Joe Mbu (born 14 February 1982) is a Cameroonian retired semi-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 played as a defender. During his career, which started as a youth player at Hibernian, he played for Whitburn Junior, Cowdenbeath,

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

on loan, East Fife and finally, Edinburgh City.

Early and personal life

Born in Cameroon, Mbu moved to London at the age of one, and then to Scotland six years later. As well as playing football, Mbu has also worked as a banker.

Career

Mbu spent six years playing football at youth level at Hibernian before being released by the club due to being deemed "too small". He then joined Whitburn Junior who play in the East Region of Scottish junior football and was voted their Player of the Year twice. During his time there he played for the Scottish junior national team several times and won the Quadrangular Tournament with Scotland. Mbu was ready to join

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

, but instead joined Cowdenbeath on a one-year deal in 2008. He enjoyed successive promotions with the club in 2008–09 and 2009–10 to the reach Scottish First Division, but was regularly injured as the team were relegated in their first season as a First Division club. Mbu won the Scottish Second Division in 2011–12 with the club and was voted in

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 ...

. He signed on loan for

in March 2013. He signed for East Fife on 1 July 2013. In July 2014, Mbu signed for Edinburgh City who were at the time in the Scottish Lowland League. Mbu won the Lowland League title twice with City in 2014–15 and 2015–16. He also helped City become the first non-league team to earn promotion to

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

of the

SPFL The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As we ...

in 2015–16 via the new pyramid system. Mbu played in City's first ever SPFL league match on 6 August 2016 against

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

, in which he was sent-off in the 93rd minute for an altercation with Forfar

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

David Cox. Mbu announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2016–17 season due to injury, with his final appearance for Edinburgh City coming in a 3–2 defeat against

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

on 6 May 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mbu, Joe 1982 births Living people Cameroonian men's footballers Scottish men's footballers Hibernian F.C. players Whitburn F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Stenhousemuir F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Edinburgh City F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football defenders Lowland Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Black British sportsmen Cameroonian emigrants to the United Kingdom Sportspeople of Cameroonian descent