{{Short description|Tongan footballer and manager}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Kilifi Uele | fullname = Kilifi Soli Uele<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kilifi Uele |url=https://www.besoccer.com/coach/kilifi-uele-23180 |access-date=25 November 2025 |website=besoccer}}</ref> | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|11|14|df=yes}} | birth_place = Nuku'alofa, Tonga | height = | position = Midfielder | currentclub = Tonga Women (manager) | clubnumber = | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = Vaolongolongo | years1 = 1993–2004 | clubs1 = Vaolongolongo | caps1 = | goals1 = | nationalyears1 = 1994–2017 | nationalteam1 = Tonga | nationalcaps1 = 29 | nationalgoals1 = 3 | ntupdate = 14 December 2017 | managerclubs1 = Tonga Women U19 | manageryears1 = 20??–2006 | managerclubs2 = Tonga Women | manageryears2 = 2007–2011 | years2 = 2005–2009 | clubs2 = Ma'ufanga | years3 = 2010–2013 | clubs3 = SC Lotoha'apai | years4 = 2013–2022 | clubs4 = Veitongo | manageryears3 = 2023– | managerclubs3 = Tonga Women | manageryears4 = 2024–2025 | managerclubs4 = Tonga }} '''Kilifi Soli Uele''' (born 14 November 1974)<ref name="fifaprofile">{{cite web|title=Kilifi UELE|url=https://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/players-coaches/people=158174/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411151652/http://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/players-coaches/people=158174/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 11, 2016|publisher=FIFA|accessdate=31 March 2016}}</ref> is a Tongan former footballer and manager who is the manager of the Tonga women's national football team.
According to the RSSSF, Uele is the second-oldest goalscorer in the history of international football.<ref name=RSSSF>{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/oldest-youngest.html#mos |title=Oldest and Youngest Players and Goal-scorers in International Football |publisher=RSSSF |date=27 August 2020 |accessdate=24 June 2025 }}</ref>
== Club career ==
=== Vaolongolongo === In 1993, at the age of seventeen, Kilifi Uele debuted for Vaolongolongo.<ref name="FIFA" /> He left the club in December 2004.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Kilifi Uele |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/person/pe75233/ |website=worldfootball.net}}</ref>
=== Ma'ufanga === He then joined Ma'ufanga in January 2005 ahead of the 2005 season.<ref name="NFT" /> He left the club in 2009 to join SC Lotoha'apai.<ref name="NFT" />
=== SC Lotoha'apai === With SC Lotoha'apai, Uele won three Tonga Major League titles in a row (2010–11, 2011–12, 2013),<ref name="RSSSF2">[https://www.rsssf.org/tablest/tongachamp.html Tonga – List of Champions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205192721/http://www.rsssf.com/tablest/tongachamp.html|date=February 5, 2012}} at RSSSF.com</ref> including scoring the winning goal during the 2–1 victory against Marist during the 2011 final on 9 April.<ref name="RSSSF22">[https://www.rsssf.org/tablest/tonga2011.html Tonga 2010–11] at RSSSF</ref>
He made his debut in the OFC Champions League on 1 May 2012 during the 3–3 draw against Tupapa Maraerenga, and he scored his first goal in the competition during the 2–1 victory against Kiwi on 5 May 2012.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 8, 2012 |title=2013 O-League Preliminary Competition Summary |url=http://210.48.80.94/OFC/Portals/0/Images/Articles/OLP%20MD4%20-%20Competition%20Summary.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227155909/http://210.48.80.94/OFC/Portals/0/Images/Articles/OLP%20MD4%20-%20Competition%20Summary.pdf |archive-date=2013-12-27 |access-date=2012-05-08 |publisher=Oceania Football Confederation}}</ref>
=== Veitongo === After six months without a club, Uele joined Veitongo in January 2014.<ref name=":1" /> He won six Tonga Major League titles with the club ( 2015,<ref>{{cite web |date=November 16, 2015 |title=OFC Champions League draw reveals all |url=http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/4448f07a-081a-41af-adc1-2d0a30e91203/language/en-US/Default.asp |publisher=Oceania Football Confederation}}</ref> 2016,<ref>{{cite web |date=August 30, 2016 |title=Veitongo defends title |url=http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/98b94b2f-2444-46bb-9d17-c0842bd87a9f/language/en-US/Default.aspx |publisher=Oceania Football Confederation}}</ref> 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022).<ref name="RSSSF2" /><ref name="OFC">{{cite web |date=29 June 2017 |title=Global Club Football Report 2017 |url=https://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/footballdevelopment/proffootballdept/02/90/12/72/clubfootballreport_29.6.2017_neutral.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225024520/https://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/footballdevelopment/proffootballdept/02/90/12/72/clubfootballreport_29.6.2017_neutral.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2018 |access-date=15 March 2018 |website=FIFA.com |publisher=Fédération Internationale de Football Association |format=PDF |quote=None of the top-tier domestic competitions in Oceania is fully professional.}}</ref>
After a gap between 2017 and January 2020, the 45-year-old was still playing for Veitongo at the qualifying stage of the 2020 OFC Champions League, becoming one of the few footballers to have played in four different decades (from the 1990s until the 2020s).<ref name="FIFA" />
He then retired from football at the age of 47 on 1 June 2022.
==International career== Uele made his debut for Tonga on 24 November 1994 during the 1–0 loss against Tahiti at the 1994 Polynesia Cup, with his team winning second place at the tournament.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Morrison |first1=Neil |title=Polynesian Cup 1994 |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesp/polynesia94.html |accessdate=22 April 2020 |website=RSSSF |publisher=Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation}}</ref> By the turn of the century, he was already Tonga's captain, leading his side against an all-star Australia side in 2001, which ended in a resounding 22–0 defeat, which was forgotten just a few days later thanks to American Samoa's 31–0 loss to the same opponent.<ref name=FIFA>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/news/kilifi-uele-the-grand-maestro-of-pacific-football |title=Kilifi Uele, the grand maestro of Pacific football |publisher=FIFA |access-date=2022-06-14 |archive-date=2022-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614042040/https://www.fifa.com/news/kilifi-uele-the-grand-maestro-of-pacific-football |url-status=live }}</ref> He scored his first goal for Tonga on 12 March 2002 during the 7–2 victory against American Samoa during 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tonga vs. American Samoa 2002-03-12 |url=https://www.national-football-teams.com/matches/report/20489/Tonga_American_Samoa.html |website=National Football Teams}}</ref>
Uele went on to score two more international goals, including one against New Caledonia on 9 December 2017, becoming, at the age of 43 years and 25 days, the second-oldest international goalscorer in world football, only behind Keithroy Cornelius, who had scored for Virgin Islands in 2011, at the age of 43 years and 196 days.<ref name="RSSSF" /> This goal also makes him the oldest international goalscorer in the OFC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iffhs.com/index.php/posts/4089 |title=Oldest national team scorers |website=www.iffhs.com |date=28 December 2024 |access-date=24 June 2025}}</ref>
Uele also plays beach soccer internationally, and was part of the Tongan team making its debut at the 2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup.<ref name=Loop>{{Cite web |url=https://www.looptonga.com/sport/tonga%e2%80%99s-football-maestro-92528 |title=Tonga's football maestro |access-date=2022-06-14 |archive-date=2024-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222104222/https://www.looptonga.com/sport/tonga%E2%80%99s-football-maestro-92528 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Managerial career== Uele is the Technical Director of the Tonga Football Association, a post he has held since 2005.<ref name="FIFA" />
Uele coached his country's women's team to win a silver medal at the 2007 OFC Women's Championship. Uele was also the head coach of his country's U-19 women's team when they took runner-up in the OFC U-19 Women's Championship in 2006, losing 6–0 to New Zealand in the finals. Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Uele helped run a new project to promote women's football in the more remote islands of Tonga. Later in 2020, Uele said his main focus was on the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.<ref name="FIFA" /><ref name="Loop" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/00878c7f-1d85-47ff-9f9e-fa740bbd93e5/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title=Football comes to Vava'u |date=3 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412164601/http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/00878c7f-1d85-47ff-9f9e-fa740bbd93e5/language/en-US/Default.aspx |archivedate=12 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hybrid FIFA course furthers Futsal, Beach Soccer in Tonga |url=https://www.fifa.com/development/news/y=2014/m=5/news=hybrid-fifa-course-furthers-futsal-beach-soccer-in-tonga-2346615.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906043340/http://www.fifa.com/development/news/y=2014/m=5/news=hybrid-fifa-course-furthers-futsal-beach-soccer-in-tonga-2346615.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 September 2015 |publisher=FIFA |accessdate=31 March 2016}}</ref>
He became Tonga Women manager again in 2023 and he was also the manager of Tonga between 2024 and 2025.<ref name=":1" />
== Career statistics ==
=== International === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+Appearances and goals by national team and year<ref name="NFT">{{cite web |title=Uele, Kilifi |url=http://www.national-football-teams.com/player/6670/Kilifi_Uele.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121203950/http://www.national-football-teams.com/player/6670/Kilifi_Uele.html |archive-date=21 January 2016 |accessdate=5 February 2017 |publisher=National Football Teams}}</ref> !National team !Year !Apps !Goals |- | rowspan="24" |Tonga |1994<ref name=":0" /> |3 |0 |- |1995 |0 |0 |- |1996 |2 |0 |- |1997 |2 |0 |- |1998 |0 |0 |- |1999 |0 |0 |- |2000 |0 |0 |- |2001 |4 |0 |- |2002 |2 |1 |- |2003 |4 |1 |- |2004 |4 |0 |- |2005 |0 |0 |- |2006 |0 |0 |- |2007 |0 |0 |- |2008 |0 |0 |- |2009 |1 |0 |- |2010 |0 |0 |- |2011 |0 |0 |- |2012 |0 |0 |- |2013 |0 |0 |- |2014 |0 |0 |- |2015 |2 |0 |- |2016 |0 |0 |- |2017 |5 |1 |- ! colspan="2" |Total !29 !3 |}
: ''Scores and results list Tonga's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Uele goal''.<ref name="NFT" />
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+List of international goals scored by Kilifi Uele ! scope="col" |No. ! scope="col" |Date ! scope="col" |Venue !Cap ! scope="col" |Opponent ! scope="col" |Score ! scope="col" |Result ! scope="col" |Competition |- | align="center" |1 |12 March 2002 |National Soccer Stadium, Apia, Samoa |12 |{{fb|ASA}} | align="center" |'''4'''–1 | align="center" |4–2 |2002 OFC Nations Cup qualification |- | align="center" |2 |5 July 2003 |Vodafone Ratu Cakobau Park, Nausori, Fiji |16 |{{fb|FSM}} | align="center" |'''7'''–0 | align="center" |7–0 |2003 South Pacific Games |- | align="center" |3 |9 December 2017 |Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu |27 |{{fb|NCL}} | align="center" |'''2'''–3 | align="center" |2–4 |2017 Pacific Mini Games |}
==Honours== ===As a player=== '''SC Lotoha'apai''' *Tonga Major League: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013
'''Veitongo''' *Tonga Major League: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022
'''Tonga''' *Polynesia Cup: runner-up 1994
===As a manager=== '''Tonga Women''' *OFC Women's Championship: 2007
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Tonga national football team managers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uele, Kilifi}} Category:Living people Category:1974 births Category:Tongan men's footballers Category:Tonga men's international footballers Category:Men's association football midfielders Category:Veitongo FC players Category:Association football managers by women's national team Category:Tonga national football team managers