Kenji Mboma Dem has not had what some would call the typical professional rise to prominence, but he has made his name in Major League Soccer all the same. Now a regular name and face with FC Cincinnati, the French forward, who has risen through the club's ranks, has shown with every match that he is feeling more comfortable and, with that, his confidence is growing.
Mboma Dem, 24, first joined FC Cincinnati in 2024 when he was taken 57th overall in the MLS SuperDraft. The Dayton Flyer alum had a prestigious college career, but even before that, he had a soccer pedigree that stood out. The son of Patrick Mboma – a Cameroonian international Striker who led his nation to two FIFA World Cup appearances and an Olympic Gold Medal while at clubs like Parma, Sunderland and Paris Saint-Germain – Kenji was enrolled in the PSG academy and gained his soccer education there.
His move to America and through the professional ranks, while slow, has been marked by success at every stage, helping contextualize his success with the FC Cincinnati first team. While at Dayton, Dem was a first-team All-Conference player, led his team to an Atlantic 10 championship, and was named Most Outstanding Player of the conference tournament. After being drafted by FC Cincinnati, he led FCC 2 in goalscoring on the way to an Eastern Conference Regular Season crown in 2024 and continued his dominance in MLS NEXT Pro in 2025, finishing second on the team in scoring despite playing fewer minutes than the year before.
In all, with FC Cincinnati 2, Mboma Dem registered 24 goal contributions in 36 games over two seasons. Because of that, he earned himself a first-team opportunity and signed a contract with FC Cincinnati in July of 2025 with options for 2026 and 2027.
It had taken a while to break through at the next level, but now, with an opportunity at his disposal, Mboma Dem has taken the chance and run with it. In 12 MLS matches this season (eight starts), the French forward has four goals, one assist and added another two goals and one assist in the Concacaf Champions Cup, as well.
More importantly, with regular playing time and on-field experience, even to the untrained eye, Kenji Mbomba Dem appears to be improving and feeling more connected with his teammates, resulting in better play for The Orange and Blue.
“It's been his consistency in play that I haven't seen (before),” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said of Mboma Dem, praising his play after FCC’s most recent win over Orlando City SC in May.
“We haven't seen a drop. He's gotten the opportunity, and now gotten really… I wouldn't say gotten comfortable, but found some consistency playing higher up the field,” Noonan continued. “We put him out wide at San Diego, so he's played both, but I think his positioning ahead of the ball has been really key to how we can break pressure.”
Mboma Dem’s breakout moment came as a late substitute, when, in the dying moments of the April 11 match at Toronto FC, he scored an equalizer to help secure a 1-1 draw on the road while FC Cincinnati was down a man due to a red card — squeezing out a point despite all hope looking lost. Since then, he has started in all eight games for The Orange and Blue and contributed greatly to FC Cincinnati's strong end to the first half of the season, going 3-1-4 with 13 points in that stretch.
“In those moments when he's dealing with pressure, I think he's won a lot of 1v1 moments to change how the game works, or how the moment looks, where it could be a turnover or transition or us defending, and it's him recognizing how to connect the right pass, how to play under pressure, how to switch play,” Noonan said of what Mboma Dem has brought to the team. “ He's been pretty consistent in that regard, and building some nice chemistry with Evander, with (Dado Valenzuela), with Pavel [Bucha].”
The relationship-with-his-teammates element is perhaps the most visually telling. Mboma Dem is well-liked by his teammates and is often cited by them for his outstanding character and sporting talent when asked about him. As a French speaker, he can connect more directly with some teammates, forwards such as FeKévinKévin Denkey and Ayoub Jabbari, but as a fully bilingual English speaker as well, his ability to connect goes far beyond just those teammates.
So in many matches, even when he isn’t putting his name on the score sheet, Mboma Dem’s relationship with a star player like Evander is evident. So even when he isn’t directly credited with a goal contribution, the overall offense has been improved, and he has been at the core of that.
“I think now the more that he's been playing, I think the connection, of course, has been improving, and we've been creating some really good situations on the offensive side,” Evander said of Mboma Dem. “So, I think me, him, it has been amazing, and with Kévin [Denkey] on top, I think we have found a really great connection.”
FC Cincinnati still have a long way to go to achieve the success they're looking for this season, but with training now back in session and MLS play set to resume in just under a month, that work is already underway. But after a breakout first half to the season, FC Cincinnati’s Kenji Mboma Dem has proven himself capable and a contributor to success. Where they go now will come from the continued work of him and his teammates.
The next chance to see Kenji Mboma Dem and FC Cincinnati at TQL Studium is on Friday, July 10 at 7:30p.m. when The Orange and Blue host historic English club Burnley FC in a Summer friendly. For ticket information for that match, click here or call 513-977-KICK.
