Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Cole Desmond Kpekawa [1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 20 May 1996||
Place of birth | Blackpool, England | ||
Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) [2] | ||
Position(s) | Centre back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team |
Kidderminster Harriers (on loan from Bromley) | ||
Number | 22 | ||
Youth career | |||
Queens Park Rangers | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) |
2014–2016 | Queens Park Rangers | 6 | (0) |
2014–2015 | → Colchester United (loan) | 4 | (0) |
2015 | → Portsmouth (loan) | 2 | (0) |
2015–2016 | → Leyton Orient (loan) | 9 | (0) |
2016–2017 | Barnsley | 7 | (0) |
2017–2018 | Colchester United | 6 | (0) |
2018–2019 | St Mirren | 4 | (0) |
2019 | Billericay Town | 7 | (0) |
2019–2020 | AS Trenčín | 1 | (0) |
2020–2021 | Chelmsford City | 11 | (0) |
2021–2022 | Hemel Hempstead Town | 37 | (3) |
2022–2023 | Maidenhead United | 25 | (3) |
2023– | Bromley | 7 | (0) |
2023 | → Oxford City (loan) | 4 | (1) |
2024– | → Kidderminster Harriers (loan) | 6 | (0) |
International career | |||
2015 | England U20 | 4 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:08, 28 April 2024 (UTC) |
Cole Desmond Kpekawa (born 20 May 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Kidderminster Harriers on loan from Bromley.
Born in Blackpool, [3] Kpekawa came through the Academy at Queens Park Rangers. [4] He signed a two-year scholarship with the club in July 2012 at the age of 16. [1] On 2 April 2014, he signed his first professional contract on a one-year deal. [5] [6]
Kpekawa joined League One side Colchester United for an initial one-month loan deal on 20 November 2014. [7] He made his professional debut against Coventry City at the Colchester Community Stadium in a 1–0 League One defeat on 22 November. [8] After making four appearances for Colchester, his loan was extended for a further month until 24 January 2015. [9] He made six appearances for Colchester, four in League One and two in the FA Cup. [10]
On 19 March 2015, he was loaned to League Two side Portsmouth until the end of the season. [11] He made his debut on 21 March in a 1–0 defeat against AFC Wimbledon where he played the full 90-minutes. [12] He was recalled from his loan at Portsmouth by QPR on 20 April having made two first-team appearances. [13]
On returning to QPR, Kpekawa made his debut for the club as an 85th-minute substitute for Yun Suk-young in a 5–1 Premier League defeat to Leicester City on 24 May 2015. [14]
On 19 November 2015, he joined League Two side Leyton Orient in an initial one-month loan deal. [15] He made his debut two days later on 21 November as an early substitute in a 3–2 league win against York City. [16] His loan was extended in December 2015, [4] and again in January 2016 to remain with the O's until 1 March 2016. [17] He was recalled from his loan by parent club QPR on 1 February 2016 after making nine appearances for Orient. [18]
After struggling to hold down a first-team place at Queens Park Rangers, Championship rivals Barnsley signed Kpekawa for an undisclosed fee, thought to be in the region of £450,000, on 31 August 2016. He agreed a three-year contract with the club. [19] [20] He made his Barnsley debut on 10 September 2016 as a late substitute in their 2–1 win at Preston North End. [21] However, after only four starts, Kpekawa found himself out of the first-team picture as manager Paul Heckingbottom preferred to play right-back Andy Yiadom out of position at left-back, while the club coaches worked with Kpekawa to suit a more central role. [22]
Having made only seven league appearances for Barnsley, Kpekawa made a permanent return to his former loan club Colchester United on 17 July 2017. [23] He signed an initial one-year deal for an undisclosed fee. [24] He made his second Colchester United debut on 5 August as a substitute in their 3–1 defeat at Accrington Stanley. [25]
After failing to establish himself in Colchester's first-team and having not made an appearance since January 2018, Kpekawa left the club by mutual consent on 13 April 2018. [26]
On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Kpekawa had signed a two-year deal with St Mirren after a successful trial period with the Scottish Premiership side. [27] Kpekawa made his debut for the club on the same day, starting in a 0–0 draw with Kilmarnock in the Scottish League Cup. [28] After failing to break into the first team at Saints, he was released by mutual consent in January 2019. [29]
On 20 August 2019, Kpekawa joined Fortuna Liga side AS Trenčín on a multi-year contract following a spell with Billericay Town. [30]
Kpekawa made his Fortuna Liga debut against Zemplín Michalovce on 14 September 1019. [31] In his debut match, Kpekawa was sent off in the 9th minute of the match, after he broke a leg of 18 year old Matej Trusa. Later that day, Trusa was diagnosed with a double fracture of his right leg. It was expected to take approximately 12 months until he recovers. [32] Trusa, however, managed to return in 6 months. On 20 September 2019, Kpekawa was suspended for six months by the disciplinary committee of Slovak Football Association for his foul on Trusa. [33]
On 30 October 2020, Kpekawa signed for National League South club Chelmsford City. [34]
On 2 June 2021, Chelmsford announced fellow National League South side Hemel Hempstead Town had signed Kpekawa. [35]
On 27 May 2022, Kpekawa joined National League club Maidenhead United. [36] He was released at the end of the season. [37]
He joined Bromley for the 2023-24 season. [38] In November 2023, he joined Oxford City on loan. [39] In February 2024, he was loaned to Kidderminster Harriers until the end of the season. [40]
Kpekawa was born in England and is of Sierra Leone descent. [41] On 3 September 2015, following an injury to Kean Bryan of Manchester City, Kpekawa was called up to the England under-20 squad for their match against the Czech Republic. [42] Two days later he made his international debut as the Czech Republic were defeated 5–0. He featured for the full 90-minutes. [43]
He was again called up to the under-20 squad for the Mercedes-Benz Elite Cup in Germany, where England would play the Netherlands, Turkey and Germany. [44] He started in England's 2–1 win against Turkey and featured as a substitute in their 1–0 defeat by Germany as England ended the competition as runners-up. [45]
Kpekawa primarily plays as a left-back but can also operate as a centre-back. Barnsley manager Paul Heckingbottom described him as "tall, quick, strong, with a good left foot". [46]
Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Queens Park Rangers | 2014–15 [10] | Premier League | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | ||
2015–16 [47] | Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | ||
2016–17 [48] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | ||
Total | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | |||
Colchester United (loan) | 2014–15 [10] | League One | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Portsmouth (loan) | 2014–15 [10] | League Two | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
Leyton Orient (loan) | 2015–16 [47] | League Two | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
Barnsley | 2016–17 [48] | Championship | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
Colchester United | 2017–18 [49] | League Two | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 [a] | 0 | 8 | 0 |
St Mirren | 2018–19 [50] | Scottish Premiership | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Billericay Town | 2018–19 [50] | National League South | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
AS Trenčín | 2019–20 [50] | Slovak Super Liga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Chelmsford City | 2020–21 [50] | National League South | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 [b] | 0 | 12 | 0 |
Hemel Hempstead Town | 2021–22 [50] | National League South | 37 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 [b] | 0 | 40 | 3 |
Maidenhead United | 2022–23 [50] | National League | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 [b] | 0 | 27 | 3 |
Bromley | 2023–24 [50] | National League | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Oxford City (loan) | 2023–24 [50] | National League | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Career total | 129 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 147 | 7 |