Chancel Mbemba

About

Chancel Mangulu Mbemba (born 8 August 1988) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Saudi Pro League club Al-Diriyah and captains the DR Congo national team.
Mbemba began his professional career at 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 is the national team’s most capped player. He represented the country at six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, finishing third in 2015, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Mbemba was born and raised in Kinshasa. He is one of nine children. His mother, Antoinette, is a former basketball player who represented the DR Congo women’s national basketball team.
A 2013 report by CNN found conflicting documents that support four different dates of birth for Mbemba ranging 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…