Mbo Jérôme Mpenza (born 4 December 1976) is a Belgian former professional football player and coach, who played as a striker. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

at international level, scoring three goals in 56 appearances. His younger brother, Émile, is also a former footballer who represented Belgium.

Club career

During the start of his career, Mbo shared clubs with Émile, until he eventually left

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

for

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, where he won the 2000 league championship as a January transfer. He was once nicknamed ''Monsieur Un But Par Match'' (Mr. One-Goal-A-Match) for his regular club scoring exploits. Had an uneventful stint in Turkey, playing almost no part in

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

's season during the first part of 2001–02. He subsequently returned to Belgium, and served second stints with

R.E. Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Football in Belgium, Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut (province), Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mous ...

(one half season) and R.S.C. Anderlecht (four). In July 2008, Mpenza joined

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

outfit AEL FC. On 8 December 2008, he announced his retirement due to a back-injury. At this time he had not played a game for the club yet, due to the same injury.

International career

Mpenza also played for the Belgium national team from 1997, for which he scored his first goal in a friendly against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

in August 2005. He represented his adopted nation in two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and in

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

, held in his country and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

(with brother Émile in the final squads for

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 2000's competitions). He collected 56 caps (66 selections).

After football

Mpenza works at Anderlecht as a scout following his retirement.

Honours

Sporting CP * Portuguese First Division: 1999–2000 Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division 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 te ...

: 2005–06, 2006–07 *

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 ...

: Belgian Cup 2007-08, 2007–08 *

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 champio ...

: 2006, 2007 Belgium * FIFA Fair Play Trophy:

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mpenza, Mbo Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Belgium youth international footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo footballers Belgian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Belgian Pro League players Belgian First Division B players Belgian expatriate footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to Belgium Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Turkey Association football forwards Galatasaray S.K. footballers K.V. Kortrijk players Naturalised citizens of Belgium Footballers from Brussels Footballers from Kinshasa Primeira Liga players R.E. Mouscron players Standard Liège players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Sporting CP footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players 1976 births Living people Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Black Belgian sportspeople