Chancel Mangulu Mbemba (born 8 August 1994) is a Congolese professional

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 plays as a centre-back for club

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

and serves as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for the DR Congo national team. Mbemba began his professional career

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

, where he won the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

in his debut season of 2013–14. A year later, he moved to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, where he played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and won the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

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. In four years at

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, he won the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

and

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

in 2020 and 2022. A full international for DR Congo since 2012, Mbemba has earned over 70 caps and represented the country at five

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

tournaments, coming third in

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Early life

Mbemba grew up in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

in a family of nine children. His mother, Antoinette, is a former basketball player who represented

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. A 2013 report by

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

found that documents support four different dates of birth for Mbemba from 1988 to 1994, with the player saying himself that he was born in 1990; an anonymous member of the

Congolese Association Football Federation The Congolese Association Football Federation (french: Fédération Congolaise de Football-Association, FECOFA) is the governing body of Football (soccer), football in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was founded in 1919 and affiliated t ...

said that his date of birth was changed to 1991 so that he would be eligible for the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

where players must be under 23. Upon signing for Newcastle, he said that he was born in 1994 and that there was forensic proof.

Club career

Anderlecht

After playing youth football for several clubs including E.S. La Grace and

FC MK Etanchéité Football Club MK Étanchéité is a football club from DR Congo founded in 1995 in Kinshasa. Honours Coupe du Congo * Winners (2): 2013, 2014 Performance in CAF competitions *CAF Confederation Cup: 2 appearances ::2014 – First Round ::2015 ...

in Kinshasa, Mbemba joined Belgian club

in 2012. Upon moving, he mainly played with Anderlecht reserve and youth teams, and requested to have a bone scan to dispel rumours that he was older than he actually was. On 21 July 2013, Mbemba was an unused substitute as Anderlecht won the

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

1–0 against

Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

. He made his debut a week later in their opening match of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, a 3–2 home defeat to

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

. He scored five goals in 35 games of a league-winning campaign, starting by concluding a 2–0 win at

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 ...

on 18 October, a contribution to becoming the league's Player of the Month. Mbemba played in the

2014 Belgian Super Cup The 2014 Belgian Super Cup was a football match that was played on 20 July 2014, between 2013–14 Belgian Pro League winners Anderlecht and 2013–14 Belgian Cup; german: l ... winners Lokeren, won by Anderlecht, winning their twelfth super cu ...

, a 2–1 win over Lokeren. he made 28 appearances during the 2014–15 season as they finished in third spot in the league, and runners-up in the

2014–15 Belgian Cup The 2014–15 Belgian Cup is the 60th season of Belgian's annual football cup competition. The competition began on 26 July 2014 and ended with the final on 22 March 2015. The winners of the competition will qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa L ...

, losing 1–2 to

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in the final.

Newcastle United

On 26 July 2015,

side

announced the signing of Mbemba. Four days later, he signed a five-year contract with the club. He made his debut on 9 August on the first day of the

season, starting in a 2–2 home draw with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He scored his only goal for the club on 7 May 2017 against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in a 3–0 home win, on the same day that Newcastle clinched the

EFL 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 E ...

title a year after relegation.

Porto

On 23 July 2018,

side

signed Mbemba for a reported £7.14 million fee. He made his debut on 31 October in a 4–2 home win over Varzim in the group stage of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

, with manager

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. He is the current manager of Porto. Throughout his career, he played for ten ...

sending out a completely different team to the previous league game. Four days later he made his

bow as an 80th-minute substitute for striker

Yacine Brahimi Yacine Nasreddine Brahimi (born 8 February 1990) is a professional footballer who plays for and captains the Qatari club Al-Gharafa and the Algeria national team. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is described as "technicall ...

in a 2–0 victory at Marítimo; he played only two more league games that season, one of which was a start in a 3–1 win over

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

at the ''

Estádio do Dragão The Estádio do Dragão (; English: Dragon Stadium) is an all-seater football stadium in Porto, Portugal, and the home ground of FC Porto since 2003. It has a seating capacity of 50,033, making it the third largest football stadium in Portugal ...

'' on 7 January 2019. He also played two matches for the reserve team in

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

. Mbemba scored his first goal for the Dragons on 24 November 2019, opening a 4–0 home win over

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

that qualified his team to the last 16 of the

. The following 7 March, he was on the scoreboard for the first time in the league, in a 1–1 draw with

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

at the same venue; his team ended the season as champions. On 1 August 2020, Mbemba scored both goals of a 2–1 win over Benfica in the Taça de Portugal Final.

Marseille

On 15 July 2022, Mbemba signed a three-year contract with

on a free transfer. He made his debut on 7 August as the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

began with a 4–1 home win over

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

, and scored his first goal in his third game on 20 August to open a 2–1 win over

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

also at the

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...

. On 7 September, he was sent off in a 2–0 Champions League loss at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

for a

professional foul In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring. Various sports contain provisi ...

Son Heung-min Son Heung-min ( ko, 손흥민; ; born 8 July 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the South Korea national team. Considered one of the best forwards in ...

International career

Mbemba made his debut for the

on 17 June 2012, in a 3–0 home win over the Seychelles at the

Stade des Martyrs The Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecôte (Martyrs of Pentecost Stadium), also known as simply the Stade des Martyrs and formerly known as Stade Kamanyola, is a national stadium located in the town of Lingwala in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democra ...

, in

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

. He was an unused member of

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

's squad for the finals. He was part of the squad that came third at the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

in Equatorial Guinea, and scored a penalty in the shootout win over the hosts for the bronze medal. On 13 October 2015, Mbemba scored his first international goal, a late long-distance winner in a 2–1 friendly against

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

Visé Visé (; nl, Wezet, ; wa, Vizé) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, located on the river Meuse in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Argenteau, Cheratte, Lanaye, Lixhe, Richelle, ...

, Belgium. He also went to the Africa Cup of Nations in

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

; in the latter in Egypt he scored a late header in a 2–2 draw with

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

in the last 16, though his team lost in a shootout.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list DR Congo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mbemba goal.''

Honours

Anderlecht *

: 2013–14 *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

runner-up: 2014–15 Newcastle United *

: 2016–17 Porto *

: 2019–20 2021–22 *

: 2019–20, 2021–22 *

runner-up: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

DR Congo *

bronze:

Individual *

Defender of the Month:

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Team of the Year: 2021–22 * UNFP Ligue 1

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: *BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award *Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year *IRB International Sevens Team of the Year *IRB International Team of the Year *J.League Team of the Y ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Prix Marc-Vivien Foé The Prix Marc-Vivien Foé is an award in an honour to the late Marc-Vivien Foé Marc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a Cameroonian professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder for both club and country. Having ini ...

: 2022–23 *

CAF Team of the Year The CAF Team of the Year is an annual football award given by the Confederation of African Football during the CAF Awards. In 2007, the CAF did not choose the team of the year, but rather the best ten players of the last fifty years. The ten playe ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

*
Chancel Mbemba Mangulu's profile at RSCA.be
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mbemba, Chancel Living people Footballers from Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Belgian Pro League players Premier League players English Football League players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Ligue 1 players FC MK Etanchéité players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Newcastle United F.C. players FC Porto players FC Porto B players Olympique de Marseille players Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France 1994 births 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Age controversies 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people