Aldo Kalulu
Kalulu with Swansea City in 2019
Personal information
Full name Aldo-Nsawila Kalulu Kyatengwa[1]
Date of birth (1996-01-21) 21 January 1996
Place of birth Lyon, France
Height 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder, striker
Team information
Current team
 Partizan
Number 15
Youth career
2003–2004 CO St Fons
2004–2015 Lyon
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2016 Lyon B 38 (4)
2015–2018 Lyon 14 (3)
2017 → Rennes (loan) 10 (0)
2017–2018 → Sochaux (loan) 31 (11)
2018–2021 Basel 27 (0)
2019–2020 → Swansea City (loan) 11 (0)
2021–2023 Sochaux 76 (15)
2023– Partizan 17 (2)
International career‡
2023– DR Congo 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 December 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2 October 2023

Aldo-Nsawila Kalulu Kyatengwa (born 21 January 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and striker for Serbian club Partizan. Born in France, he plays for the DR Congo national team.

Early life

Kalulu was born in Lyon, France, and is Congolese by descent.[2][3] His father was born in Kabimba, Belgian Congo, and his mother in Likasi, Congo-Léopoldville. He acquired French nationality on 26 December 2000 through the collective effect of his parents' naturalization.[4]

Club career

Lyon

Kalulu is a youth exponent from Lyon. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 12 September 2015 against Lille OSC replacing Jordan Ferri after 78 minutes in a 0–0 home draw.[5]

He scored his first goal against Bastia on 23 September 2015, assisted by Steed Malbranque.[6]

Basel

On 26 June 2018 FC Basel announced that they had signed Kalulu on a three-year deal until June 2021.[7] Kalulu joined Basel's first team for their 2018–19 season under head coach Raphaël Wicky and later Marcel Koller. After playing in three test games Kalulu played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 21 July 2018 as Basel were defeated 1–2 by St. Gallen.[8] He scored his first goal for his new club on 18 August in the Swiss Cup away game as Basel won 3–0 against amateur club FC Montlingen.[9]

Under trainer Marcel Koller Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter-finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel.[10] Kalulu played in four cup games and scored that one game mentioned above.

In the first half of the season Kalulu played regularly, however, in the second half of the season he had just seven appearances and these as substitute. Therefore the club looked for a new solution.

Loan to Swansea City

On 5 August 2019, Kalulu signed for EFL Championship club Swansea City on a season-long loan with an option to buy at the end of the season.[11]

Return to Basel

Swansea did not pull the option and so Kalulu returned to Basel for their 2020–21 season under new head coach Ciriaco Sforza. However, things did not improve for the striker, he made only 12 appearances and this as substitute. At the end of this season his contract expired and he left the club. Between the years 2018 and 2021 Kalulu played a total of 51 games for Basel scoring just three goals. 27 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, five in the Swiss Cup, four in the UEFA competitions (Champios League and Europa League) and 15 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the cup and the other two during the test games.[12]

Sochaux

On 29 June 2021, he returned to Sochaux and signed a three-year contract.[13]

Partizan

On 20 July 2023, some media in Serbia announced that Kalulu signed a 3-year contract with FK Partizan.[14] He made his debut on July 29 in the first round of the 2023–24 Serbian SuperLiga campaign against TSC, entering the game in the 54th minute and receiving a red card in the 95th minute.[15] Kalulu scored his debut goal against Napredak which sent the team to the top of the Serbian SuperLiga after 18 months.[16] Kalulu scored the opening goal in the match against Radnički Kragujevac with an assist from Matheus Saldanha.[17]

International career

Kalulu is a former youth international for France at U18 level. He debuted for the DR Congo national team in a 3–1 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification win over Mauritania on 24 March 2023.[18]

Personal life

Aldo Kalulu is the older brother of footballers Gédéon Kalulu and Pierre Kalulu.[19]

Aldo Kalulu is a big fan of Basketball and an avid fan of the San Antonio Spurs.

Career statistics

As of 29 July 2023[20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe[nb 1] Other[nb 2] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Lyon 2015–16 Ligue 1 10220002000142
2016–17 Ligue 1 410000200061
Total 14320004000203
Rennes (loan) 2016–17 Ligue 1 1001000——110
Sochaux (loan) 2017–18 Ligue 2 31112110——3412
Basel 2018–19 Super League 17041—30—241
Swansea City (loan) 2019–20 Championship 1100000——110
Basel 2020–21 Super League 10010—10—120
Sochaux 2021–22 Ligue 2 39900———399
2022–23 37610———386
Total 7615100000007715
Partizan 2023–24 Serbian SuperLiga 17210—40—222
Career total 18631122101200021133

Honours

Basel

References

  1. ↑ "Notification of shirt numbers: Swansea City" (PDF). English Football League. p. 71. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  2. ↑ Akouete, Isidore (27 December 2017). "Aldo Kalulu : Le Franco-Congolais courtisé par Norwich City".
  3. ↑ Dove, Ed. "Introducing Aldo Kalul, Rwanda's First Footballing Superstar?". ESPN.
  4. ↑ "Journal officiel de la République française n° 0303 du 31 décembre 2000 - Légifrance" (PDF). legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "Lyon vs. Lille - 12 September 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "EN DIRECT. Lyon - Bastia : Kalulu ouvre le score ! (1-0)". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  7. ↑ FC Basel 1893 (26 June 2018). "FCB sign French attacking player Aldo Kalulu". FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 13 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (21 July 2018). "FC Basel - FC St. Gallen 1:2 (0:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  9. ↑ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (18 August 2018). "FC Montlingen - FC Basel 0:3 (0:1)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  10. ↑ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Thun 2:1 (1:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  11. ↑ "Aldo Kalulu: Swansea City sign Basel forward on loan". BBC Sport. 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  12. ↑ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2021). "Aldo Kalulu - FCB statistic". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "Aldo Kalulu est officiellement de retour" (in French). Sochaux. 29 June 2021.
  14. ↑ "Kalulu zbog Partizana odbio Haifu, Mec, Turke" (in Serbian). MozzartSport. 20 July 2023.
  15. ↑ "TSC VS. PARTIZAN 3 - 3". Soccerway.com. 29 July 2023.
  16. ↑ "NAPREDAK VS. PARTIZAN 0 - 2". Soccerway.com. 1 October 2023.
  17. ↑ "RADNIČKI KRAGUJEVAC VS. PARTIZAN 0 - 4". Soccerway.com. 25 October 2023.
  18. ↑ "Mauritanie - RDC : Silas et Balikwisha dans le onze de départ". 28 March 2023.
  19. ↑ "Aldo Kalulu: Rwanda's first football superstar?". ESPN.com. 10 September 2016.
  20. ↑ Aldo Kalulu at Soccerway
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