McDonald Mariga
Personal information
Full name	McDonald Mariga Wanyama
Date of birth	April 4, 1987 (1987-04-04) (age 22)
Place of birth	Nairobi, Kenya
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Internazionale
Number	17
Youth career
0000–2003 2003–2004 2005	Kamukunji High School Ulinzi Stars Tusker FC Pipeline FC
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005 2006–2008 2007–2008 2008–2010 2010–	Enköpings SK Helsingborgs IF → Parma (loan) Parma Internazionale	01 (0) 37 (6) 18 (0) 44 (3) 1 (0)
National team
2006–	Kenya	024 (3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

McDonald Mariga (born 4 April 1987) is a Kenyan footballer player who plays for Italian Serie A club Internazionale.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Parma 1.3 Internazionale 2 International career 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Mariga started his playing career at Ulinzi Stars before moving first to Tusker FC and then to Pipeline FC whilst still at school.^[1] Mariga was a member of the Kamukunji High School 'Golden Boys', which also included Kenyan striker Dennis Oliech (Auxerre, France), that won two consecutive National Championships in 2002 & 2003.

The central midfielder went to Sweden in 2005 to play for third Division side Enköpings SK. After only one season at ESK, he signed for Helsingborgs IF before the 2006 season. His success at Olympia was immediate.^[2] Following initial interest from Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, Mariga looked set to sign for the Premier League team, but work permit issues held up the deal which was supposed to have cost around €2.7million.^[3]

[edit] Parma

He moved to the Serie A club Parma initally on loan in August 2007. The Italian club had an option to buy him in the summer for a fee of 20 million Swedish kronor (around €2million).^{[citation needed]} Mariga agreed to a four year deal to keep him at Serie A side Parma for four years until the end of June 2012, after the club paid a transfer fee for Swedish Kronor 18 million (approx. 1.94 million euros). The deal, brokered by former Swede great Martin Dahlin, now an agent, falls short of the 20 Million Kronnor asking price initially set by Helsingborgs. 25% of the transfer fee will go to Enkopings SK, the club that first got Mariga to Sweden in 2005.

Mariga played 35 times for Parma in the Serie B during the 2008-2009 season scoring three times to help them back to Serie A for the 2009-2010 season.

In January 2010 he was set to sign for the English Premier League side Manchester City, but he failed to obtain a work permit.^[4] It was later stated by Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga that 22-year-old Mariga had eventually obtained a UK work permit but only after the transfer window for the English Premier League had closed. Had Mariga successfully signed for Manchester City, he would have been the first player from the Premier League-mad East Africa country to sign for the top English league.^[5]

[edit] Internazionale

On 1 February 2010, the last day of the transfer window, Mariga moved to Internazionale in a co-ownership deal. The transfer fee was a cash plus player deal which Parma got half the registration rights of Jonathan Biabiany and the loan of Luis Antonio Jiménez.^[6][7] Following the move, Internazionale president Massimo Moratti hailed Mariga's move as the "best thing that could have happened" to the club in the January transfer window.^[8] He made his debut for Internazionale in the 1st leg of the 2009 Coppa Italia Semi Final against Fiorentina. Internazionale won the match 1-0.

[edit] International career

Mariga scored his first international goal for Kenya against Swaziland on 25 March 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kenyan Footie - Kenyan Football Portal

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