Chancel Mbemba
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Personal information
Full name
Chancel Mangulu Mbemba
Date of birth
8 August 1994
Place of birth
Kinshasa, Zaire
Height
1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)
• Centre-backfull-back
Team information
Current team
Lille
Number
18
Youth career
E.S. La Grace
2006-2007
Mputu
2007-2008
MK Etanchéité
2008-2012
Anderlecht
2012-2013
Senior career*
Anderlecht
2013-2015
63x apps 6x goals
Newcastle United
2015-2018
54x apps 1x goal
Porto
2018-2022
87x apps 5x goals
Marseille
2022-2025
61x apps 7x gials
2022-2025
61x apps 7x gials
Lille
2025-
10x apps 0x goal
International career
DR Congo
2012-
106x apps 7x goal
2012-
106x apps 7x goal
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20:00, 14 February 2026 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 18:37, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
Chancel Mangulu Mbemba is a Congolese professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Lille and the DR Congo national team, of which he is the captain
Mbemba began his professional career at Anderlecht, where he won the Belgian Pro League in his debut season of 2013–14.
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 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
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.
In August 2024, Mbemba was left out of the Marseille’s squad by newly appointed head coach Roberto De Zerbi.
He didn’t play a single match during the 2024–25 season.
His contract with Marseille expired on 30 June 2025.
Lille
On 1st September 2025, he signed a one year contract with Lille OSC.[32]
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.
On 13 November 2025, Mbemba earned his 100th international cap, becoming the first Congolese player to reach the milestone, and marked the occasion by scoring a stoppage-time winner in a 1:0 victory over Cameroon during the 2026 World Cup qualification second round.
Three days later, he scored the decisive penalty in a 4:3 shootout victory over Nigeria after a 1:1 draw, sending his nation to the inter-confederation play-offs.