Arsène Zola Kiaku (born 23 February 1996) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays for Wydad AC as a left back.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Arsène Zola Kiaku[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 23 February 1996 | ||
| Place of birth | Lubumbashi, Zaire | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Left back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Wydad AC | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2016 | Ecofoot Katumbi | ||
| 2016–2021 | TP Mazembe | ||
| 2021–2022 | Chabab Mohammédia | 13 | (0) |
| 2022– | Wydad AC | 22 | (3) |
| International career‡ | |||
| DR Congo U23 | |||
| 2021– | DR Congo | 2 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:56, 25 May 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 08:24, 7 April 2023 (UTC) | |||
Club career
editBorn in Lubumbashi, Zola began his career with Ecofoot Katumbi.[2]
After playing for TP Mazembe, in July 2019 it was announced that he would move to Belgian club Anderlecht, alongside teammate Meschak Elia.[3][4][5][6] By August 2019 both players were noticed to be missing from Anderlecht's training camp,[7] and it was later revealed that both players had failed to complete their transfers to Anderlecht and were looking for different clubs.[8][9]
He later played in Morocco for Chabab Mohammédia and Wydad AC.[2]
International career
editIn May 2018, he was called up to the Democratic Congo national team for a friendly with Nigeria,[10] and was named to the matchday line-up as an unused substitute.[11]
Zola represented the DR Congo at under-23 level. The country was disqualified from the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in April 2019 after it was revealed that Zola was ineligible to play as he was too old, with the country changing his birthdate from 1996 to 1997.[12][13][14]
He made his debut for DR Congo national football team on 29 March 2021 in an AFCON 2021 qualifier against Gambia.[15]
Honours
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Arsène Zola at Soccerway. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Arsène Zola". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- ^ Mark Gleeson (4 July 2019). "Vincent Kompany turns to DR Congo's TP Mazembe for new signings". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "À la découverte d'Elia et Zola, les deux talents congolais qui débarquent à Anderlecht". Walfoot.be.
- ^ "Meschack Elia et Arsène Zola (TP Mazembe) attendus à Anderlecht". 3 July 2019.
- ^ "Anderlecht : Que se passe-t-il avec Meschack Elia et Arsène Zola ?".
- ^ "Mercato : Meschack Elia et Arsène Zola invisibles dans le camp d'Anderlecht". 28 August 2019.
- ^ Sports+, DH Les (31 August 2019). "Anderlecht: Elia toujours introuvable, fin du test de Zola". www.dhnet.be.
- ^ "TP Mazembe : De l'embouteillage dans le couloir gauche". 13 September 2019.
- ^ "Léopards : Ibenge revoit sa liste contre le NIGERIA" [Leopards: Ibenge revises his squad against NIGERIA]. LeopardsFoot (in French). Kinshasa. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ^ "Nigeria vs. Congo DR - 28 May 2018 - Soccerway". Soccerway. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ^ Oluwashina Okeleji (25 April 2019). "Morocco return to U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "CAN U23 : la RDC disqualifiée pour avoir aligné Arsène Zola contre le Maroc | adiac-congo.com : toute l'actualité du Bassin du Congo". www.adiac-congo.com.
- ^ "CAN U23 : Arsène Zola déclaré inéligible, la RDC disqualifiée au profit du Maroc". 24 April 2019.
- ^ "DR Congo v Gambia game report". Confederation of African Football. 29 March 2021.
- ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 26 September 2023.