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Chancel Mbemba

Mbemba with Anderlecht in 2014

Personal information

Full name

Chancel Mangulu Mbemba

Date of birth

8 August 1994 (age 29)

Place of birth

Kinshasa, Zaire

Height

1.82 m

Playing position

Centre-back

Club information

Current club

Marseille

Number

Youth career

2006–2007

E.S. La Grace

2007–2008

Mputu

2008–2012

MK Etanchéité

2012–2013

Anderlecht

Senior career*

Years

Team

Apps^†

(Gls)^†

2013–2015

Anderlecht

(6)

2015–2018

Newcastle United

(1)

2018–2022

Porto

(5)

2018–2019

Porto B

(0)

2022–

Marseille

(7)

National team^‡

2012–

DR Congo

(4)

Honours

Men's Football

Representing DR Congo
Africa Cup of Nations
Bronze	2015 Equatorial Guinea

Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 December 2023.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2023

Chancel Mangulu Mbemba (born 8 August 1994) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Marseille and serves as captain for the DR Congo national team.

Mbemba began his professional career Anderlecht, where he won the Belgian Pro League in his debut season of 2013–14. A year later, he moved to Newcastle United, where he played in the Premier League and won the Championship in 2017. In four years at Porto, he won the Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal double in 2020 and 2022.

A full international for DR Congo since 2012, Mbemba has earned over 70 caps and represented the country at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, coming third in 2015.

Early life
Club career
International career
Career statistics
- Club
- International
Honours
See also

Early life

Mbemba grew up in Kinshasa in a family of nine children. His mother, Antoinette, is a former basketball player who represented DR Congo.

A 2013 report by CNN found that documents support four different dates of birth for Mbemba from 1988 to 1994, with the player saying himself that he was born in 1990; an anonymous member of the Congolese Association Football Federation said that his date of birth was changed to 1991 so that he would be eligible for the 2012 Olympics where players must be under 23. Upon signing for Newcastle, he said that he was born in 1994 and that there was forensic proof.

Club career

Anderlecht

After playing youth football for several clubs including E.S. La Grace and FC MK Etanchéité in Kinshasa, Mbemba joined Belgian club Anderlecht in 2012. Upon moving, he mainly played with Anderlecht reserve and youth teams, and requested to have a bone scan to dispel rumours that he was older than he actually was.

On 21 July 2013, Mbemba was an unused substitute as Anderlecht won the Belgian Super Cup 1–0 against Genk. He made his debut a week later in their opening match of the Belgian Pro League season, a 3–2 home defeat to Lokeren. He scored five goals in 35 games of a league-winning campaign, starting by concluding a 2–0 win at Mons on 18 October, a contribution to becoming the league's Player of the Month.

Mbemba played in the 2014 Belgian Super Cup, a 2–1 win over Lokeren. he made 28 appearances during the 2014–15 season as they finished in third spot in the league, and runners-up in the 2014–15 Belgian Cup, losing 1–2 to Club Brugge in the final.

Newcastle United

Mbemba (left) and Chelsea's Eden Hazard in 2017

On 26 July 2015, Premier League side Newcastle United announced the signing of Mbemba. Four days later, he signed a five-year contract with the club. He made his debut on 9 August on the first day of the Premier League season, starting in a 2–2 home draw with Southampton.

He scored his only goal for the club on 7 May 2017 against Barnsley in a 3–0 home win, on the same day that Newcastle clinched the EFL Championship title a year after relegation.

Porto

On 23 July 2018, Primeira Liga side Porto signed Mbemba for a reported £7.14 million fee. He made his debut on 31 October in a 4–2 home win over Varzim in the group stage of the Taça da Liga, with manager Sérgio Conceição sending out a completely different team to the previous league game. Four days later he made his Primeira Liga bow as an 80th-minute substitute for striker Yacine Brahimi in a 2–0 victory at Marítimo; he played only two more league games that season, one of which was a start in a 3–1 win over Nacional at the Estádio do Dragão on 7 January 2019. He also played two matches for the reserve team in LigaPro.

Mbemba scored his first goal for the Dragons on 24 November 2019, opening a 4–0 home win over Vitória de Setúbal that qualified his team to the last 16 of the Taça de Portugal. The following 7 March, he was on the scoreboard for the first time in the league, in a 1–1 draw with Rio Ave at the same venue; his team ended the season as champions. On 1 August 2020, Mbemba scored both goals of a 2–1 win over Benfica in the Taça de Portugal Final.

Marseille

On 15 July 2022, Mbemba signed a three-year contract with Marseille on a free transfer. He made his debut on 7 August as the Ligue 1 season began with a 4–1 home win over Reims, and scored his first goal in his third game on 20 August to open a 2–1 win over Nantes also at the Stade Vélodrome. On 7 September, he was sent off in a 2–0 Champions League loss at Tottenham Hotspur for a professional foul on Son Heung-min.

International career

Mbemba made his debut for the DR Congo on 17 June 2012, in a 3–0 home win over the Seychelles at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, in 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification. He was an unused member of Claude Le Roy's squad for the finals. He was part of the squad that came third at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, and scored a penalty in the shootout win over the hosts for the bronze medal.

On 13 October 2015, Mbemba scored his first international goal, a late long-distance winner in a 2–1 friendly against Gabon in Visé, Belgium. He also went to the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017 and 2019; in the latter in Egypt he scored a late header in a 2–2 draw with Madagascar in the last 16, though his team lost in a shootout.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Anderlecht	2013–14	Belgian Pro League	35	5	0	0	—		5	1	0	0	40	6
	2014–15	Belgian Pro League	28	1	2	0	—		6	2	1	0	37	3
	Total		63	6	2	0	0	0	11	3	1	0	77	9
Newcastle United	2015–16	Premier League	33	0	1	0	1	0	—		—		35	0
	2016–17	Championship	12	1	0	0	1	0	—		—		13	1
	2017–18	Premier League	9	0	1	0	1	0	—		—		11	0
	Total		54	1	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	59	1
Porto B	2018–19	Liga Portugal 2	2	0	—		—		—		—		2	0
Porto	2018–19	Primeira Liga	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	2019–20		26	2	6	4	5	0	5	0	—		42	6
	2020–21		27	1	4	0	1	0	10	0	1	0	43	1
	2021–22		31	2	6	0	1	0	9	0	—		47	2
	Total		87	5	18	4	8	0	24	0	1	0	138	9
Marseille	2022–23	Ligue 1	36	5	4	0	—		5	2	—		45	7
	2023–24	Ligue 1	14	2	0	0	—		7	3	—		21	5
	Total		50	7	4	0	—		12	5	—		66	12
Career total			256	19	26	4	11	0	47	8	2	0	342	30

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
DR Congo	2012	2	0
	2013	2	0
	2014	4	0
	2015	14	1
	2016	7	0
	2017	11	2
	2018	4	0
	2019	10	1
	2020	2	0
	2021	8	0
	2022	2	0
	2023	8	0
Total		74	4

Scores and results list DR Congo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mbemba goal.

List of international goals scored by Chancel Mbemba
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 October 2015	Stade de la Cité de l'Oie, Visé, Belgium	Gabon	2–1	2–1	Friendly
2	10 June 2017	Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa, DR Congo	Congo	3–1	1–1	2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
3	5 September 2017	Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa, DR Congo	Tunisia	1–0	2–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	7 July 2019	Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt	Madagascar	2–2	2–2 (2–4 pen.)	2019 Africa Cup of Nations