Brice Ntambwe (born 29 April 1993) is a Belgian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who most recently played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club Oldham Athletic. He began his football career in the youth system of FC Brussels before moving to England to join

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. He turned professional with Birmingham, but never made a first-team appearance, and returned to Belgium to join

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

in January 2013. He went on to play for

Lierse Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

and in Scotland for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

before returning to England with

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

in January 2019. He has represented Belgium in international football at levels up to under-21.

Club career

Early life and club career

Ntambwe was born in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, and played football for Ritterklub vsv Jette before joining the youth system at FC Brussels. As a 16-year-old, he moved to England to start a two-year scholarship programme in Birmingham City's Youth Academy in 2009. He played in the under-18 and

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s, and was rewarded with a two-year professional contract in July 2011. Academy manager Kristjaan Speakman described him as a central midfielder who "can play in either a two or a three and I think he's most suited to playing deep. He's got some real assets in terms of his physical presence and his ability to get round the pitch, but is also neat and tidy on the ball." The '' Birmingham Mails correspondent assessed him as "a powerful player with endurance hois good in the air". Ntambwe was given a first-team

squad number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to ...

prior to the

2011–12 FA Cup The 2011–12 FA Cup (also known as The FA Cup with Budweiser for sponsorship reasons) was the 131st season of the world's oldest football knock-out competition, the FA Cup. The closing date for applications was 1 April 2011, and saw 825 clubs app ...

fifth-round tie against Chelsea. but was not included in the matchday squad. Following injuries to central midfielders

Guirane N'Daw Guirane N'Daw is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He played for Sochaux, Nantes, Saint-Étienne, and Lens in France, for Zaragoza in Spain, for Birmingham City and Ipswich Town in England, and fo ...

Keith Fahey Keith Declan Fahey (born 15 January 1983) is an Irish former footballer, who played most of his career with League of Ireland side St Patrick's Athletic, as well as English club Birmingham City. He played predominantly as a central midfielder, ...

and

Jordon Mutch Jordon James Edward Sydney Mutch (born 2 December 1991) is an English professional footballer who most recently played as a central midfielder for Australian A-League club Macarthur FC. Mutch joined Birmingham City in 2007 from Derby County's yo ...

, Ntambwe was included in the travelling party for the visit to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

on 17 April, but again failed to make the matchday squad. Although numerous youngsters were given first-team squad numbers in the 2012–13 season, Ntambwe was not.

RAEC Mons

He returned to Belgium in January 2013 to join Pro League club

. He signed an 18-month contract with the option of a further year. After playing 90 minutes for the club's under-21 side in midweek, Ntambwe was included in Enzo Scifo's starting eleven to strengthen the midfield for the visit to Standard Liège on 10 February. Ntambwe played 68 minutes as Mons won 1–0 to achieve their first ever victory against Standard away from home. Ntambwe was sent off after 73 minutes of his third match, against

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

, for a reckless tackle, having already been yellow-carded earlier in the game; Scifo attributed it to youthful enthusiasm which he needed to learn to control.

Partick Thistle

Ntambwe signed for

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

Club

on a one-year deal in August 2018. Ntambwe scored his first goal for Thistle scoring a header from a corner to put Thistle 1-0 up in an eventual 5–1 defeat to Greenock Morton Ntambwe left Partick Thistle in January 2019 by mutual consent, making 6 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal.

Macclesfield Town

After leaving Partick Thistle Ntambwe returned to England to join

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

until the end of the season. Ntambwe signed a one-year contract extension after helping Macclesfield secure safety in league two. Ntambwe left Macclesfield in January 2020 returning to Belgium for personal reasons.

Oldham Athletic

He joined Oldham Athletic on a one-year deal on 17 October 2020.

International career

Ntwambe was born in Belgium and is of Congolese descent. Ntambwe represented Belgium at all levels from under-15 to under-20. He captained and played regularly for the Belgium under-17 team in the 2009–10 season. He received the award for outstanding defender of the 2010 Minsk international under-17 tournament, at which Belgium lost to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in the final. He made his under-19 debut in the starting eleven for a friendly against Serbia under-19 in February 2012, and later that year, he was a member of the under-20 team that played England C in the

International Challenge Trophy The International Challenge Trophy, originally known as the European Challenge Trophy, is an international association football competition. It is open to national teams featuring semi-professional U-23 footballers who have not yet won senior inter ...

. Ntambwe received his first call-up to the under-21 team for the 2015 European Championship qualifier against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in March 2013. He remained an unused substitute as Belgium won 2–0. He played three times for the under-21s in the

2013 Toulon Tournament The 2013 Toulon Tournament was the 41st edition of the Toulon Tournament. México were the defending champions but failed to secure a spot in the finals. Participants * (hosts) * * * * * * * * * Squads Venues Results ''All times are local ...

, before making his competitive debut as a second-half substitute as Belgium beat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

3–1 in their first qualifying match for the 2015 European championships.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ntambwe, Brice 1993 births Living people Footballers from Brussels Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players R.A.E.C. Mons (1910) players Lierse S.K. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Belgian sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Lierse Kempenzonen players Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland