Kilifi Uele

Kilifi Soli Uele (born 14 November 1974) 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.

Club career

Vaolongolongo In 1993, at the age of seventeen, Kilifi Uele debuted for Vaolongolongo.

Ma'ufanga He then joined Ma'ufanga in January 2005 ahead of the 2005 season. including scoring the winning goal during the 2–1 victory against Marist during the 2011 final on 9 April.

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.

Veitongo After six months without a club, Uele joined Veitongo in January 2014. 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022).

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). 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. 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.

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.

Uele also plays beach soccer internationally, and was part of the Tongan team making its debut at the 2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup.

Managerial career Uele is the Technical Director of the Tonga Football Association, a post he has held since 2005.

He became Tonga Women manager again in 2023 and he was also the manager of Tonga between 2024 and 2025. National team Year Apps Goals

1994 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

29 3

Scores and results list Tonga's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Uele goal.

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