Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

Personal information
Full name	Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
Date of birth	15 May 1989 (1989-05-15) (age 22)
Place of birth	Bangui, Central African Republic
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Montpellier
Number	3
Youth career
2005–2007	Montpellier
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2007–	Montpellier	136	(3)
National team‡
2009–2010	France U21	8	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 May 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 4 October 2009

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (born 15 May 1989) is a Franco-Central African professional football player who currently plays for French club Montpellier in Ligue 1. He primarily plays as a right back, but can play along the entire back line. Yanga-Mbiwa is a naturalized citizen in France, which makes him eligible to represent France on international level.

Career

Club career

Yanga-Mbiwa was born in Bangui, Central African Republic but moved to France as a toddler growing up in the commune of Port-de-Bouc, not far from the city of Marseille, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône. He joined Montpellier as a youth player in 2005 and made his professional football debut on 23 February 2007 in a 0–1 defeat to Bastia starting the match and playing the entire 90 minutes, picking up a yellow card. Following the season, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal until 2010. He was officially promoted to the senior squad and was assigned the number 3 shirt.

Initially, Yanga-Mbiwa was utitlized as a substitute earlier on during the 2007–08 season, but by September 2007, despite being only 18 years old, Montpellier manager Rolland Courbis named Yanga-Mbiwa a starter for the rest of the 2007–08 season. Yanga-Mbiwa didn't disappoint appearing in 41 total matches scoring one goal. Beginning with the club's 31 August 1–0 victory over Ajaccio,^[1] Mbiwa appeared in every match Montpellier played including the Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France matches, where Montpellier reached the Round of 16 and Round of 32, respectively. His only goal of the season came on 12 May 2008 against FC Gueugnon scoring the winner in injury time to give Montpellier a 2–1 victory.^[2]

Already established as a regular, Yanga-Mbiwa was an incumbent starter heading into the 2008–09 season, and despite competition from fellow youngsters Mickaël Nelson and Abdel El Kaoutari, he continually impressed appearing in 33 total matches and scoring one goal against Angers in a 3–3 draw again in injury time. The equalizing goal came only seconds after Angers took the lead with a goal from Malik Couturier.^[3] On 20 March 2009, with Montpellier in a decisive battle for promotion, Yanga-Mbiwa picked up an extensive injury against Brest, which ruled him out for almost two months. He returned to the team on 8 May 2009 and played the final four matches helping Montpellier achieve promotion to Ligue 1 on the final day of the season.

Despite promotion to Ligue 1, with his impending stint in prison oncoming, manager Rolland Courbis resigned from his position and new manager René Girard came on. Girard made it clear that one of his many priorities were to keep hold of Yanga-Mbiwa and on 2 June 2009, it was done with the club signing the player to a two-year contract extension until 2012.^[4] Yanga-Mbiwa made his Ligue 1 debut in the club's opening match of the season against Paris Saint-Germain playing the entire match in a 1–1 draw.^[5] On 12 May 2010, Yanga-Mbiwa added an extra year to his contract after agreeing to a contract extension with the club.

International career

Yanga-Mbiwa has dual citizenship with both France and the Central African Republic meaning he is eligible to represent both. He didn't appear with either nation's youth teams, but on 1 October 2009, he was called up to the France under-21 team by coach Eric Mombaerts for their 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification matches against Malta on 9 October and Belgium on 13 October.^[6]

Career statistics

Club

(Correct as of 25 April 2011)

Club	Season	League			Cup[nb 1]			Europe[nb 2]			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Montpellier	2006–07	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	2007–08	34	1	1	7	0	1	0	0	0	41	1	2
	2008–09	29	1	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	33	1	2
	2009–10	36	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	34	0	1
	2010–11	35	1	0	4	0	0	2	0	0	36	1	0
Total		135	3	4	16	0	1	2	0	0	148	3	5
Career total		135	3	4	16	0	1	2	0	0	148	3	5

Notes

1. ^ Includes Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue, Trophée des Champions
2. ^ Includes UEFA Supercup

References

1. ^ Montpellier v. Ajaccio Match Report
2. ^ Gueugnon v. Montpellier Match Report
3. ^ Angers v. Montpellier Match Report
4. ^ Saihi et Yanga-Mbiwa prolongent
5. ^ Montpellier v. PSG Match Report
6. ^ Aït-Fana et Yanga-Mbiwa convoqués

External links

• Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa French league stats at LFP.fr (French)
• ESPN Soccernet Profile
• Club Profile
• UEFA Profile

Persondata
Name	Yanga-Mbiwa, Mapou
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 May 1989
Place of birth	Bangui, Central African Republic
Date of death
Place of death