Eliaquim Mangala

Eliaquim Mangala
Mangala playing for Porto in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Eliaquim Hans Mangala
Date of birth	(1991-02-13) 13 February 1991 (age 23)
Place of birth	Colombes, France
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Porto
Number	22
Youth career
1996–2002	AC Lustin
2002–2004	CS Wépionnais
2004–2008	Namur
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2008–2011	Standard Liège	77	(2)
2011–	Porto	51	(6)
National team‡
2009–2012	France U21	23	(2)
2013–	France	3	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 April 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 June 2014

Eliaquim Hans Mangala (born 13 February 1991) is a French footballer who plays for Porto in the Portuguese Primeira Liga. He primarily plays as a central defender and is a France youth international having played with the under-21 team. Mangala made his debut with the team on 13 November 2009 against Tunisia. He holds a Belgian passport having lived in the country since he was five.

Club career

Early career

Mangala was born in the northwestern Parisian suburb of Colombes, but moved to Belgium at the age of five to live in the French-speaking city of Namur. At the same age, he joined local club Athletic Club Lustin as a youth player and spent six years at the club before moving to CS Wépionnais in nearby Wépion. After two years in Wépion, Mangala joined the biggest club in the city, UR Namur, and quickly impressed. While at Namur, Mangala was utilized as a striker and his positive displays at youth level led to interest from Standard Liège. In 2007, Mangala and Standard reached an agreement on a three-year youth contract.^[1]

Standard Liège

Mangala joined Standard Liège and, upon his arrival, was converted into a left back and inserted into the club's under-17 team for the 2007–08 season. Mangala's admirable play with the team led to the player being promoted to Standard's under-19 team in January 2008, where he again switched positions, this time moving into central defence. During his time with the under-19 team, Mangala made the bench several times for Standard's under-21 team, despite being only 17 years old.^[2]

For the 2008–09 season, Mangala was given the opportunity to train and play with the first team. On 23 October 2008, he signed his first professional contract, agreeing to a five-year deal with the club.^[3] Mangala was officially promoted to the senior team and assigned the number 22 shirt. On 9 November, he made his professional debut as an 89th minute substitute in a 3–1 victory over Germinal Beerschot.^[4] He made another late appearance against Gent before earning his first career league start against Dender on 17 January 2009. In the match, Mangala provided the assist on the opening goal scored by Milan Jovanović in the 3rd minute of play. Standard won the match 3–2 with Mangala playing the entire match. He finished the season with 11 league appearances as Standard Liège were crowned champions. He also appeared in UEFA Cup matches against Italian club Sampdoria, German club Stuttgart, and Portuguese outfit Sporting, starting the match against the latter.

Mangala was inserted as a starter for the 2009–10 season making his debut in the club's 2–0 victory over Genk in the Belgian Supercup on 25 July 2009. On 12 September, Mangala scored his first professional goal in a league match against Mechelen in a 3–0 victory. Four days later, Mangala scored another goal against English club Arsenal in the club's opening UEFA Champions League group stage match. Mangala scored the goal in the 3rd minute and Standard striker Jovanović scored two minutes later to put Standard Liège up 2–0, however, the club went on to lose the match 3–2 following three unanswered goals from the English side.^[5]

Porto

Mangala joined F.C. Porto for €7.5 million on 16 August 2011.^[6] He played his first season with Porto as a substitute behind the likes of Rolando, Maicon, and Otamendi. He made his breakthrough in his second season, when he became the main centre back and scored four league goals, one of which was in a 2–2 draw against Benfica.

International career

Due to being raised in Belgium, Mangala did not feature with any of France's youth football teams. In 2008, he was approached by the Belgium Football Association who called the player up to the country's under-18 national team. However, due to not possessing a passport at the time, the call up was deemed futile. After excelling with Standard Liège's senior team, Mangala drew the interest of the French Football Federation with France under-21 manager Erick Mombaerts attending a match between Liège and Mouscron at the Stade Le Canonnier in November.^[7] On 5 November 2009, Mangala was selected, for the first time, to the under-21 team for a friendly match against Tunisia on 13 November and a 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification match against Slovenia on 17 November. Mangala made his under-21 debut in the Tunisia match, but missed the match against Slovenia after withdrawing from the team due to an injury suffered the previous day in training. On 2 March 2010, he earned his second straight selection to the under-21 team and started in central defence alongside captain Mamadou Sakho in the team's 3–1 win over Croatia. Now he is representing france in world cup 2014.

After putting in some impressive performances with Porto, Mangala made his debut with the senior squad in a 1–0 loss to Uruguay.

Club statistics

As of 3 April 2014

Honours

Standard Liège

• Belgian Pro League: 2008–09
• Belgian Cup: 2010–11
• Belgian Supercup: 2008, 2009

Porto

• Primeira Liga: 2011–12, 2012–13
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2012, 2013

References

External links

• Eliaquim Mangala player info at the official Standard website (French)
• Eliaquim Mangala player info at FootGoal.net (Dutch)