Kelly Alexandra Youga (born 22 September 1985) is a Central African retired

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 ...

Club career

Youth and Charlton Athletic

Born in

Bangui Bangui (; or Bangî in Sango language, Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in the Central African Republic, largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a Fren ...

, Youga began his career at French club

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

. He transferred to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on a free transfer in July 2005 after finishing his school exams. Before playing a game for Charlton, in October 2005 he was loaned to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

, where he played four times for the first team. In 2007, he was loaned to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

until the end of the 2006–07 season, playing 11 times for the club before his loan spell was cut short by injury, as they were relegated from

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

. In summer 2007 he turned down a second loan to the club. He subsequently joined newly promoted

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on a six-month loan deal. He returned to Charlton in January 2008 after making 19 appearances and scoring once for the Iron against Barnsley. He made his senior debut for Charlton on 5 January 2008 in the side's 1–1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

draw with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, before making his league debut for the club a week later on 12 January 2008 against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in a 4–1 win. Furthermore, Kelly Youga cemented his place as the regular first choice LB at Charlton Athletic. He scored his first goal for Charlton Athletic in a 2–2 draw away at Plymouth Argyle with a header. 2008–09 season was Youga's most successful spell with

, playing 36 games and scoring once. Also 2009–10 season started promisingly, Youga occupying a full back spot in the

XI. However, Youga suffered a knee injury in November 2009 which limited his presence in competitive matches to 22 appearances in 2009–10. After suffering another knee injury in October 2010 Youga did not play any games for

that season except for one outing with the Addicks reserve side. In May 2011 Youga's contract with Charlton expired leaving the left back without a club. Although Youga trained with

in the pre-season of 2011, a new deal was not agreed.

Yeovil Town

On 19 January 2012, Youga signed for League One side

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

on a short-term contract until the end of the 2011–12 season. On 31 March 2012, Youga's contract was terminated by mutual consent having only made one 45-minute appearance for Yeovil Town.

Ipswich Town

On 13 November 2012, Youga signed for Championship side

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

on a short-term deal until January 2013. His contract ran out at the end of January 2013.

AFC Wimbledon

On 11 March 2013, as a free agent, Youga signed for League Two club AFC Wimbledon. Dons manager

Neil Ardley Neil Richard Ardley (26 May 1937 – 23 February 2004) was a prominent English jazz composer and pianist, who also made his name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music. Early years Neil Ardley ...

said of the signing that "Kelly can play anywhere across the back four", adding that he is "a player who was playing in the Championship at his peak so hopefully he can bring that experience for us." Youga made three appearances for AFC Wimbledon before being released from the club with nine other players on 14 May 2013.

Qingdao Hainiu

In January 2014, Youga transferred to

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side Qingdao Hainiu on a free transfer.

Crawley Town

On 26 March 2015

club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

announced they had made a short-term contract with Youga until the end of season 2014–2015 after a successful trial spell.

International career

On 2 June 2012, Youga made his international debut for the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

against

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

in a 2–0 victory. His second appearance for ''Les Fauves'' came in a 2–0 loss to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Personal life

Youga is the brother of the Central African international Amos Youga, and the uncle of the French youth international footballer Willem Geubbels. He acquired

French nationality French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', (Latin for "right of blood") according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nat ...

on 3 November 1998, through the collective effect of his mother's

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Youga, Kelly 1985 births Living people Footballers from Bangui Central African Republic men's footballers French men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France Central African Republic men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Olympique Lyonnais players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Qingdao F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Crawley Town F.C. players Jura Sud Foot players English Football League players China League One players Central African Republic expatriate men's footballers Central African Republic expatriate sportspeople in England Central African Republic expatriate sportspeople in France Central African Republic expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in China 21st-century French sportsmen