Mike Cestor

Mike Botuli Cestor (born 30 April 1992) is a French-born Congolese professional footballer who plays as a defender for Romanian club CFR Cluj.[1] He was named in the Congolese squad for their 2011 CAF U-23 Championship qualification campaign[2] and the 2013 Toulon Tournament.

Mike Cestor

Personal information
Full name	Mike Botuli Cestor
Date of birth	30 April 1992
Place of birth	Bagneux, France
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Club information
Current team	CFR Cluj
Number	92
Youth career
2008–2009	Pisa
2009	Leyton Orient
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2012	Leyton Orient	3	(0)
2011	→ Boreham Wood (loan)	9	(1)
2011	→ Woking (loan)	7	(0)
2012	→ Woking (loan)	9	(0)
2012–2015	Woking	88	(2)
2016–2018	Épinal	54	(7)
2018–2019	Astra Giurgiu	28	(1)
2019–	CFR Cluj	17	(1)
National team^‡
2013	DR Congo U20	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:14, 7 January 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 March 2018

Club career

Early career

Cestor was born in Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine, Paris. Before trialling for Leyton Orient, Cestor had been on the books as a youth player for Italian side Pisa.[3]

Leyton Orient

Cestor joined Orient's youth squad early in the 2009–10 season and also featured in the reserve team before being called up to the first-team squad in December 2009, although he made no first-team appearances.[4] He signed a new two-year contract on 9 June 2010,[5] and he made his professional debut in a League Cup match for Orient, as they won 2–1 at Swindon Town on 10 August 2010.[6] His league debut came three days later in the 3–1 defeat to Charlton Athletic.[7]

On 11 January 2011, Cestor went on a month's loan to Boreham Wood,[8] making his debut on 15 January in the 2–0 win over Chelmsford City.[9]

Woking

On 19 August 2011, he went on a month's loan to Woking,[10] and made his debut the following day in the 0–0 draw at home to his old club Boreham Wood.[11] He made seven appearances for Woking before returning to Orient and coming on as a substitute in their 3–2 League Cup defeat at Blackburn Rovers on 20 September.[12] He returned to Woking on 12 January 2012 for another month's loan spell,[13] which was later extended, and after a brief return to Orient, he began yet another loan period at Woking.[14] On 15 May 2012, he was one of three players released by Orient manager Russell Slade.[15] On 19 July 2012, Cestor signed permanently for Woking, who were newly promoted to the Football Conference.[16]

On 20 December 2014, in a 2–1 defeat to Southport, Cestor suffered a long term knee injury, therefore ruling him out for the remainder of the 2014–15 campaign.[17]

Ahead of the following campaign, Cestor was released at the end of his contract, due to his slow progress with his injury.

SAS Épinal

On 2 July 2016, Cestor joined French side SAS Épinal after a year without a club.[18]

International career

Prior to the 2013 Toulon Tournament, Cestor received a call-up for the DR Congo U20 team. Cestor went on to start all four of DR Congo's games in the Toulon campaign, initially making his debut in a 1–0 defeat against the France U20 side on 30 May 2013.[19]

Career statistics

As of match played 25 October 2020.

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Leyton Orient	2010–11	League One	2	0	0	0	2	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	5	0
	2011–12	League One	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		3	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	7	0
Boreham Wood (loan)	2010–11	Conference South	9	1	0	0	—		0	0	9	1
Woking (loan)	2011–12	Conference South	16	0	0	0	—		0	0	16	0
Woking	2012–13	Conference Premier	37	1	1	0	—		1[lower-alpha 2]	0	39	1
	2013–14	Conference Premier	30	0	0	0	—		2[lower-alpha 2]	0	32	0
	2014–15	Conference Premier	21	1	1	0	—		1[lower-alpha 2]	0	23	1
	Total		88	2	2	0	—		4	0	94	2
Épinal	2016–17	Championnat National	26	1	1	1	—		—		27	2
	2017–18	Championnat National 2 Group B	28	6	2	0	—		—		30	6
	Total		54	7	3	1	—		—		57	8
Astra Giurgiu	2018–19	Liga I	26	1	5	0	—		—		31	1
CFR Cluj	2019–20	Liga I	11	1	1	0	—		5[lower-alpha 3]	0	17	1
	2020–21	Liga I	6	0	0	0	—		1[lower-alpha 4]	1	7	1
	Total		17	1	1	0	—		6	1	24	2
Career total			213	12	11	1	3	0	11	1	238	14

1. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
2. Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
3. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, four in UEFA Europa League
4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League

Honours

Club

Astra Giurgiu

• Cupa României: Runner-up 2018–19

CFR Cluj

• Liga I: 2019–20

References

1. "BUN VENIT, MIKE CESTOR!" (in Romanian). CFR Cluj. 13 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
2. "JO Londres 2012 : les Léopards/espoirs depuis lundi à Casablanca pour affronter les Marocains" (in French). Digital Congo. 1 June 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
3. Cestor's profile at pisasiamonoi.it Archived 19 July 2012 at Archive.today
4. "Cestor's profile at leytonorient.com". Archived from the original on 8 September 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
5. Chambers agrees new contract
6. Swindon Town 1–2 Leyton Orient Archived 28 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
7. "Leyton Orient 1–3 Charlton". BBC Sport. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
8. "Walker moves on". Leyton Orient F.C. 11 January 2011. Archived from the original on 14 January 2011.
9. "Boreham Wood 2–0 Chelmsford City". Boreham Wood F.C. 15 January 2011.
10. "Mike Cestor joins on loan". Woking F.C. 19 August 2011.
11. "Woking 0–0 Boreham Wood". Woking F.C. 20 August 2011.
12. "Blackburn Rovers 3–2 Leyton Orient". BBC Sport. 20 September 2011.
13. "Cestor goes to Woking on loan". Leyton Orient F.C. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012.
14. "Mike Cestor rejoins on loan". Woking F.C. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
15. "Lobjoit signs Os deal". Leyton Orient F.C. 15 May 2012.
16. "Mike Cestor and Lee Sawyer sign for Woking". Woking News and Mail. 19 July 2012.
17. "Woking FC suffer double whammy with Southport defeat and Cestor injury". Get Surrey. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
18. "Cinq recrues et un staff modifié pour la reprise" (in French). SAS Épinal. 2 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
19. "France U21 vs. Congo DR U21". Soccerway. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2016.

External links

• Mike Cestor at Soccerbase (Leyton Orient)
• Mike Cestor at Soccerbase (Woking)