Jordan Rolly Botaka (born 24 June 1993) is a

Congolese Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

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 ...

. He represents

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

at international level. He formerly played for

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

(on loan),

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mu ...

, Gent, Charleroi and Fortuna Sittard. He has been nicknamed 'The Wizard' due to his quick feet, trickery and skill with the ball.

Career

Botaka was born in Kinshasa, the son of

parents, Botaka started his career at Dutch side Westlandia and

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

, before his parents moved to Antwerp where Botaka joined the academies of

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

Beveren Beveren () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') is in ...

and

KSC Lokeren Koninklijke Sporting Club Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (; often simply called Sporting Lokeren or Lokeren) was a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Lokeren, in the province of East Flanders. The club was founded in 1923 but cea ...

. He also has a Dutch passport.

Club Brugge

Following vague interest by

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

, Botaka joined

from Lokeren on 23 January 2012, a 2 and half year contract. Botaka spent the whole year at the club, playing in the club's reserve. To help gain first team experience, Botaka joined Portuguese

on loan in 2013, where

Mitchell van der Gaag Mitchell van der Gaag (born 22 October 1971) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back, currently the assistant manager of Manchester United. He made 208 Eredivisie appearances and scored 19 goals, fo ...

was Manager. The club also stipulated an option to buy Botaka on a permanent deal. However, due to an administrative error, Botaka could not play official matches for the club.

Excelsior

After his spell in Portugal, Botaka was released to

and joined

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

on trial but due to Feyenoord's close links with feeder club

, Botaka went on trial for the side in June 2013. After impressing the club's management during his four weeks trial there, he joined the then

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as th ...

side Excelsior on 27 July 2013. Botaka made his Excelsior debut in the opening game of the season on 2 August 2013, where he started the whole game, in a 2–2 draw against

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, a ...

. He then scored his first goals for the side on 6 October 2013, in a 3–1 win over

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

. After missing out one game, due to illness, he returned from injury and then scored again on 25 October 2013, in a 3–1 win over

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one be ...

. After ending his three months goal drought, Botaka went on a goal-scoring spree between 14 February 2014 and 7 March 2014 against FC Eindhoven (twice),

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followin ...

Achilles '29 Achilles '29 is a football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands, competing in the sixth-tier Eerste Klasse. The club is known for its successes in the Dutch domestic cup, having knocked FC Volendam, Heracles Almelo, RKC Waalwijk, Telstar an ...

and

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

. Shortly after, Botaka extended his contract with the club on 17 March 2014. In first season at the club during the 2013–14 season, the club was managed by head coach

Jon Dahl Tomasson Jon Dahl Tomasson (; born 29 August 1976) is a Danish football manager and former player who is the current head coach of EFL Championship club Blackburn Rovers. A forward, his most notable run of football came in his first stint at Feyenoord, ...

and then

Marinus Dijkhuizen Marinus Dijkhuizen (born 4 January 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who manages Excelsior. As a player, he had notable spells in his native Netherlands with Excelsior, SC Cambuur and TOP Oss. He retired in 2009 ...

and went on to score 10 goals in 36 league games to earn Excelsior's promotion to Eredivisie after finishing 3rd and earning promotion via the Eerste Divisie playoffs. Amid to a transfer move to

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

in the summer transfer window, Botaka ended the speculation when he signed a two-year contract with the club, keeping him until 2016. At the start of the 2014–15 season, Botaka made his Eredivisie debut in the opening game of the season, in a 1–1 draw against

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

. This was followed up by scoring in a 3–2 win over Go Ahead Eagles on 17 August 2014. Two months later, on 30 October 2014, he scored in the third round of the KNVB Beker, in a 3–0 win over WKE Emmen. At the end of the season 2014–15 season, Botaka made 33 appearances in

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

scoring 1 goal and helped keep Excelsior in the Eredivisie, having missed one match over a thigh injury. In the summer transfer window of 2015, Botaka continued to be linked with a move away from Excelsior, with Swiss side Sion interested in signing him. However, Botaka was not interested in a move to Sion and stayed there in the final months at Excelsior. Amid to the transfer move, Botaka made four appearances for the side.

Leeds United

On transfer deadline day 1 September 2015, Botaka signed for English club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on a two-year deal, with a club option for a further two years; the transfer fee was undisclosed but reported to be around £1 million. He was given the number 20 shirt for the 2015/16 season. On 27 September, Botaka made his Leeds United debut, starting for Leeds in a 3–0 loss against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. After originally becoming a bit part player at Leeds under new Head Coach Steve Evans, where Evans has questioned Botaka's work-rate, Botaka had impressed in training and came back into the team towards the end of the season with Evans saying that Leeds 'have a real player here' speaking of Botaka. On 24 April 2016, after gaining an assist for Stuart Dallas in a 2–2 draw against Hull, on his return to form, Botaka credited his performances on to wanting to prove Evans earlier season criticism wrong. Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Botaka found his first team opportunity limited following the new management of

Garry Monk Garry Alan Monk (born 6 March 1979) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a centre back, and was most recently the manager of Championship club Sheffield Wednesday. His managerial career includes spells at ...

. As a result, he was subjected to be linked with a move away from Leeds United. Botaka was released at the end of the 2016/17 season, following his loan at Charlton Athletic.

Charlton Athletic (loan)

On 11 August 2016, Botaka joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on a season long loan. Botaka made his Charlton Athletic debut, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Ricky Holmes Ricky Lee Holmes (born 19 June 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays for Farnborough as a striker or a winger. Career Chelmsford City Born in Rochford, started his career with Southend-based clubs Southend Manor and White E ...

, in a 1–1 draw against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland L ...

on 13 August 2016. During a 1–0 loss against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on 1 October 2016, he was subjected of boos from Charlton Athletic after coming on as a late substitute, with Manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered profession ...

described it as “slightly disrespectful”. Although Botaka was out over an injury and international commitment by the end of the year, he then got his first start, playing the whole game, in a 0–0 draw against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

on 10 December 2016. It wasn't until on 18 February 2017 when he scored in a 3–3 draw against Rochdale. He scored again on 4 March 2017, in a 2–1 loss against Northampton Town. Although he subsequently spent the most of the season on the substitute bench, Botaka went on to make a total of 29 appearances and scored 2 times.

Sint Truiden

After being released by Leeds United, Botaka returned to Belgium, signing for

, signing a three-year contract on 26 June 2017 before the start of the 2017–18 season. He previously went on trial with the side four years prior to the move. Botaka made his Sint Truiden debut in the opening game of the season, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Samuel Asamoah Samuel Asamoah (born 23 March 1994) is a Togolese footballer who plays as a midfielder for Togo national team. During the 2015–16 season, Asamoah was loaned to OH Leuven from Eupen. After the loan he returned to Eupen but was deemed surplu ...

, in a 3–2 win over

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

. In the third round of the Beker Van Belgie against

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...

on 19 September 2017, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 4–2 win.

Gent

After three season with Sint-Truiden, Botaka was signed by

in May 2020 on a four-year deal. In January 2021, he was sent on loan to

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

with an option to buy. Upon his return from loan, he was not registered by Gent on their squads for either

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on the ...

. He reportedly had talks during the summer of 2021 with Turkish clubs

BB Erzurumspor Erzurumspor Futbol Kulübü, is a Turkish professional football club located in Erzurum who plays in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Turkish football. Founded in 2005, the colours of club are blue and white. The club started to play football c ...

and

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadiu ...

, but the transfer did not happen and he remained on Gent's books. On 28 January 2022, he was loaned to

in the Netherlands until the end of the season. On 15 August 2022, Botaka was loaned to

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested ...

club

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...

. He made his first appearance on August 20 in a league fixture against

Hapoel Hadera F.C. Hapoel Hadera–Giv'at Olga "Shulem Schwarz" F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל חדרה–גבעת אולגה שולם שוורץ) is an Israeli football club from Hadera. They currently play in the Israeli Premier League, and have ...

, in which he scored a goal in a 1-1 draw.

International career

After representing

Netherlands U19 The Netherlands national under-19 football team represents the Netherlands at this age level and is governed by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond — KNVB. They compete in international competitions like the UEFA European Under-19 Champion ...

at international level in 2012, Bokata was selected by Dutch coach Wim Van Zwam for the DR Congo national team and Botaka accepted the call up to the country of his birth, making his debut for Congo against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

on 28 March 2015. On 9 June 2015, Botaka scored for DR Congo (and his first goal) in a 1–1 draw against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

. On 12 October 2015, Botaka scored his second goal for

in a 2–1 victory against

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, after scoring a rebound from

Yannick Bolasie Yannick Bolasie (born 24 May 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for TFF First League club Çaykur Rizespor. He has played in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle, Barnet, Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Everton and ...

's shot. The following year, Botaka scored two more goals against

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and . Botaka was named in the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

squad for DR Congo during the tournament in January 2017.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list DR Congo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Botaka goal.''

References

External links