Cole Desmond Kpekawa (born 20 May 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Maidenhead United.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cole Desmond Kpekawa[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1996-05-20) 20 May 1996 (age 26)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Blackpool, England | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Maidenhead United | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| 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– | Maidenhead United | 14 | (2) |
| National team | |||
| 2015 | England U20 | 4 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:01, 29 October 2022 (UTC) | |||
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]
Kpekawa was born in England and is of Sierra Leone descent.[37] 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.[38] Two days later he made his international debut as the Czech Republic were defeated 5–0. He featured for the full 90-minutes.[39]
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.[40] 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.[41]
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".[42]
| 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[43] | Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17[44] | 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[43] | League Two | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Barnsley | 2016–17[44] | Championship | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| Colchester United | 2017–18[45] | League Two | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| St Mirren | 2018–19[46] | Scottish Premiership | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Billericay Town | 2018–19[46] | National League South | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| AS Trenčín | 2019–20[46] | Slovak Super Liga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chelmsford City | 2020–21[46] | National League South | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Hemel Hempstead Town | 2021–22[46] | National League South | 37 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 40 | 3 |
| Maidenhead United | 2022–23[46] | National League | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 |
| Career total | 108 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 124 | 5 | ||
Maidenhead United F.C. – current squad | |
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