Electronics, Artel Uzbekistan Super League due to sponsorship reasons (; ), is the top division of professional association football, football in Uzbekistan. It is operated under the auspices of the U ...

club

Dinamo Samarqand FC Dinamo Samarqand (, ) is an Uzbek professional football club, based in city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Currently it plays in Uzbekistan Super League. History FC Dinamo Samarqand is one of the oldest clubs in Uzbekistan. The club was founded in ...

announced the signing of Kojo on a one-year contract. On 29 March 2023, Kojo scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for Dinamo Samarqand in their 3–0 victory over Navbahor Namangan-2.

Esteghlal

On 11 January 2025,

Persian Gulf Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

club Esteghlal announced the signing of Kojo. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 February during the

2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite The 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite) was the 43rd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the first since it was rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite. The ...

match against Iraqi club

Al Shorta Al-Shorta Sports Club () is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Iraq, Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 19 different sports, and the best known section of the club is the football team, whose origins date back to 1932. Al-Shorta was for ...

in a 1–1 draw.

International career

On 18 May 2023, Kojo was called up to the Kyrgyzstan national team for the first time as part of their

2023 CAFA Nations Cup The 2023 CAFA Nations Cup was the first edition of the CAFA Nations Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of Central Asia organized by the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA). The event was held in Kyrgyzstan and Uz ...

squad. On 16 June 2023, Kojo made his debut for Kyrgyzstan, coming on as a 58th minute substitute for Atay Dzhumashev in a 5–1 defeat to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. On 11 September 2023, Kojo scored his first international goals in a friendly against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. On 25 January 2024, Kojo scored the only goal for

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

in their

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

campaign in a 1–1 tie against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, a goal that directly killed off hopes of both his adopted country and Oman from advancing at the expense of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. On 26 March 2024, Kojo scored his first international hat-trick during the

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...

match against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

in a 5–1 home win.

Personal life

Born in Ghana, Kojo is a Ghanaian Muslim. He was naturalized by Kyrgyzstan and joined the Kyrgyzstan national team after playing in Kyrgyzstan for his whole life.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 10 June 2025'' International goals :''Scores and results list Kyrgyzstan's goal tally first.''

Honours

Alay *

Kyrgyzstan Cup The Kyrgyzstan Cup (') is Kyrgyzstan's premier knockout tournament in men's football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost ...

: 2020 *

: 2018 Dordoi Bishkek *

Kyrgyz Premier League The Kyrgyz Premier League () or OLIMPBET Premier League for Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes is the top division of professional football in Kyrgyzstan. It was created in 1992 after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. The league is comp ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

: 2021, 2022 Esteghlal *

Iranian Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (, ) formerly known as Pahlavi Cup () is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, hence the winner of Hazfi ...

: 2024–25 Individual *

top scorer: 2018 * KFU Footballer of the Year: 2024

References

External links

*
PFL.uz Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kojo, Joel 1998 births Footballers from Accra Living people Ghanaian emigrants to Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstani people of Ghanaian descent 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen 21st-century Kyrgyzstani sportsmen Men's association football forwards Ghanaian men's footballers Kyrgyzstani men's footballers Kyrgyzstan men's international footballers FC Alay players FC Dordoi Bishkek players FK Dinamo Samarqand players Esteghlal F.C. players FC Neftchi Fergana players Kyrgyz Premier League players Uzbekistan Pro League players Uzbekistan Super League players Persian Gulf Pro League players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Kyrgyzstani expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Uzbekistan Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstani expatriate sportspeople in Uzbekistan Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Kyrgyzstani expatriate sportspeople in Iran Naturalized citizens of Kyrgyzstan Naturalised association football players Ghanaian Muslims Kyrgyzstani Muslims