Manasse Kianga
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manasse Kianga | ||
| Date of birth | 18 March 2002 | ||
| Place of birth | Johannesburg, South Africa[1] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Slovan Bratislava | ||
| Number | 19 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2019-2024 | Rossington Main | 90 | (41) |
| 2020-2021 | Grantham Town | 14 | (0) |
| 2021-2022 | Worksop Town | 3 | (0) |
| 2022 | Sheffield F.C. | 15 | (0) |
| 2025-2026 | Lokomotíva Košice | 9 | (3) |
| 2026- | Slovan Bratislava B | 11 | (3) |
| 2026- | Slovan Bratislava | 3 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 16 September 2026 | |||
Manasse Kianga (born 18 March 2002) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-forward or winger for Slovak Niké Liga club ŠK Slovan Bratislava.[a]
Club career
[edit]Kianga played in the English non-league system for multiple teams (most significantly for Rossington Main) before moving to Slovakia in 2025, when he joined Lokomotíva Košice. His move was facilitated by a former Slovak international and Chelsea F.C. player Milan Lalkovič, who had met Kianga while working as a youth coach in England and recommended that he continue his career in Slovakia. Milan Lalkovič sr. (Milan Lalkovič's father) was manager of Lokomotíva Košice at the beginning of the season 2025/2026[b].
Lalkovič later stated that he believed Kianga had the talent to reach the Slovak top flight within a year.[3]
Early career
[edit]Kianga joined Rossington Main in 2019 and left the club in 2024 (with multiple breaks) and helped them to achieve promotion from Division One of Northern Counties East Football League (10th tier) in season 2022-23. He played in 115 matches and scored 51 goals in all competitions for Rossington Main (including friendlies).[4] According to the players historical stats on club site he appeared only in 104 official competitive matches scoring 44 goals.[5]
COVID seasons 2020-21,2021-22 he spent at Grantham Town participating in Premier Division of Northern Premier League(7th tier).
During season 2021-22 he also appeared in Division One East of Northern Premier League(8th tier) playing for teams Worksop Town and Sheffield F.C..[6]
FC Lokomotíva Košice
[edit]Season 2025-26 was team anniversary, 80th league season in their history. Former czechoslovak top flight participant was aiming and gearing up for promotion from 3rd tier, but team underperformed badly (2 wins, 8 points and absurd -31 goal difference from 13 matches / first half of the season).[7] That sealed club takeover and change of all personnel (squad including) during winter break.[8]
Kianga missed first 5 games of the team (4 in league and 1 in cup, due to problems with visas), but later played full 9 games until the winter break scoring 3 goals and added 1 goal in 2 appearances in Slovak Cup.[9]
ŠK Slovan Bratislava
[edit]Kianga joined ŠK Slovan Bratislava in early 2026, initially representing the club's reserve team in the Slovak second division.
After impressing with Slovan B, and due to injuries in the first team (all 3 main guys playing upfront CF,LW,RW (Andraž Šporar,Nino Marcelli,Tigran Barseghyan) were injured in preseason), he was promoted to the first team at the beginning of the 2026–27 season. On 26 July 2026, he made his Niké Liga debut in a 4–0 away victory over Dukla Banská Bystrica, scoring one goal and providing an assist.[10] Following his impressive league debut, Kianga made his UEFA Champions League debut for Slovan Bratislava in the third qualifying round against Swedish champions Mjällby AIF on 4 August 2026. Coming on as a substitute in the second half, he scored the winning goal in stoppage time to secure a 2–1 away victory for Slovan in the first leg. The goal was his first in European club competition and earned him praise in the Slovak media.[11]
After last hours deadline transfer of much needed central defender Sahmkou Camara, Manasse was the last man cut from the UCL squad[12], however he travels with the team for UCL matches.
Career statistics
[edit]- As of match played 16 September 2026
Sources: [13][5] [9] [4] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [c]
| Club | Season | League | National cup [d] | Europe | Other [e] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Rossington Main | 2019-20 | NCEL Division One | 14 | 6 | — | — | 1[f] | 0 | 15 | 6 | ||
| 2020-21 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | 3 | 1 | |||||
| 2021-22 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 2022-23 | 16 | 8 | — | — | 3[g] | 0 | 19 | 8 | ||||
| 2023-24 | NCEL Premier Division | 38 | 13 | 2 | 1 | — | 8[h] | 3 | 48 | 17 | ||
| 2024-25 | 17 | 13 | — | — | 1[i] | 0 | 18 | 13 | ||||
| Total | 90 | 41 | 2 | 1 | — | 13 | 3 | 105 | 45 | |||
| Grantham Town | 2020-21 | NPL Premier Division | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 1[j] | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2021-22 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 14 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |||
| Worksop Town | 2021-22 | NPL Division One East | 3 | 0 | — | — | 1[20] | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Total | 3 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Sheffield F.C. | 2021-22 | NPL Division One East | 15 | 0 | — | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| Total | 15 | 0 | — | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||||
| Lokomotíva Košice | 2025-26 | 3. Liga | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 11 | 4 | ||
| Total | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 11 | 4 | ||||
| Slovan Bratislava B | 2025-26 | 2. Liga | 9 | 3 | — | — | — | 9 | 3 | |||
| 2026-27 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 11 | 3 | — | — | — | 11 | 3 | |||||
| Slovan Bratislava | 2026-27 | Slovak First Football League | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 7 | 5 | |
| Total | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 7 | 5 | |||
| Career total | 145 | 49 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 170 | 58 | ||
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Player profiles on club site and UEFA UCL site claim he is South African, while player profile on Sportnet/Futbalnet (oficial partner of SFZ (Slovak Football Association)) states he is English. I expect (hope) all institutions refers to the very same registration documents, so it's a bit unusual (weird). In interview for ŠK Slovan Kianga said that he was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and that he moved to England with family in 2017 (at age of 15). He also said that he returned to South Africa in 2024 because he was unable to gain work permit and therefore neither professional contract. It's unclear what nationality are his parents. English? South African? Zambian? Somalian? Some defunct country?[1]
- ↑ in fact he had been manager of Lokomotíva since 2019/2020, winning multiple promotions with them.[2](It seems Lalkovič jr. himself was an assistant coach of Lalkovič sr. (at least for a while) during father's tenure.)
- ↑ Every step is different, every organization counts only its own games, someone counts friendlies, player is referenced through different seasons and different teams as Manie, Manny, Manasse, Masasse, Monasse, Mososse, Monosse Kianga/Kiange etc. Wild! And there are lots of other issues, for example he played in Rossington Main with his older brother Kabuya. According to Rossington Main site [5] Manasse played 13 games and scored 5 goals, while his brother played 6 games and scored 2 goal in season 2019-20, but according to NCEL stats/match reports [15] Manasse played 14 games and scored 6 goals and Kabuya played 5 games and scored 1 goal; Then 3 matches for Manasse and 2 for Kabuya in 2020-21 by NCEL and 4 for Manasse and 1 for Kabuya by Rossington Main, etc., etc. so ... You are free to choose your explanation. Maybe there is problem with match reports, maybe there was problem with players identification, maybe i can't count. In the end i got to very similar (not same) numbers as Rossington Main site, so i consider it "roughly" accurate (maybe a bit incomplete(start of season 2022-23?)), but with asterix (and that's the main reason why this disclaimer exist in first place)
- ↑ FA Cup
- ↑ League playoffs, supercups, FA Vase, League cups and other official cups
- ↑ NCEL League Cup
- ↑ 2*League Playoff (Promotion), 1*Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup
- ↑ 3*NCEL League Cup, 2*FA Vase, 2*Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup, 1*League Playoff
- ↑ NCEL League Cup
- ↑ FA Trophy
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Na Tehelnom poli – Podcast #14 Manasse Kianga". youtube.com. 14 August 2026.
- ↑ "Our Coaches: From the Past to the Present". fclokomotiva.com. 15 November 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ Jasenka, Ján (28 July 2026). "Za kométou Slovana Bratislava stojí bývalý megatalent Slovenska. Je ich tu viac, tvrdí". Šport.sk (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 5 August 2026. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Striker's remarkable journey from Rossington Main to Champions League goalscorer". Archived from the original on 6 August 2026. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Rossington Main FC First Team statistics".
- ↑ "TIgers sign Manasse Kianga". worksoptownfc.com. 29 October 2021.
- ↑ "TIPOS III. LIGA VÝCHOD - O jesennom majstrovi východu rozhodlo až celkové skóre". futbalsfz.sk (in Slovak). 4 November 2025. Archived from the original on 17 April 2026. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
- ↑ "New President and Club Leadership". fclokomotiva.com. 19 November 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Objav Slovana Kianga začal u REZEŠA: Odporučil ho TALENT Chelsea". sportovy.cas.sk (in Slovak). 28 July 2026.
- ↑ "FK Dukla Banská Bystrica – ŠK Slovan Bratislava 0:4". ŠK Slovan Bratislava. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ "Slovan Bratislava zdolal Mjällby. Hrdinom bol Manasse Kianga". Šport.sk (in Slovak). 4 August 2026. Archived from the original on 4 August 2026. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ "Súpiska belasých na ligovú fázu Ligy majstrov". ŠK Slovan Bratislava (in Slovak). 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Manasse Kianga". Monacobet Liga (in Slovak). Slovenský futbalový zväz. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ "Manasse Kianga | SPORTNET" (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 5 August 2026. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "NCEL Rossington Main FC statistics (per year)".
- ↑ "M.Kianga statistics for Gratntham 2020-21".
- ↑ "M.Kianga statistics for Gratntham 2021-22".
- ↑ "M.Kianga statistics for Worksop 2021-22".
- ↑ "M.Kianga statistics for Shefield 2021-22".
- ↑ "Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup Semi Final – Rossington Main 1 - 2 Worksop Town 18.1.2022".
External links
[edit]- Manasse Kianga at the Slovak First Football League (in Slovak)
- Manasse Kianga at Soccerway
- Manasse Kianga at Futbalnet (in Slovak)
- Manasse Kianga at SK Slovan (in Slovak)
- Manasse Kianga at UEFA Champions League