Kenneth Nlata Sema (born 30 September 1993) is a Swedish 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

left midfielder 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. ...

for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club

Pafos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. It is the fourth-largest cit ...

and the Sweden national team.

Club career

Early career

Sema got promoted to the

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

first team as a 19-year old in 2013. However, he spent the entire season on loan to IF Sylvia and did not get his contract renewed after it expired at the end of the season. In 2014, he signed for second-tier team Ljungskile SK.

Östersunds FK

In January 2016, Sema signed for

Östersunds FK Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund () or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Östersund, Sweden, that plays in the Swedish second tier, S ...

in the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, where he would have his major breakthrough. Sema won the 2016–17 Svenska Cupen with Östersund, assisting three of their four goals in the final, and later played a major role in their

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Parc Olymp ...

campaign. On 22 February 2018, Sema scored a goal in a 2–1 win against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the round of 32. Despite this, Östersund were eliminated from the Europa League after losing 2–4 on aggregate.

Watford

On 4 July 2018, Östersunds FK chairman Daniel Kindberg revealed that Sema was close to signing for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

on a five-year contract. The next day, Watford confirmed the signing. He scored his first goal against Bournemouth in January 2019 in a 3-3 draw. He was integral in helping Watford get promoted back to the premier league in the 20/21 Season and scored six goals and got six assists. On 6 February 2024 Sema made his 150th appearance for Watford in their FA Cup 4th Round Replay defeat to Southampton. On 29 January 2025, Sema departed Watford having had his contract terminated by mutual consent.

Loan to Udinese

On 22 August 2019,

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

signed Sema on a season-long loan from Watford. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut for Udinese on 25 August 2019 in a 1–0 win against

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

Pafos

On 31 January 2025, Sema signed a contract with

club

International career

In 2016, Sema was a part of the Sweden Olympic team that played in Brazil, and scored his first U23 goal in a match against South Korea Olympic. In January 2017, he debuted for the Sweden senior team in a friendly 6–0 win over

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. Sema was an unused substitute in the two-legged playoff against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in November 2017, which Sweden won, and therefore qualified for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. Despite featuring in commercials with the rest of the Sweden squad before the World Cup, Sema was eventually left out of the World Cup squad. Sema made his competitive international debut in a

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

game against the

Faroe Islands national football team The Faroe Islands national football team (, ) represents the Faroe Islands in men's international football, and is governed by the Faroe Islands Football Association (FSF). The FSF became a member of FIFA in 1988 and UEFA in 1990 and represen ...

which Sweden won 3–0. On June 15, 2025 he scored a hat-trick in an international friendly against the Algeria national football team which Sweden won 4-3.

Playing style

Sema is known for his hard work, a trait that has made him very popular with Watford fans. He likes to dribble past opponents to get into good crossing positions. He is mainly a winger but has occasionally been used at left back or wing back, due to his ability to work hard and track back defensively. He is affectionately known as King Ken by Watford fans.

Personal life

Sema was born in Sweden to Congolese parents, and his brother Maic Sema is also a footballer. He speaks with a

stammer Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...

, and after a video went viral of him doing a post match interview with Watford TV, he was praised as a role model for children and adults with speech impediments.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sema goal.''

Honours

Östersund *

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 2016–17 Pafos *

: 2024–25

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sema, Ken 1993 births Living people Footballers from Norrköping Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Swedish people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Men's association football midfielders Ljungskile SK players Östersunds FK players Watford F.C. players Udinese Calcio players Pafos FC players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Premier League players Serie A players Cypriot First Division players Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2020 players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus English Football League players 21st-century Swedish sportsmen