 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Genséric Kusunga[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1988-03-12)12 March 1988 (age 37) | ||
| Place of birth | Geneva, Switzerland | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1999–2005 | Servette | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2010 | Servette | 68 | (5) |
| 2010–2013 | FC Basel | 13 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | →Servette (loan) | 19 | (0) |
| 2013–2015 | Oldham Athletic | 30 | (2) |
| 2016–2018 | União da Madeira | 20 | (2) |
| 2018–2019 | Dundee | 33 | (2) |
| 2019–2020 | Cova da Piedade | 8 | (1) |
| Total | 191 | (12) | |
| International career | |||
| 2008 | Switzerland U-20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Switzerland U-21 | 1 | (0) |
| 2013–2017 | Angola | 14 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Genséric Kusunga (born 12 March 1988) is a former professionalfootballer. He played forServette,FC Basel,Oldham Athletic,União de Madeira,Dundee andCova da Piedade. Born in Switzerland, he representedAngola at international level.
Born inGeneva, Kusunga played his youth football withServette. Having progressed through the club's youth teams, Kusunga joined their Under 21s team in the 2004–05 season. Following the club's bankruptcy in February 2005 all the professional players left the club and as a further consequence, the U-21 took over the club name playing two divisions lower, in1. Liga. In the 2005–06 season, under head coachJean-Michel Aeby, Kusunga made 17 appearances for the team in the 1. Liga, scoring once. The team won the division championship and thus secured promotion to theChallenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Kusunga made a further 68Challenge League appearances, scoring five times during his five-year tenure with the club.[2]
In May 2010, ahead of the2010–11 Swiss Super League season, Kusunga signed forSwiss Super League sideFC Basel, and was handed the number 21 shirt on his arrival. He joined Basel's first team during their2010–11 season under head coachThorsten Fink. After playing in nine test games, he played hisdomestic league debut for the club in the home game in theSt. Jakob-Park on 20 September, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute, as Basel won 3–2 againstFC Zürich.[3] Basel started in the2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position. Therefore, they dropped to the2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated bySpartak Moscow due to a last minute goal against them. Kusunga played in both Europa League games, but remained on the bench in the Champions League.[4] With Basel, Kusunga won the Swiss Championship at the end of the2010–11 season, topping the table just one point clear of rivalsZürich.[5]
In the very first match of the new season, after just 3 minutes, Kusunga was substituted out due to a hamstring injury and this kept him out for two months. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won theDouble with his new club. They won theLeague Championship title with 20 points advantage.[6] The team won theSwiss Cup, winning the final 4–3 in a penalty shootout againstLuzern.[7]
To the start of the 2012–13 season it was decided to loan Kusunga out to his club of origin for a year, so that he could obtain playing experience.[8] Servette had meantime been promoted to theSuper League and he was able to play 19 league matches for them, but he could not help them from relegation as they finished in last position.
On his return to Basel he decided to leave the club. During his time with them Kusunga played a total of 50 games for Basel scoring a total of eight goals. 13 of these games were in theSwiss Super League, four in theSwiss Cup, four in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 29 were friendly games. He scored all his eight goals during the test games.[9]
Kusunga signed forOldham Athletic until the end of the 2013–14 season on 2 September 2013, with the option of extending the deal until the summer of 2015.[10] Kusunga was recommended to the Latics by Oldham legend, Joe Royle, his son Darren's agency heard about the player whilst scouting in Switzerland. Kusunga was offered more lucrative deals to clubs in Israel and Bulgaria but the sharp tongued Joe Royle stepped in along with his son to secure a deal with Lee Johnsons side. Kusunga scored his first goal for the club in the first round of the FA Cup, giving the Latics the lead againstWolverhampton Wanderers.[11]
Kusunga scored his first league goal on 25 January 2014 and it turned out to be a goal that will be remembered by Latics fans for many years to come, Oldham were 3–0 down againstPeterborough United at half – time and many of the Latics faithful thought that the game was all over, with a minority of the fans even leaving at half – time, however, after the interval, the Latics got the score back to 3–2 and looked to have the momentum on their side to mount a comeback, however, they conceded again and the chances of that happening seemed to disappear with the scoreline at 4–2 but the Latics picked themselves up and scored straight away to make it 4–3 and the comeback was back on. Then in the dying minutes of the game, the Latics got a penalty and scored it to make it 4–4. And then something happened to turn the game into one of the most memorable games in Oldham's history, in the last seconds of the game, deep into injury time, Kusunga scrambled a shot into the back of the net from a corner in the 96th minute and Oldham won the game 5–4 after being 3–0 and 4–2 down during the game.[12]
The one – year contract extension option that the club had on Kusunga was exercised, extending his contract till the end of the 2014–15 season.[13] On 24 April 2015, Kusunga was released by Oldham.[14]
After being without a club for ten months, Kusunga signed a deal withC.F. União in the PortuguesePrimeira Liga.
Kusunga, who as a free agent was able to sign outside of the transfer window, signed forScottish Premiership clubDundee on 2 February 2018.[15] He replacedJack Hendry, who had been sold toCeltic on 31 January.[15] He was released by Dundee at the end of the 2018–19 season.[16]
On 17 December 2019, Kusunga joined PortugueseLigaPro clubC.D. Cova da Piedade on a free agent.[17] After leaving the club in 2020, Kusunga would retire from football.
In 2008, Kusunga was called up five times for theSwitzerland U-20 team, but played only once, againstGermany U-21 on 22 April 2008. In 2009, Kusunga was called up twice for theSwitzerland U-21 side in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifying stage, but was an unused substitute in both games.[18][19] He played in one friendly match againstNorway U-21 on 3 March 2010.
He has, however, since committed his international future to Angola, and played a friendly for them in the buildup to the 2013 African Cup of Nations.[20]
Basel