Jonathan Bru (born 2 May 1985) is a former 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

defensive 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 ...

. Born in France, he represented France at youth international level before playing for the Mauritius national team. He works as head coach of the

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

reserves.

Club career

France

Born in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

, France, Bru played youth football at CS Brétigny,

INF Clairefontaine The INF Clairefontaine (""), INF, or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of thirteen '' ...

and

Stade Rennais FC Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional association football, football club based in Rennes, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. They comp ...

. He began his professional career with the latter, making only one

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 ...

appearance during his spell. In the summer of 2006, Bru moved to

FC Istres Football Club Istres Ouest Provence (; commonly referred to as simply Istres) is a French association football club based in Istres. The club was formed in 1920 and currently play their home matches at the Stade Parsemain in Fos-sur-Mer, a com ...

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

, playing nine games in his first year and being relegated.

Cyprus and Portugal

After one season with

AEP Paphos FC AEP Paphos ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Πάφος, ''Athlitiki Enosi Pafos''; "Athletic Union Paphos") was a Cypriot football club based in Paphos. The club was formed in 2000 after the merger of the two clubs of Paphos, APOP and Evagoras. A ...

in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, Bru joined Académica de Coimbra in Portugal, appearing in only four official matches in his debut campaign in 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, ...

. On 26 July 2010, he signed a one-year deal with Segunda Liga side

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Es ...

, scoring his first goal for his new club on 23 October in a 1–1 home draw against

S.C. Freamunde Sport Clube Freamunde is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Freamunde, Paços de Ferreira. Founded on 19 March 1933, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at ...

. In August 2011, Bru continued in Portugal's second level, signing with

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

. He netted his first goal against his former team, the 3–2 game-winner on 2 October (away fixture).

Australia

On 20 June 2012, Bru signed a two-year deal with two-time

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

champions

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

, as

Ange Postecoglou Angelos Postecoglou ( el, Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου, ; born 27 August 1965) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in Greece, he moved ...

's first import signing. He helped his new team to the preliminary finals in his first year by making 19 out of a possible 29 appearances, but also nearly came to blows with teammate Danny Allsopp after a training ground incident. On 8 January 2014, after spending several weeks training on his own, Bru was released by the Victory. After almost nine months without a club, he returned to Oliveirense and the Portuguese second division.

International career

Bru represented France in almost every youth team, but never made an appearance for the senior side. In June 2009, he told

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

newspaper

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

that he hoped to play one day for

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, since both of his parents were born in the country; this became a reality when Mauritius head coach Akbar Patel called him to the squad for the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football ( ...

qualifying campaign. Bru made his debut on 4 September 2010 in a 3–1 defeat at the hands of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, scoring the national team's goal through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

. His second goal came on 5 June of the following year against

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 ...

, also for the ACN qualifiers and from the penalty spot. In August 2011, Bru was called up by Mauritius for the

2011 Indian Ocean Island Games The 2011 Indian Ocean Island Games were the 8th edition of the competition, held in Victoria, Seychelles. The last edition was held in 2007 in Madagascar. The Games' mascot was a Kato Nwar, the national bird of the Seychelles. The Games Parti ...

, and played in all of the matches ''en route'' to the final, a loss to

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

Managerial career

In August 2022 Bru was appointed head coach of the reserve team of Paris-based club

Personal life

Bru's younger brother, Kévin, is also a footballer midfielder. He spent most of his career in France – with a lengthy spell in England with

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 ...

– and also represented Mauritius internationally.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mauritius' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bru goal.''

Honours

Indian Ocean Island Games The Indian Ocean Island Games (french: Jeux des îles de l'océan Indien) is a quadrennial multi-sport event from Indian Ocean island nations. The Games was created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1977 and currently gather the is ...

: Runner-up

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bru, Jonathan 1985 births Living people French people of Mauritian descent Sportspeople from Neuilly-sur-Seine French footballers Mauritian footballers Footballers from Hauts-de-Seine Association football midfielders Mauritius international footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players INF Clairefontaine players Stade Rennais F.C. players FC Istres players AS Poissy players Cypriot First Division players AEP Paphos FC players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players U.D. Oliveirense players Moreirense F.C. players A-League Men players Melbourne Victory FC players French football managers Mauritian football managers Mauritian expatriate footballers Mauritian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Mauritian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Mauritian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia