2014 AFRICAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR - CAF CUTS AWARDS LISTS TO FIVE

Last month CAF announced an initial list of 25 names for its main 2014 African Player of the Year award.

3 Dec 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 6TH MATCHES - ALL RESULTS

Ivory Coast and Ghana reach finals 

19 Nov 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 5TH MATCHES - ALL RESULTS

South Africa are among six teams to have booked their place at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations after each won their penultimate qualifier on Saturday.

16 Nov 2014
AFRICAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2014 - FINAL - 1ST LEG - RESULT

Entente Setif secure 2:2 draw at Vita Club in first leg of final

26 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 4TH MATCHES - ALL RESULTS

Cameroon on verge of qualification - Cameroon took a huge step towards qualification with a 2:0 victory over Sierra Leone on Wednesday.

16 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 3RD MATCHES - all results

Algeria beat Malawi 2:0 in their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Saturday to be on the verge of booking their place at the final in Morocco.

11 Oct 2014
AFRICAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2014 - SEMI FINALS - 2ND LEG - ALL RESULTS

AS Vita Club and Entente Setif reach final 

28 Sep 2014
AFRICAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2014 - SEMI FINALS - 1St LEG - ALL RESULTS

AS Vita used home advantage to win against CS Sfaxien.

22 Sep 2014

Cédric Bakambu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 01/2018Embed from Getty Images

 

Personal information
Full name

Cédric Bakambu
Date of birth
11 April 1991
Place of birth
Vitry-sur-Seine, France
Height
1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position
Forward


Club information
Current team

Villarreal
Number
17

 

CONGO DR

Beijing Guoan FC Season 2018 -

Article 01

Article 02

Article 03

Article 04


Youth career

Ivry
2000-2006

Sochaux
2006-2010


Senior career

Sochaux
2010-2014
94x apps / 18x goals

Bursaspor
2014-2015
27x apps / 13x goals

Villarreal
2015-2018
75x apps / 32x goals

Beijing Guoan
2018-
0x apps / 0x goals


National team

France U18
2009
5x apps / 1x goals

France U19
2009-2010
16x apps / 4x goals

France U20
2010-2011
17x apps / 3x goals

DR Congo
2015-
16x apps / 7x goals


(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 October 2016 -  National team caps and goals correct as of 10:53, 05 June 2016 (UTC)


Cédric Bakambu is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Villarreal CF.

He made his professional debut for Sochaux in 2010, and played 107 official games for them over five seasons, scoring 21 goals. 

He then moved to Bursaspor for €1.8 million, finishing as top scorer as his team came runners-up in the Turkish Cup, before signing for Villarreal a year later.

Born in France, he represented that country up to under-20 level, totalling 8 goals in 38 games and winning the 2010 UEFA European Championship for the under-19s. In 2015, he made his senior debut for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


Club career

Sochaux
Born in Vitry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Bakambu began his career at local US Ivry at the age of 10 before transferring to FC Sochaux-Montbéliard four years later.

On 1 May 2010, Bakambu played in the 2010 Coupe Gambardella Final and scored a goal for his team at the Stade de France. Sochaux, however, lost the match 4:3 on penalties.

He had previously scored a double in the team's 4:3 aggregate semi-final victory over FC Metz.

Bakambu made his professional debut on 7 August 2010 in Souchaux's opening match of the Ligue 1 season against Arles-Avignon, appearing as an 83rd-minute substitute for Modibo Maïga in a 2:1 win at the Stade Auguste Bonal.

The following month, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal with the club until June 2013.

On 17 September 2011, Bakambu scored his first professional goal, the first equaliser in a 2:2 draw at Lille OSC, eleven minutes after replacing Carlāo.

A year and nine days later, as a 66th-minute replacement for King Osanga, he scored twice in a 3:2 extra-time home win over Evian Thonon Gaillard F.C. in the third round of the Coupe de la Ligue.

Bakambu scored seven goals in 31 appearances over the 2013-14 Ligue 1 season, in which Sochaux were relegated; this included two on 21 December in a 2:1 home win over Stade Rennais F.C..

Across the campaign, he was placed on the right wing by manager Hervé Renard until he would become sufficiently mentally mature for a centre-forward role.

On 23 March, he was sent off for handball in a 2:1 loss at A.S. Saint-Étienne.


Bursaspor


On 1 September 2014, Bakambu left France for the first time, moving on a four-year transfer to Turkey's Bursaspor for a fee of €1.8 million and an annual salary of €800,000.

He made his debut in the Süper Lig twelve days later, replacing Ozan İpek in the 55th minute of a 2:1 win at Gençlerbirliği S.K.. 

His first goals for the "Green Crocodiles" came on 19 October, in either half of a 2:2 draw against Eskişehirspor at the Bursa Atatürk Stadium, and six days later he scored a first professional hat-trick in a 5:0 win at Balıkesirspor.

He finished his only league season in Bursa with 13 goals in 27 games.

In the season's domestic cup, Bakambu was the top scorer with eight goals in 12 games as his team reached the final before a 3:2 home loss to Galatasaray. 

This tally included trebles in a 5:0 win at Mersin İdmanyurdu on 27 January and a 3:0 victory over Fatih Karagümrük S.K. nine days later, both in the group stage. 

As Galatasaray won the double, Bursaspor faced them in the 2015 Turkish Super Cup on 8 August, with Bakambu playing the whole of the 1:0 loss.

 

Villarreal

On 19 August 2015, Spanish side Villarreal CF announced the signing of Bakambu on a five-year contract.

He made his La Liga debut four days later, replacing Léo Baptistão in the 61st minute of a 1:1 draw at Real Betis in the first game of the season.

On the 28th he came on for the same player and scored two goals in the closing minutes of the fixture against RCD Espanyol at Estadio El Madrigal, to secure a 3:1 victory for the "Yellow Submarine".

Bakambu played his first game in European competition on 17 September, again as a substitute in a 2:1 loss at SK Rapid Wien in the group stage of the season's UEFA Europa League. 

On 22 October, he scored his first goals in the tournament, a first-half double in a 4:0 home win over FC Dinamo Minsk.

He added another two the following 10 March against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the first leg of the last 16 (2:0 win, same aggregate).

In the quarter-finals, he scored twice in each leg of a 6:3 aggregate win over Sparta Prague.

He was one of four strikers named in the competition's Squad of the Season, and his 9 goals put him only one behind the top scorer, Athletic Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz.

On 1 October 2017, Bakambu scored a hat-trick in a 3:0 home win over SD Eibar. 

He then scored two goals in a 2:1 win at Girona FC and another in a 4:0 win over UD Las Palmas to be named La Liga Player of the Month, the first African to win the award.

In January 2018, Villarreal manager Javier Calleja said that Bakambu was going through a transfer to Beijing Guoan of the Chinese Super League.

On 17 January 2018, Bakambu rescinded his contract with Villarreal.


International career

Bakambu was a French youth international and has represented the country at both under-18 and under-19 level. 

He was a part of the team that won the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship on home soil. 

On 18 July, he scored twice in a 4:1 opening win over the Netherlands in Caen, and the 2:1 winner against Croatia in the semi-finals nine days later, also at the Stade Michel d'Ornano.

He was also part of the team that came fourth at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, opening a 2:0 win over Mali in the last group game in Cali.

In March 2015, he opted to represent DR Congo at senior level.

On arrival in Kinshasa he was greeted by fans with banners of him, later reflecting "I hadn't even played a match yet they made banners for me. 

It's really something else.

It was through football that I discovered my country."

He was first called up in June ahead of a friendly against Cameroon on the 9th, and started that match, a 1:1 draw at the Stade Charles Tondreau in Mons, Belgium.

On 26 March the following year, Bakambu scored his first international goal, opening a 2:1 win over Angola at the Stade des Martyrs with a penalty, in qualification for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

He added two more on 5 June, in a 6:1 win away to Madagascar.


Personal life

Born in France to parents from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bakambu said "I grew up with both cultures and I am very proud of that. 

I think it's something that enriches you."

Bakambu and international teammate Dieumerci Mbokani were at Brussels Airport when it was struck by terror attacks in March 2016; both escaped unharmed.