Juan Pablo Mbela Roku (born 5 August 1982) is an Equatoguinean former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Mbela was born in

Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly Santa Isabel) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko, ( bvb, Etulá, and as ''Fernando Pó'' by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had a p ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

. He was formed as footballer at

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

. Between 2000 and 2008, he played for French lower-league clubs: ASM Vénissieux, SR Colmar, Gap HAFC and Rhône-Crussol. In January 2009, Mbela tried in the Italian Third Division side

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

, but returned to France the following month. In 2012 he played for CO Saint-Pierre in the second division of

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

International career

Discovered and called by Vicente Engonga, Mbela played for Equatorial Guinea national team in two World Cup 2010 Qualifying matches, against

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

(in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

) and South Africa national football team, South Africa (in

). In 2009 he also featured in a friendly match against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

and in August 2010 against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

References

External links

* * 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Malabo Equatoguinean men's footballers Men's association football forwards Gap HAFC players SR Colmar players AS Saint-Priest players ASM Vénissieux players Le Puy Foot 43 Auvergne players Ain Sud players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers Equatoguinean expatriate men's footballers Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Réunion Expatriate men's footballers in Réunion {{EquatorialGuinea-footy-bio-stub