Kassandra Missipo

Kassandra Missipo
	Missipo in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Kassandra Ndoutou Eboa Missipo
Date of birth	3 February 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth	Asse, Belgium
Height	1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Sassuolo
Number	12
Youth career
2003–2012	KSK Beveren
2012–2013	Herleving Vrasene
2013–2015	TK Meldert
Senior career*
Years	Team
2015–2020	Gent
2020–2021	Anderlecht
2022–2023	Basel
2023–	Sassuolo
International career‡
2014–2015	Belgium U17
2015–2017	Belgium U19
2016–	Belgium
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 9 September 2023; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 8 October 2024

Kassandra Ndoutou Eboa Missipo (born 3 February 1998) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Sassuolo and the Belgium women's national team.^[1]

Career

Club

From the town of Asse, just west of Brussels, and born to a Cameroonian father,^[2] Kassandra Missipo started playing in the youth teams of VC Terheide and Thor Kokerij Meldert. In 2015, at the age of 17, Missipo moved to Gent, where she played for five consecutive seasons. In the blue jersey of the Flemish team, she made her debut in the Super League, going on to win the Belgian Cup twice in 2017 and 2019. She was named the best player of the Super League in 2019.^[3].

A year later, Missipo left Gent for Anderlecht, winners of the previous three national championships. ^[4]. With Anderlecht, she won her first league title in 2021, also having the opportunity to play in an international club competition, debuting in the first qualifying round of the 2020-21 UEFA Women's Champions League, winning 8-0 against Northern Irish club Linfield, losing in the second round 2-1 to Portuguese side SL Benfica. A torn cruciate ligament at the end of the season kept her out of action for several months, missing the following season as well.^[5].

On 18 May 2022, it was announced that Missipo would officially join FC Basel Frauen in the Swiss Super League for the 2022–23 season.^[6] A sixth-placed finish saw Basel qualify for the play-offs, losing in the quarter-finals 4-0 on aggregate to Grasshoppers.

After one year with Basel, Missipo was officially signed on a permanent basis by Sassuolo in Serie A Femminile in August 2023, and after helping the club to fourth - their joint second-best performance ever - she renewed her contract with the club for another season in June 2024.^[7] ^[8]^[9]

National team

Missipo has been capped for the Belgium national team, appearing for the team during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying cycle.^[10]

Missipo was part of the Belgian youth teams, playing three matches with the Under-16 team, seven with the Under-17 team and fifteen with the Under-19 team, taking to the field in the qualifying matches for the final stages of the European Championships in the category.

On 3 June 2016, when almost 19 years old, Missipo made her debut with the Belgian women's national team in the win against Estonia in qualifying for the 2017 European Championships.^[11]. Missipo was included in the Belgian national team squad for Euro 2017,^[12] but was subsequently excluded for disciplinary reasons by national coach Ives Serneels and replaced by Sara Yuceil of PSV.^[13] ^[14]

After the European Championship Missipo was called up again by Serneels, but an injury precluded her from playing for the national team. She returned to the senior national team for the 2018 Cyprus Cup, where she played in all of Belgium's matches. She has since become a regular member of the Belgian national team, also being called up for the 2019 Cyprus Women's Cup and the 2020 Algarve Cup.

Missipo was selected for UEFA Women's Euro 2022.