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 | Oxford City | ||
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) |
2023–2024 | Bromley | 7 | (0) |
2023 | → Oxford City (loan) | 4 | (1) |
2024 | → Kidderminster Harriers (loan) | 6 | (0) |
2024– | Oxford City | 0 | (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 Oxford City.
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] Following Bromley's promotion, Kpekawa departed the club at the end of the 2023–24 season. [41]
In July 2024, Kpekawa returned to National League North side Oxford City on a permanent deal following a loan spell with the club the previous season. [42]
Kpekawa was born in England and is of Sierra Leone descent. [43] 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. [44] Two days later he made his international debut as the Czech Republic were defeated 5–0. He featured for the full 90-minutes. [45]
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. [46] 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. [47]
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". [48]
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 [49] | Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | ||
2016–17 [50] | 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 [49] | League Two | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
Barnsley | 2016–17 [50] | Championship | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
Colchester United | 2017–18 [51] | League Two | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 8 | 0 |
St Mirren | 2018–19 [52] | Scottish Premiership | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Billericay Town | 2018–19 [52] | National League South | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
AS Trenčín | 2019–20 [52] | Slovak Super Liga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Chelmsford City | 2020–21 [52] | National League South | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 [lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 12 | 0 |
Hemel Hempstead Town | 2021–22 [52] | National League South | 37 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 [lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 40 | 3 |
Maidenhead United | 2022–23 [52] | National League | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 [lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 27 | 3 |
Bromley | 2023–24 [52] | National League | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Oxford City (loan) | 2023–24 [52] | National League | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Career total | 129 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 147 | 7 |
Hogan Phillip Ephraim is an English former footballer. He is a graduate of the West Ham United academy, a former England Under-19 international, and made over 100 appearances for Queen's Park Rangers. His primary position is winger, but he can also play forward.
Peter Iain Ramage is an English football coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Newcastle United U23 team.
Marcus Tristam Bean is a retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the English Football League, most notably for Brentford and Wycombe Wanderers. Born in England, he represented Jamaica at full international level.
Christopher Andrew Barker was an English professional footballer who played as a defender. He represented Alfreton Town, Barnsley, Cardiff City, Stoke City, Colchester United, Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, Southend United, Hereford FC and Weston Super Mare and he was player-manager of Aldershot Town for three months in 2015. His brother, Richie, is also a professional footballer.
James Charles Mackie is a former Scotland international footballer who played as a striker or winger, most notably for Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, and Oxford United.
Luke Anthony Freeman is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger.
Frank Herman Nouble is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for National League club Yeovil Town.
Lee James Brown is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back.
Thomas James Carroll is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL League Two club Milton Keynes Dons.
Thomas Joseph Hitchcock is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Real Bedford F.C.
Macauley Miles Bonne is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for National League side Southend United.
Michael Alexander Petrasso is a Canadian professional soccer player as a winger and is currently a free agent having last played for York United.
The 2014–15 season was Colchester United's 73rd season in their history and seventh successive season in the third tier of English football, League One. Alongside competing in the League One, the club also participated in the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Football League Trophy.
The 2014–15 season was Queens Park Rangers's 126th professional season.
Jamie Alexander Sendles-White is a former English-born Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a defender.
Michael Derry O'Donoghue is an Irish footballer who plays as a left-back for Hornchurch.
Dominic Martin Ball is an English professional footballer who plays for League One club Leyton Orient. He plays primarily as a defensive midfielder but can also play as a centre-back or at full-back.
Brandon Comley is a professional footballer who plays for EFL League Two side Walsall. Born in England, he plays for the Montserrat national team.
The 2016–17 season saw Barnsley's return to the Championship after two seasons in League One, following their relegation in the 2013–14 season. Along with the Championship, the club also competed in the FA Cup and League Cup. The season covered the period from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.
Dillon Barnes is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Dulwich Hamlet. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national team.