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 lea ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. Born in France, he plays for the DR Congo national team.

Early life

Kalulu was born in the 8th arrondissement of Lyon, France, and is Congolese by descent. His father was born in Kabimba,

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

, and his mother in

Likasi Likasi (formerly official names: Jadotville (French language, French) and Jadotstad (Dutch language, Dutch)) is a Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city in Haut-Katanga Province, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ...

, 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-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

Club career

A youth product of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, Kalulu signed his first professional contract with the club on 19 April 2017. After a season on loan with

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient Provinces of France, province of Bresse (). I ...

, Kalulu signed with

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

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 knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

win over

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

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

International career

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

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. On 13 October 2020, he debuted for DR Congo in a 1–1 friendly tie with

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. On 27 December 2023, he was selected from the list of 24 Congolese players selected by Sébastien Desabre to compete in the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

Personal life

He is the brother of fellow professional footballers Partizan forward Aldo and

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

defender Pierre Kalulu, as well as

Pau FC Pau Football Club, commonly referred to as Pau FC, is a professional football club based in Pau, capital of Béarn, France. Pau FC plays its home matches at the Nouste Camp and competes in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Nicknam ...

left-back Joseph Kalulu.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Lorient *

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

: 2024–25

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 21st-century French sportsmen {{France-footy-defender-1990s-stub