Gaël Bigirimana (Kirundi pronunciation: [ɡaˈeːl βiɟiriˈmaːnaː]; born 22 October 1993) is a Burundian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for NIFL Premiership club Dungannon Swifts and the Burundi national team.
He began his professional career at Coventry City in 2011 and a year later he signed for Newcastle United of the Premier League.
Bigirimana left Motherwell in January 2019 and then had a short spell with Hibernian before returning to England with Solihull Moors in October.
Bigirimana was born in Bujumbura, Burundi but moved to the United Kingdom with his family as a refugee in 2004, having spent time living in Uganda.
[4] Graduating from the Sky Blues' youth set-up to sign his first professional deal for the club in the summer of 2011 and playing a role their first team pre-season preparations for the 2011–12 campaign,[5] Bigirimana made his professional debut on 8 August 2011 in a 1–0 Championship defeat by Leicester City, playing the full 90 minutes.
[17] In the 2017 EFL Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium against Oxford United, he started the match and scored the first goal of a 2–1 win.
[19] He made his debut on 15 July in a Scottish League Cup group match away to Queen's Park, starting and assisting a goal by Craig Tanner.
[27] He made his debut the same day, as a 56th-minute substitute during the Scottish Challenge Cup fourth round defeat to Glasgow Rangers Colts.
[39] On 15 November 2015, Bigirimana made his debut for Burundi during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification as a starter against DR Congo.
[44] He also earned praise for his performance in the opening game vs Nigeria,[45] and was voted one of the best players of the AFCON group stages by SuperSport.