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Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa (born 15 May 1989 in Bangui, Central African Republic) is a Franco-Central African professional football player currently playing for Montpellier HSC in Ligue 1. He primarily plays as a right back, but can play along the entire back line.
[edit] CareerYanga-M'Biwa 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 and made his professional football debut on 27 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. [edit] 2007-08 seasonInitially, Yanga-M'Biwa 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-M'Biwa a starter for the rest of the 2007–08 season. Yanga-M'Biwa didn't disappoint appearing in 41 total matches scoring one goal. Beginning with the club's 31 August 1–0 victory over Ajaccio[1], M'Biwa 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] [edit] 2008-09 seasonAlready established as a regular, Yanga-M'Biwa 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-M'Biwa 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. [edit] 2009-10 seasonDespite promotion to Ligue 1, 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-M'Biwa and on 2 June 2009, it was done with the club signing the player to a two-year contract extension until 2012.[4] Yanga-M'Biwa 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] [edit] International careerYanga-M'Biwa has dual citizenship with both France and the Central African Republic meaning he is eligible to represent both. He didn't appear with neither nation's youth teams, but on 1 October, 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] [edit] References[edit] External links
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