Mike Botuli Cestor (born 30 April 1992) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in France, Cestor has earned

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

at under-20 level.

Club career

Early career

Cestor was born in

Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine Bagneux () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department, in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Geography The commune of Bagneux is surrounded by the following communes, from the north and clockwise ...

, Paris. Before trialling for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

, Cestor had been on the books as a youth player for Italian side

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

Leyton Orient

Cestor joined Orient's youth squad early in the 2009–10 season and also featured in the reserve team before being called up to the first-team squad in December 2009, although he made no first-team appearances. He signed a new two-year contract on 9 June 2010, and he made his professional debut in a League Cup match for Orient, as they won 2–1 at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

on 10 August 2010. His league debut came three days later in the 3–1 defeat 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 11 January 2011, Cestor went on a month's loan to Boreham Wood, making his debut on 15 January in the 2–0 win over Chelmsford City.

Woking

On 19 August 2011, he went on a month's loan to

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, and made his debut the following day in the 0–0 draw at home to his old club Boreham Wood. He made seven appearances for Woking before returning to Orient and coming on as a substitute in their 3–2 League Cup defeat at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 20 September. He returned to Woking on 12 January 2012 for another month's loan spell, which was later extended, and after a brief return to Orient, he began yet another loan period at Woking. On 15 May 2012, he was one of three players released by Orient manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English former professional football manager and coach. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional sports coaching with Notts County in 1993. He briefly took ...

. On 19 July 2012, Cestor signed permanently for Woking, who were newly promoted to the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

. On 20 December 2014, in a 2–1 defeat to

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, Cestor suffered a long term knee injury, therefore ruling him out for the remainder of the 2014–15 campaign. Ahead of the following campaign, Cestor was released at the end of his contract, due to his slow progress with his injury.

Épinal

On 2 July 2016, Cestor joined French side

SAS Épinal Stade Athletique Spinalien Épinal is a French football club based in the commune of Épinal. They currently play in Championnat National, the third tier of French football. Their kit colours are yellow and blue. They play their home matches at ...

after a year without a club.

International career

Prior to the

2013 Toulon Tournament The 2013 Toulon Tournament was the 41st edition of the Toulon Tournament. México were the defending champions but failed to secure a spot in the finals. Participants * (hosts) * * * * * * * * * Squads Venues Results ''All times are local ...

, Cestor received a call-up for the DR Congo U20 team. Cestor went on to start all four of DR Congo's games in the Toulon campaign, initially making his debut in a 1–0 defeat against the France U20 side on 30 May 2013.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

CFR Cluj *

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

: 2019–20,

2020–21 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 ...

, 2021–22 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual *Liga I Team of the Season: 2018–19 *Liga I Team of the Regular Season: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cestor, Mike 1992 births Living people Footballers from Hauts-de-Seine Black French sportspeople People from Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine French sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent French men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players National League (English football) players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Liga I players Ekstraklasa players Pisa SC players Leyton Orient F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players Woking F.C. players SAS Épinal players FC Astra Giurgiu players CFR Cluj players FC Argeș Pitești players Radomiak Radom players FC Gloria Buzău players Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland 21st-century French sportsmen