Igor Vetokele

Igor Vetokele
Personal information
Date of birth23 March 1992
Place of birthOstend, Belgium
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing positionForward
Club information
Current team
Charlton Athletic
Number14
Youth career
2006–2007Oostende
2007-2010Gent
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2010–2011Gent0(0)
2011–2012Cercle Brugge38(9)
2012–2014Copenhagen43(16)
2014–Charlton Athletic33(11)
National team
2009Belgium U178(3)
2009–2010Belgium U189(3)
2010–2011Belgium U1917(2)
2012–2013Belgium U2114(4)
2014–Angola3(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 7 March 2015.
† Appearances (Goals).

Igor Vetokele (born 23 March 1992 in Ostend, Belgium) is a Belgian-Angolan footballer who plays for Charlton Athletic F.C. in the Football League Championship.

Career

Cercle Brugge

Vetokele started his youth career at Oostende in 2006 and after one-year at the youth club, he joined Gent. There, Manager Bob Peeters saw him played and impressed with his playing style. Vetokele once appeared as an un-used substitute on the last game of the season.

On 31 August 2011, Vetokele joined Cercle Brugge on a permanent transfer, where he rejoin Peeters.[1] Vetokele made his Cercle Brugge debut, coming on as a substitute for Kevin Janssens in the 87th minutes, in a 0-0 draw against Lierse on 17 September 2011.[2] Weeks later on 5 October 2011, Vetokele scored his first goal for the club, in a 2-1 win over Mechelen.[3] In his first season at Cercle Brugge, Vetokele made thirty-six appearance and eight goals in all competitions. In the opening game of the season, Vetokele scored his first goal of the season, in a 3-3 draw against Genk[4] and went to make four more appearance until he left Cercle Brugge for Copenhagen.

Copenhagen

On 20 August 2012, Vetokele joined Copenhagen on a four-year contract with a fee of DKK 7,500,000.[5] Prior the move, Danish newspapers reported that the club were linked to Vetoleke after finding a replacement for Dame N'Doye, who left for Lokomotiv Moscow.[6]

He made his debut for F.C. Copenhagen in the last minutes of extra time in a Champions League playoff match against French side Lille OSC at Grand Stade Lille Métropole.[7] Vetokele later recalled playing in the Champions League as a "nice experience".[8] Vetokele scored on his league debut, on 15 September 2012, just two minutes after coming on as a substitute, in a 2-1 win over Nordsjælland.[9] Vetokele scored his first European goal in the last game of the group stage, in a 1-1 draw against Steaua București, which saw Copenhagen eliminated from the Europa League tournament.[10] However, his first season was poor because the fact he made fifteen appearance and scored only three times despite the club ended up winning the Danish Superliga, where he has been struggled with muscle injury.[11]

After a poor to his first season, Vetokele continued his goal drought until it came on 1 September 2013, in a 4-1 win over Viborg.[12] Vetokele then score three braces during the season against Nordsjælland on 2 November 2013,[13] then against Viborg on 24 November 2013[14] and Brøndby on 1 December 2013.[15] Two days after the Danish Cup Final, Vetokele scored the opener, in a 3-2 against OB, to ensure second place and earning a Champions League place. The goal also confirmed that Vetokele finished as the club's top scorer with thirteen goals.[16] Vetokele previously stated he continued to score more goals throughout the season.[17]

On 17 June 2014, F.C. Copenhagen accepted a bid from Championship side Charlton Athletic. Copenhagen agreed to the sale after the club purchased Steve De Ridder and they could not guarantee him first team football.[18]

Charlton Athletic

On 24 June 2014, Charlton completed the signing of Vetokele from FC Copenhagen for £2.4 million on a five-year deal.[19] Upon joining Charlton, Vetokele said of the move as a new challenge.[8]

Vetokele made his competitive debut in the friendly, in a 0-0 draw against Sint-Truidense on 6 July 2014.[20] After three goals in the friendlies match, Vetokele scored on his Championship debut, putting Charlton ahead in a 1–1 draw away to League new-boys Brentford.[21] He scored his second against Derby County,[22] his third against Huddersfield Town[23] and then scored twice against Brighton & Hove Albion.[24] On 5 September, he was named Championship player of the month for August after being nominated.[25][26]

International career

Vetokele has represented Belgium at various youth levels, from under 16 to under 21.[27] In May 2014, Vetokele pledged his commitment to play for Angola.[28]

Honours

References

  1. ↑ "Niet Genk maar Gent strikt Brüls" (in Dutch). HLN.be. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "CERCLE BRUGGE VS. LIERSE 0-0". Soccerway. 17 September 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Debutant Vetokele stort Mechelen in crisis: 0 op 15" (in Dutch). HLN.be. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Ook Genk Kan Niet Winnen" (in Dutch). Sporting Telenet. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Igor Vetokele til F.C. København". Copenhagen Official Website. 21 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Avis: FC København jagter Brugge-duo" (in Danish). BT.dk. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Lille need extra time to cut down København". UEFA Official Website. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Vetokele: I'm ready for the challenge". Charlton Athletic F.C. 24 June 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "FCK satte FCN til vægs" (in Danish). BT.dk. 15 September 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Ten-man Steaua sneak past dogged København". UEFA Official Website. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "FCK må undvære Jørgensen og Vetokele" (in Danish). BT.dk. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "Americans Abroad: Cameron’s Stoke win again, Boyd on the scoresheet". NBC Sports. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Klasseforskel i Parken: FCK knuste FCN" (in Danish). BT.dk. 2 November 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Ståle efter 4-1: Vi var gode i otte minutter" (in Danish). Politiken. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Bred enighed i Brøndby: FCK viste klassen" (in Danish). Politiken. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "FCK får sølv og en ny CL-chance" (in Danish). Politiken. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "Vetokele: Jeg vil score flere mål" (in Danish). BT.dk. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "FCK sælger Igor Vetokele". Copenhagen Official Website. 17 June 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "Igor Vetokele completes Charlton move". Charlton Athletic F.C. 20 June 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "REPORT: Sint-Truiden 0 Charlton 0". Charlton Athletic F.C. 6 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Brentford 1-1 Charlton Athletic". BBC Sport. 9 August 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "Charlton Athletic 3-2 Derby County". BBC Sport. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "Huddersfield Town 1-1 Charlton Athletic". BBC Sport. 23 August 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2 Charlton Athletic". BBC Sport. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Vetokele nominated for player of the month". Charlton Athletic F.C. 4 September 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Vetokele named player of the month". Charlton Athletic F.C. 3 September 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Igor Vetokele National Career". e-kickoff.com. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "FCK-topscorer tørner ud for Angola" (in Danish). Bold.dk. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.

External links