Mangalya, Elyakim

Early years

Elyakim Mangal was born in the small French town of Colombes, located 10 km from Paris . Elyakim’s parents are emigrants from DR Congo . In 1996, the family moved to French-speaking Walloon Namur in southern Belgium , where a boy at the age of five began playing football - first at the Lusten children's academy, then at Vepion and Namur, which played in the third division.

In 2006, Eliakim moved to Liège to study at the French school of Varem, where he met the technical director of the children's academy Standard . He recommended a football player for viewing in the junior team, and in June 2007, Mangale joined the Standard players (under 17 years), signing a semi-professional contract for three years. Six months later, a footballer playing at the position of the defensive midfielder joined the ranks of youths under 19 years of age ^[2] .

The 2008/09 season Mangal began in the youth team "Standard". Good performances in friendly matches against the Belgian teams under the age of 21 and a well-played game with the French Le Havre allowed Elyakim to sign a five-year professional contract with the Liège club on October 22, 2008, and the management of the Standard called the Frenchman “new Fellaini ” and “ New Defur " ^[4] .

Standard

October 31, 2008 Mangale first hit the bid for the championship match of Belgium against Charleroi , November 6 Elyakim was on the bench in the group stage game of the UEFA Cup with Sevilla .

Mangal's debut in professional football took place on December 3, 2008 in the same UEFA Cup - with the score 3: 0 in favor of the Belgians in a fight with Sampdoria , Liegez coach Laszlo Beloleni decided to release Elyakim in the 88th minute instead of Milan Jovanovic , in order to strengthen joint efforts with Dante defensive capabilities on the left. In the championship of Belgium, the player’s debut came on December 21, when in the victorious match against Gent he appeared on the field in the 89th minute: Elyaky went instead of Wilfried Dalmat and took the right flank of the defense, and Reginal Goro , who played almost the entire match, moved forward on the position of the right midfielder.

Before the end of the season, the defender took part in another 12 matches of his team, which according to the results of the season of the Belgian championship became the champion ^[5] .

On September 16, 2009, Elyakim Mangalya scored the first goal in his professional career, opening the scoring in the Champions League match against London Arsenal ^[6] .

Porto

At the end of the next season, Mangal, in which Standard became the vice-champion and winner of the cup, moved to Porto, Portugal , although he could end up in Spanish Valencia ^[7] . He played his first match in the 2012/13 season in the Portuguese Super Cup against the “ Academicians ” on August 11, 2012, having spent 90 minutes on the field ^[8] .

Manchester City

On August 11, 2014, Mangal became a football player for Manchester City , having signed a 5-year contract with the English club and received the 20th number ^[9] . According to British media, the transfer amount was £ 32 million ^[10] . Mangalya made his debut match on September 21 against Chelsea , which ended 1-1 ^[11] . On November 30, Mangale was sent off for two yellow cards in a match against Southampton ^[12] .

Valencia (rental)

On August 31, 2016, Mangall as a one-year lease moved to Valencia ^[13] . He made his debut match on September 11 against Real Betis , which ended in a victory for the guests 2-3 ^[14] .

Studying at the Belgian football academies, Mangale was not called up to any of the youth teams in France. At the age of 18, Elyakym had contacts with representatives of the Belgian Football Association , which considered the player as a candidate for the country's youth team (under 18). However, at that time, Mangale did not have Belgian citizenship. Having signed a contract with Liege "Standard", the footballer was in full view of the French Federation , and on October 30, 2009, mentor of the youth national team of France, Eric Mombert, specially attended the Jhupile League match between "Standard" and " Muscron ", in which Mangal played the position of midfielder. On November 5, the footballer received an official invitation to the youth team and on November 13, 2009, he made his debut at the Stade de la Licon in Amiens in a friendly match with the Tunisian team, which ended with a score of 1: 1. Four days later, Elyakyim had to play with the Slovenes as part of the qualifying tournament for the youth Euro 2011 , but was injured ^[15] .

The next time, Mombert invited Mangal to a friendly match with Croatia on March 2, 2010 and Argentina on May 20, in which the defender played for 90 minutes together with Mamadou Sako . On August 12, Elyakim made his debut in the qualifying tournament for the Euro 2011 Youth Championship against the Belgians , and on September 3, he played with the Ukrainians , who eventually took 1st place in the qualifying group 8. The French, on the 3rd place, did not qualify for the main tournament.

In the next qualifying round - for the youth Euro 2013 - Mangalya took part in all 8 games of group 9, where he scored two goals - the national teams of Latvia and Slovakia . As a result, the French took the 1st place in the group, winning in 7 games. However, in the play-offs with Norway, they lost by the sum of two meetings (home victory on October 12, 2012 1: 0 and away defeat on October 16 3: 5) and again did not make it to the main tournament ^[16] . Mangala played in both fights in a pair with Rafael Varan . Games with Norway were for him the latest in the youth team.

In the main French team, Mangal made his debut on June 5, 2013 in a friendly match with Uruguayans , held at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo . He entered the field from the first minutes under the 13th number, making a pair of central defenders with Laurent Koselni ^[17] . The debut turned out to be not entirely successful: France lost Uruguay for the first time in 47 years, and Liurpool's Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez scored the only goal, defeating Elyakima in the penalty area ^[18] . The next friendly match on June 9, 2013 with the Brazilian national team Mangal was held on the bench - the French mentor Didier Deschamps chose to use a pair of central defenders Mamadou Sako- Adil Rami in this match. This meeting also ended unsuccessfully for the French - a defeat of 0: 3 ^[19] . On August 14, the defender was also in the application for a friendly match with the Belgian national team , but he did not succeed.

Mangal was twice called up to the national team for the qualifying games for the World Cup 2014 against Georgia on September 6 and Belarus on September 10, 2013, but did not enter the field. The next time, Didier Deschamps invited Elyakim to a friendly game with the Dutch , held on March 5, 2014 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis . The defender was entrusted to enter the field from the first minutes in a pair with Rafael Varan. The match ended in victory for the French 2-0, and Mangalya played all 90 minutes ^[20] .

On May 13, 2014, Didier Deschamps announced the national team's bid for participation in the main tournament of the World Cup in Brazil, which included four central defenders: Varan, Sako, Koselni and Mangal ^[21] .

Club

As of February 10, 2018.

In the national team

As of July 3, 2016.

Total: 8 matches / 0 goals; 6 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss.

  Standard

• Champion of Belgium (1): 2008/09
• Winner of the Belgian Cup (1): 2010/11
• Belgium Super Cup Winner (1): 2009

  Porto

• Champion of Portugal (2): 2011/12 , 2012/13
• Winner of the Super Cup of Portugal (2): 2012 , 2013

  France team

• European Championship finalist: 2016

• Player Profile (English) on Transfermarkt
• Profile on the French Football Federation website (fr.)
• Profile on Footgoal.net (fr.)
• Profile on the site Soccerway (eng.)
• Player profile (eng.) On soccerbase.com
• Profile on National Football Teams (English)