Olivier Karekezi

Fils Olivier Karekezi (Kinyarwanda pronunciation: [olivje kaɾeˌcezi] ^ⓘ; born 25 May 1983) is a Rwandan former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also a former captain of the Rwanda national team.

Olivier Karekezi

Karekezi playing for Östers IF in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Fils Olivier Karekezi
Date of birth	(1983-05-25) 25 May 1983 (age 42)
Place of birth	Kigali, Rwanda
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1989–2001	APR
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2002–2004	APR
2005–2007	Helsingborgs IF	60	(18)
2008–2009	Hamarkameratene	32	(6)
2010–2011	Östers IF	49	(6)
2011–2012	APR		(14)
2012–2013	CA Bizertin	7	(1)
2014	Trelleborgs FF	15	(4)
2015–2017	Råå IF	42	(15)
2018–2019	Råå IF	28	(12)
International career
2000–2013	Rwanda	68	(21)
Managerial career
2017–2018	Rayon Sports
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Karekezi signed for Helsingborgs IF in 2005, leaving his native club APR FC, and scored five goals in 18 matches during the 2005 season. In 2006, he scored 11 goals for Helsingborg and thereby became their top scorer in Allsvenskan. In January 2008 he transferred to Hamarkameratene. In March 2010 he joined the Swedish second division club, Östers IF on a two-year deal.^[1]

Karekezi took a pay cut to play for his former club APR. Having previously got US$52,000 (Rwf30.9m) a year at Swedish second division side Östers IF, he agreed a two-year deal with APR in the region of US$24, 000 (Rwf14m) a year.^[2]

Towards the end of September 2012, he joined Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club CA Bizertin in a two-year deal.^[3] In July 2013, he announced that he would retire from football when his contract with Bizertin expired in March 2015.^[4] However, he joined Swedish third-tier outfit Trelleborgs FF on 22 January 2014.^[5]

Karekezi spent two-and-a-half seasons with Swedish side Råå IF in Division 3 Södra Götaland.^[6] He returned to the club in March 2018, eight months after he had left Råå IF.^[6]

International career

Karekezi made his international debut for Rwanda in 2000, and represented his country at the 2004 African Cup of Nations.

After 13 years with the national team, he announced his retirement from international football in late August 2013.^[7]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Rwanda's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Karekezi goal.

List of international goals scored by Olivier Karekezi^[8]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 December 2001	Stade Amahoro, Kigali, Rwanda	Somalia	3–0	3–0	2001 CECAFA Cup
2	13 October 2002	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana	Ghana	1–0	2–4	2004 African Cup of Nations qualification
3	3 December 2002	Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium, Arusha, Tanzania	Somalia	1–0	1–0	2002 CECAFA Cup
4	12 October 2003	Stade Amahoro, Kigali, Rwanda	Namibia	2–0	3–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	2 December 2003	Khartoum Stadium, Khartoum, Sudan	Zanzibar	1–0	2–2	2003 CECAFA Cup
6				2–1
7	14 August 2004	Kampala, Uganda	Uganda	?–?	2–1	Friendly
8	11 December 2004	Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	Zanzibar	2–1	4–2	2004 CECAFA Cup
9	19 December 2004	Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	Tanzania	?–?	5–1	2004 CECAFA Cup
10	8 December 2005	Stade Amahoro, Kigali, Rwanda	Uganda	1–0	1–0	2005 CECAFA Cup
11	8 October 2006	Antoinette Tubman Stadium, Monrovia, Liberia	Liberia	1–2	2–3	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
12	25 March 2007	Estadio Internacional, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea	Equatorial Guinea	1–1	1–3	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
13	8 September 2007	Stade Amahoro, Kigali, Rwanda	Liberia	4–0	4–0	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
14	13 December 2007	Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	Djibouti	1–0	9–0	2007 CECAFA Cup
15				9–0
16	31 May 2008	Stade Régional Nyamirambo, Kigali, Rwanda	Mauritania	1–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
17	8 June 2008	Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	Ethiopia	2–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
18	14 June 2008	Stade Régional Nyamirambo, Kigali, Rwanda	Morocco	3–1	3–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
19	15 November 2011	Stade Amahoro, Kigali, Rwanda	Eritrea	1–0	3–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
20	26 November 2011	Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	Tanzania	1–0	1–0	2011 CECAFA Cup
21	2 December 2011	Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	Djibouti	3–2	5–2	2011 CECAFA Cup
22				4–2
23				5–2
24	8 December 2011	Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	Sudan	2–1	2–1	2011 CECAFA Cup