Wilfried Kanon

Wilfried Kanon
	Kanon with ADO Den Haag in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Serge Wilfried Kanon
Date of birth	6 July 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth	Taabo, Ivory Coast
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Al-Jahra
Youth career
2010–2012	Empoli
Senior career*
Years	Team
2012–2013	Gloria Bistrița
2013	Corona Brașov
2013–2019	ADO Den Haag
2019–2022	Pyramids
2021	→ Al-Gharafa (loan)
2022	HIFK
2023–	Al-Jahra
International career‡
2015–	Ivory Coast
Medal record
Representing Ivory Coast
Men's football
Africa Cup of Nations
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11:56, 9 February 2024 (UTC); ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:34, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Serge Wilfried Kanon (born 6 July 1993) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays mainly as a centre-back for Kuwait Premier League club Al-Jahra and the Ivory Coast national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in Taabo, Ivory Coast, Kanon made his debut for Empoli's junior team in 2010 in the Primavera championship. At the age of 17, he scored for the youth side in a 2–2 draw with Novara.

Gloria Bistrița and Corona Brașov

After impressing during his trial period at Gloria Bistrița in Romania, club coach Nicolae Manea decided to offer Kanon a contract. He made his Liga I debut on 22 July, in a 2–1 defeat against Astra Ploiești in which he played 40 minutes of the game.

In the 2012–13 season, Kanon and several other players followed Manea at Corona Brașov. He featured as a left-back in the campaign opener, a 1–0 defeat to Oțelul Galați at home. Kanon established himself as a regular starter, but missed the sixth fixture due to work permit issues.

ADO Den Haag

Following the work permit issues at Corona Brașov, Kanon was released to sign a two-year contract with Eredivisie team ADO Den Haag. The issues also continued in the Netherlands and prevented him from playing during the first half of the season. On 25 January 2014, he made his debut for the club in the 3–2 home win over Feyenoord.^[2]

In July 2015, Kanon was close to signing for Ligue 1 club Lille, which offered a €500,000 fee for his transfer.^[3]^[4] There, he would have been reunited with manager Hervé Renard, who coached him during Ivory Coast's conquest of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015. Medical examinations which revealed cardiac arrhythmia made the move fall through,^[5] and Kanon returned to The Hague to undergo heart surgery.^[6]

During the 2016–17 season, he totalled 28 appearances and scored once. His only goal came on the last matchday of the season in a 4–1 win over Excelsior.^[7]

Pyramids

Kanon joined Egyptian Premier League side Pyramids on 18 September 2019.^[8] On 1 February 2021, he agreed to a six-month loan with Qatar Stars League side Al-Gharafa.^[9]

HIFK

On 28 March 2022, Kanon signed with HIFK in Finland.^[10]

International career

Kanon plays his first match with Ivory Coast on 11 January 2015 against Nigeria.^{[citation needed]}

Career statistics

Club

As of 16 December 2024.

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			Cup^[a]		League cup^[b]		Continental		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Gloria Bistrița	2012–13	Liga I	25	0	–		–		–		25	0
Corona Brașov	2013–14	Liga I	5	0	–		–		–		5	0
ADO Den Haag	2013–13	Eredivisie	9	0	–		–		–		9	0
	2014–15	Eredivisie	15	0	1	0	–		–		16	0
	2015–16	Eredivisie	14	0	0	0	–		–		14	0
	2016–17	Eredivisie	28	1	2	0	–		–		30	1
	2017–18	Eredivisie	25	1	1	0	–		–		26	1
	2018–19	Eredivisie	30	1	1	0	–		–		31	1
	2019–20	Eredivisie	4	0	0	0	–		–		4	0
	Total		125	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	130	3
Pyramids	2019–20	Egyptian Premier League	16	0	2	0	–		4^[c]	1	22	1
Al-Gharafa (loan)	2020–21	Qatar Stars League	7	1	1	0	2	0	–		10	1
HIFK	2022	Veikkausliiga	8	0	3	0	0	0	–		11	0
Al-Jahra	2023–24	Kuwait Premier League					–		–
Career total			186	4	11	0	2	0	4	1	203	5

^ Includes KNVB Beker, Egypt Cup, Amir Cup and Suomen Cup
^ Includes Qatar Cup, Qatari Stars Cup and Finnish League Cup
^ Appearances in CAF Confederation Cup

International

As of match played 20 January 2022^[11]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Ivory Coast
	2015	8	1
	2016	7	0
	2017	13	0
	2018	6	0
	2019	14	1
	2020	1	0
	2021	3	1
	2022	1	0
Total		53	3

Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kanon goal.

List of international goals scored by Wilfried Kanon^[11]
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	4 February 2015	Estadio de Bata, Bata, Equatorial Guinea	DR Congo	3–1	3–1	2015 Africa Cup of Nations
2	13 October 2019	Stade de la Licorne, Amiens, France	DR Congo	1–0	3–1	Friendly
3	26 March 2021	Stade Général Seyni Kountché, Niamey, Niger	Niger	3–0	3–0	2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Honours

Ivory Coast^[12]

Africa Cup of Nations: 2015

References

^ "Cote d'Ivoire" (PDF). Confederation of African Football. 15 June 2019. p. 7. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
^ "Wilfried Kanon blijft bij ADO Den Haag!". ADO Den Haag (in Dutch). 16 August 2017. De 24-jarige Kanon kwam in 2013 over van het Roemeense Corona Brasov, maar maakte begin 2014 pas zijn debuut in een wedstrijd tegen Feyenoord.
^ "Wilfred Kanon arrive au LOSC". www.losc.fr (in French). Lille OSC. 1 July 2015.
^ "Voormalig Ivoorkust-bondscoach haalt Kanon naar Lille". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 1 July 2015.
^ "Lille durft het na extra onderzoeken niet aan met Kanon". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 9 July 2015.
^ "'Kanon hoort bij de meest onderschatte spelers in de eredivisie'". nos.nl (in Dutch). 4 June 2017.
^ "Smaakmakers ADO zorgen voor passend slot". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 14 May 2017.
^ "Ivory Coast international joins Pyramids FC". kingfut.com. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
^ "Ivory Coast international joins Al-Gharafa SC". kingfut.com. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
^ "HIFK:n uusi pelaajakiinnitys on Norsunluurannikon maajoukkuetoppari Wilfried Kanon" (Press release) (in Finnish). HIFK. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b Wilfried Kanon at National-Football-Teams.com
^ Wilfried Kanon at Soccerway. Retrieved 13 October 2021.

External links

Wilfried Kanon at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
Wilfried Kanon at WorldFootball.net
Voetbal International profile (in Dutch)

[11] Includes KNVB Beker, Egypt Cup, Amir Cup and Suomen Cup

[12] Includes Qatar Cup, Qatari Stars Cup and Finnish League Cup

[cafconf-13] Appearances in CAF Confederation Cup

[1] "Cote d'Ivoire" (PDF). Confederation of African Football. 15 June 2019. p. 7. Retrieved 23 January 2020.

[2] "Wilfried Kanon blijft bij ADO Den Haag!". ADO Den Haag (in Dutch). 16 August 2017. De 24-jarige Kanon kwam in 2013 over van het Roemeense Corona Brasov, maar maakte begin 2014 pas zijn debuut in een wedstrijd tegen Feyenoord.

[3] "Wilfred Kanon arrive au LOSC". www.losc.fr (in French). Lille OSC. 1 July 2015.

[4] "Voormalig Ivoorkust-bondscoach haalt Kanon naar Lille". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 1 July 2015.

[5] "Lille durft het na extra onderzoeken niet aan met Kanon". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 9 July 2015.

[6] "'Kanon hoort bij de meest onderschatte spelers in de eredivisie'". nos.nl (in Dutch). 4 June 2017.

[7] "Smaakmakers ADO zorgen voor passend slot". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 14 May 2017.

[8] "Ivory Coast international joins Pyramids FC". kingfut.com. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.

[9] "Ivory Coast international joins Al-Gharafa SC". kingfut.com. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.

[10] "HIFK:n uusi pelaajakiinnitys on Norsunluurannikon maajoukkuetoppari Wilfried Kanon" (Press release) (in Finnish). HIFK. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.

[nft-14] Wilfried Kanon at National-Football-Teams.com

[SW-15] Wilfried Kanon at Soccerway. Retrieved 13 October 2021.

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