Manuel Benson Hedilazio (born 28 March 1997) 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 winger for club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. Born in Belgium, he plays for the Angola national team.

Early life

Benson was born in

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

to an Angolan father, Jorge Hedilazio, and a Belgian mother, Gina Pieters. His parents met in the 1990s at Bobby's Club, a dance bar in Lokeren, while his father was playing for the local club.

Club career

Benson made his top flight debut, playing for Lierse, on 19 April 2014 against

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, was a Belgian professional football club based in Ostend, West Flanders. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and had ''matricule'' number 31. The club was declare ...

in a 2–0 home defeat. He replaced

Ahmed Sayed Ahmed Mostafa Mohamed Sayed (; born 10 January 1996) commonly known as Zizo (), is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Egyptian Premier League club Al Ahly and the Egypt national team. Club career Early life and caree ...

after 87 minutes. In the 2016–17 season he played 37 league games for Lierse, scoring 7 goals, four of which in 9

Europa League play-offs The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the second- ...

games. In this season Benson also tied with

Kevin Kis Kevin Nicolas Kis (born 26 September 1990) is a Belgian professional association football, footballer who plays as a left-back for Challenger Pro League club K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, Patro Eisden. Career Kis joined Belgian National Divisio ...

for the league's top assist provider. In 2017, he moved to RC Genk, and was loaned out to

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

for the 2018–19 season. He played a total of 28 games for Mouscron, scoring 6 goals. Benson had the most assists in the regular season behind Hans Vanaken and

Alejandro Pozuelo Alejandro Pozuelo Melero (born 20 September 1991) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays for Saudi Pro League club Al-Fayha FC, Al-Fayha as Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. Developed in the Re ...

with 8. In September 2019, he moved to

Royal Antwerp FC Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

on a permanent move. In the 2020–21 season, Benson played five games in the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

and 3 games in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, scoring one goal in Antwerp's 3–1 win over

Ludogorets Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League, ...

, which allowed them to advance to the

Round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. On 26 January 2021, Benson moved to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

on a loan deal until the end of the season. He had the most assists of his team in the

2020–21 Eredivisie The 2020–21 Eredivisie was the 65th season of the Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. The season began on 12 September 2020 and concluded on 16 May 2021. On 2 February 2021, the KNVB announced that effective immediately clubs would b ...

, recording four assists in 13 league games. On 4 August 2022, Benson joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal. He scored his first goal for Burnley in a 2–1 win against

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 ...

on 17 September 2022. He scored his first

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 ...

goals on 7 January 2023, notching a pair in an away game against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

International career

Benson made his debut for the Angola national team on 7 June 2024 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

at the

Estádio 11 de Novembro The Estádio 11 de Novembro is a multi-use stadium in Talatona (near Luanda), Angola. Completed in 2010 ahead of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship rea ...

. He substituted Felício Milson in the 69th minute of Angola's 1–0 victory.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Genk *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Antwerp *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2019–20 Burnley *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual * Belgian Second Division top assist provider: 2016–17 (joint – 7 assists)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Manuel 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Lokeren Footballers from East Flanders Angolan men's footballers Angola men's international footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Angolan people of Belgian descent Belgian people of Angolan descent Black Belgian sportspeople 21st-century Belgian sportsmen Men's association football wingers Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Eredivisie players English Football League players Premier League players Lierse S.K. players KRC Genk players Royal Excel Mouscron players Royal Antwerp F.C. players PEC Zwolle players Burnley F.C. players Angolan expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Angolan expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England