Gaël Bigirimana

Gaël Bigirimana
Personal information
Full name Gaël Bigirimana[1]
Date of birth (1993-10-22) 22 October 1993
Place of birth Bujumbura, Burundi
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Coventry City
Number 5
Youth career
2005–2011 Coventry City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2012 Coventry City 26 (0)
2012–2016 Newcastle United 13 (1)
2015 → Rangers (loan) 0 (0)
2015–2016 → Coventry City (loan) 13 (0)
2016– Coventry City 12 (0)
National team‡
2013 England U20 2 (0)
2015– Burundi 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 November 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:44, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

Gaël Bigirimana (Kirundi pronunciation: [ɡaˈeːl βiɟiriˈmaːnaː]; born 22 October 1993) is a Burundian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Coventry City.

Born in Burundi, Bigirimana moved to the United Kingdom with his family as a refugee in 2004 and chose to represent England at under-20 level in 2013, later representing his country of birth in 2015.[3]

Club career

Coventry City

Bigirimana was born in Bujumbura, Burundi but moved to the United Kingdom with his family as a refugee in 2004, having spent time living in Uganda.[4] He was taken on trial having asked at Coventry City's academy training facility.[4]

Graduating from the Sky Blues' youth set-up to sign his first professional deal for the club in the summer of 2011 and playing a role the Sky Blues' first team pre-season preparations for the 2011–12 campaign,[5] Bigirimana made his professional debut on 8 August 2011 in a 1–0 Championship defeat by Leicester City, playing the full 90 minutes.[6]

On 12 March 2012, Bigirimana won the Championship Apprentice of the Year Award for the 2011–12 season. He beat Crystal Palace's Jonathan Williams and Reading's Jordan Obita to the award.[7]

Newcastle United

On 6 July 2012, Bigirimana signed for Premier League club Newcastle United.[8] United's website confirmed Bigirimana had signed a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be between £500,000 and £1,000,000. His competitive debut came on 23 August 2012, in Newcastle's 1–1 draw with Greek side Atromitos, in their UEFA Europa League Fourth Qualifying Round match,[9] before making his home Premier League debut on 2 September 2012 in a 1–1 draw with Aston Villa as a substitute for the injured Danny Simpson. He scored his first professional goal on 3 December to complete a 3–0 home win against Wigan Athletic after two earlier goals by Demba Ba.[10]

Rangers (loan)

On 2 February 2015, Bigirimana signed for Scottish Championship club Rangers F.C. on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season.[11] He never made an appearance for the club due to an undisclosed medical condition, leading to the then Rangers manager Stuart McCall to suggest the club should never have signed him in the first place.[12]

Coventry City (loan)

On 16 November 2015, Bigirimana returned to Coventry City on an emergency loan until 3 January 2016.[13] His loan was extended until 24 January, following five appearances in the league, with three of them starts.[14] On 14 January, his loan was further extended until the end of the season, with no option to recall.[15]

Ahead of the 2016-17 season, Bigirimana signed a one-year deal with Coventry City cancelling his contract with Newcastle United.[16] He scored his first goal for Coventry in an EFL Trophy tie against Wycombe Wanderers on 9 November 2016.[17]

International career

In April 2012, Bigirimana announced that he would like to play for Rwanda at international level.[18] He was later considered by Rwanda for the 2013 African Youth Championship qualification stage.[19] In October, Bigirimana stated that he had rejected an international call-up from Burundi due to political instability in the country.[20]

In May 2013, Bigirimana was called up to the provisional England squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[21] On 28 May 2013, he was named in the final squad by manager Peter Taylor.[22] He made his debut on 16 June, in a 3–0 win in a warm-up game against Uruguay.[23]

On 15 November 2015, Bigirimana made his debut for Burundi during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification as a starter against DR Congo.[24] The match finished 2–2 but FIFA awarded DR Congo a 3–0 win as a result of the fielding of Bigirimana, who was ineligible.[25]

Personal life

Bigirimana was born in Bujumbura to a Burundian father and a Rwandan mother.[26]

Bigirimana married during the 2016 summer[27] to former Miss Coventry[28] and Law Graduate Natalia Leigh [29]

Career statistics

As of 8 May 2016
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Coventry City 2011–12[30] Championship260101000280
Total 260101000280
Newcastle United 2012–13[31] Premier League13110109[lower-alpha 1]0241
2013–14[32] Premier League0000100010
2014–15[33] Premier League0000000000
2015–16[34] Premier League0000000000
Total 131102090251
Rangers (loan) 2014–15[33] Scottish Championship0000000000
Coventry City (loan) 2015–16[34] League One130000000130
Career total 521203090661
  1. ↑ Appearances in UEFA Europa League

Honours

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 – List of Players" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). p. 8. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2012). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2012–2013 (43rd ed.). London: Headline. p. 457. ISBN 978-0-7553-6356-8.
  3. ↑ "Internationals - Magpies Take Flight". Newcastle United F.C. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Coventry's boy from Burundi". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Coventry City 0–1 Leicester City". Coventry City F.C. 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "Coventry City v Leicester City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Top award for Coventry City starlet Gael Bigirimana". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  8. ↑ O'Rourke, Pete (6 July 2012). "Newcastle bag Bigirimana". Sky Sports.
  9. ↑ "Atromitos 1 Newcastle United 1". Newcastle United FC. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "Newcastle 3-0 Wigan" BBC Sport. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012
  11. ↑ "Rangers sign five Newcastle players on loan on deadline day". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  12. ↑ "Stuart McCall: Rangers should not have signed Gael Bigirimana". BBC Sport. 27 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "SIGNING: Coventry City sign Newcastle United midfielder Gael Bigirimana on loan until January". Coventry City F.C. 16 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "LOAN: Coventry City agree loan extension for Gael Bigirimana from Newcastle United". Coventry City F.C. 5 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "LOAN: Coventry City have signed a loan deal for Newcastle United midfielder Gael Bigirimana". Coventry City F.C. 14 January 2016.
  16. ↑ "Gael Bigirimana: Coventry City re-sign Newcastle United midfielder". BBC Sport. 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  17. ↑ "Wycombe Wanderers 2 Coventry City 4: Ryan Haynes stars as Sky Blues secure home tie". coventrytelegraph.net. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  18. ↑ Mugabe, Bonnie (2 April 2012). "Bigirimana keen on playing for Amavubi". New Times. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Coventry City: Gael Bigirimana in Newcastle United talks". Coventry Telegraph. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  20. ↑ Bird, Simon. "Cream of the crop: How Bigirimana hit the big time thanks to a trip to buy milk". Daily Mirror.
  21. ↑ "U20 WORLD CUP SQUAD". The FA. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  22. ↑ "Final squad named" TheFA.com. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  23. ↑ "Training win for Three Lions" TheFA.com. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  24. ↑ "Congo DR-Burundi". FIFA.com. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  25. ↑ "DISCIPLINARY OVERVIEW – 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA™ QUALIFIERS" (PDF). FIFA. 1 February 2016.
  26. ↑ Nkuutu, Hamza (14 October 2012). "Bigirimana will pay off whoever trusts him". The New Times. Rwanda. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  27. ↑ "Coventry re-sign Newcastle midfielder Gael Bigirimana on one-year deal". Sky Sports. Sky Sports News. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  28. ↑ "Newly crowned Miss Coventry following in mum's footstepsl". Coventry Telegraph. Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "Gael Bigirimana reveals burning desire to get Coventry City and his own career back on trackl". Coventry Telegraph. Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  30. ↑ "Games played by Gaël Bigirimana in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  31. ↑ "Games played by Gaël Bigirimana in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  32. ↑ "Games played by Gaël Bigirimana in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  33. 1 2 "Games played by Gaël Bigirimana in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  34. 1 2 "Games played by Gaël Bigirimana in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
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