Olunga among LaLiga’s unsung continental trailblazers hailed for success on Africa Day
Some of Africa’s biggest football stars have become household names due to their successful exploits at some of LaLiga’s elite clubs, but on this Africa, Day LaLiga puts the focus on some players who were continental trailblazers due to their time in Spain.
The likes of Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Cote D’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita are world-renowned for their time at FC Barcelona, while Cameroon’s Geremi Njitap was a two-time UEFA Champions League winner with Real Madrid and Frederic Kanoute a double Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup winner with Sevilla.
Those are players whose stories are well documented, but there are other players who may not be globally well known, but who nevertheless made an important contribution to growing LaLiga’s footprint and support on the African continent.
If Eto’o and Geremi are LaLiga’s most famous Cameroonians, there is another in Fabrice Olinga who has his own footnote in LaLiga history as the league’s youngest goalscorer.
At the age of just 16 years three months and six days, Olunga made history on the opening day of the 2012/13 season, scoring the only goal of the game in his debut for Malaga against RC Celta.
Olunga was a product of the Samuel Eto’o Foundation, but was unable to sustain his LaLiga career and currently plays his club football in Belgium.
Only two Kenyan players have ever played in LaLiga, McDonald Mariga – who played as a defensive midfielder at Real Oviedo in the 2017/2018 season – and electric striker Michael Olunga.
On January 13 2018 Olunga made African LaLiga history by becoming the first Kenyan to score a LaLiga hat-trick, a treble in just 22 minutes for Girona in a 6-0 thrashing of Las Palmas.
Olunga had a bright future and plenty of prospects in Europe, before opting to join the Qatar professional league.
His time at Girona may have been brief, but it was certainly memorable as he made football-loving Kenyans sit up and take notice and follow the exploits of the Spanish league.
