Gédéon Tshingoma Kalulu Kyatengwa (born 29 August 1997) is a 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 right-back for club Lorient. Born in France, he plays for the DR Congo national team.

Early life

Kalulu was born in the

8th arrondissement of Lyon The 8th arrondissement of Lyon is one of the 9 arrondissements of Lyon. Geography Quarters * Le Bachut * Monplaisir Ville * Monplaisir La Plaine, usually known as La Plaine * Mermoz Nord * Mermoz Sud * Les États-Unis * Le Transvaal * Laënnec ...

, France, and is Congolese by descent. His father was born in Kabimba, Belgian Congo, and his mother in Likasi, Congo-Léopoldville. He acquired French nationality on 26 December 2000 through the collective effect of his parents'

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Club career

A youth product of Lyon, Kalulu signed his first professional contract with the club on 19 April 2017. After a season on loan with Bourg-en-Bresse, Kalulu signed with

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

on 24 July 2019. He made his debut for Ajaccio in a 4–1

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

win over Valenciennes on 13 August 2019. On 3 June 2022, Kalulu signed a four-year contract with Lorient.

International career

On 22 September 2020, Kalulu was called-up by the

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 ...

. On 13 October 2020, he debuted for DR Congo in a 1–1 friendly tie with Morocco. On 27 December 2023, he was selected from the list of 24 Congolese players selected by

Sébastien Desabre Sébastien Serge Louis Desabre (born 2 August 1976) is a French professional football manager, who is the current manager of DR Congo. Nicknamed ''The Florist'' he served as manager of the Uganda national team from 28 December 2017 until 7 July ...

to compete in the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2023 or CAN 2023) is scheduled to be the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's association football, football championship of Africa organized by the ...

Personal life

He is the brother of fellow professional footballers

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

forward Aldo and A.C. Milan defender Pierre Kalulu.

References

External links

* *
OL Profile
1997 births Living people Footballers from Lyon Men's association football fullbacks Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's international footballers French men's footballers Black French sportspeople Democratic Republic of the Congo people of Rwandan descent Naturalized citizens of France French sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent French people of Rwandan descent Olympique Lyonnais players AS Saint-Priest players AC Ajaccio players Football Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas 01 players FC Lorient players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players {{France-footy-defender-1990s-stub