Jospin Nshimirimana: Burundi’s Best-kept Secret

Jospin Nshimirimana was born in Mutimbuzi, a commune in the west of Burundi, on 12 December 2001. He joined local club New Regime when he was very young and played there for a number of seasons prior to joining Delta Star who, at the time, were in the lower divisions of the Burundian football league pyramid.

During Nshimirimana's time at Delta Star he helped them achieve promotion to the Burundian Premier League in 2017. He played for them throughout the 2017/2018 Burundian Premier league campaign. Unfortunately, they finished bottom of the league and were relegated although they did reach the final of the 2018 Burundian Cup.

For the following season (2018/2019), Nshimirimana moved to Aigle Noir Nakamba SC (Aigle Noir), who had finished third in the Burundian Premier League the previous season. The 2018/2019 season was hugely successful for him as he was part of their first-team squad who delivered the first league title in the club's history, winning the league by 13 points. Alongside this, they also captured the 2019 Burundian Cup and 2019 Burundian Super Cup. They finished the season as domestic treble winners.

Nshimirimana remained at Aigle Noir for the 2019/2020 season. He was one of their key players but was unable to lead them to back-to-back league titles. They ultimately finished third behind champions Le Messager Ngozi and second-placed Musongati.