Kemar Roofe
Who is Kemar Roofe?
Kemar Roofe was born on 6 January 1993. Kemar is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish Premiership giants Rangers. Kemar started his career with West Bromwich Albion, where Roofe played for the Baggies’ academy team.
On 4 August 2020, Kemar signed for the Gers on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £4.5m. Roofe made his Rangers debut only over a week later, on 12 August, in a Scottish Premiership game with St Johnstone at Ibrox Stadium, as a 61st minute replacement for Ryan Jack.
On 22 August 2020, Kemar scored his first goal for the Gers in league with Kilmarnock, netting the first in a 2-0 victory. On 22 October 2020, Kemar scored from his own half in stoppage time of Rangers’ 2–0 UEFA Europa League group stage away victory over Standard Liège.
The 28-year-old striker’s shot was measured at 49.9 meters from the reverse goal line, which at the time made it the longest-range goal ever scored in the history of the tournament, however, the record was broken a week later by Omonia footballer Jordi Gómez, who scored a goal from 56 meters.
On 18 March 2021, Kemar was sent off after six minutes during the Europa League game with Slavia Prague. After a reckless tackle by Kemar, shot-stopper Ondřej Kolář suffered a fractured skull. Former Slavia footballer Vladimír Šmicer called the tackle a “life-threatening moment”. Kemar was banned for four matches.
In August 2019, Kemar was one of the primary stars of the Leeds United documentary ‘Take Us Home’, documenting the 2018–19 campaign on Amazon Prime featuring in many episodes. The documentary was narrated by Academy Award-winning actor and Leeds United supporter Russell Crowe.
What is Kemar Roofe’s international career like?
Kemar is eligible to represent the England and Jamaica national teams because of his Jamaican roots. In June 2019, the 28-year-old centre-forward received an invitation to play for the Jamaica national team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in summer 2019.
In March 2021, Jamaica again proposed Kemar as part of a plot to call up several English-born footballers to the side to improve their opportunities of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. This time Kemar expressed his interest, stating, “who wouldn’t want to go to a World Cup?” and revealing Roofe was already in the process of applying for a Jamaican passport to play for the national team.
