.jpg) Malanda withVfL Wolfsburg in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bernard Malanda-Adje[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1994-08-28)28 August 1994[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Brussels, Belgium | ||
| Date of death | 10 January 2015(2015-01-10) (aged 20) | ||
| Place of death | Porta Westfalica, Germany | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[3] | ||
| Position | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2001 | VK Sint-Agatha-Berchem | ||
| 2001–2003 | FC Ganshoren | ||
| 2003–2004 | RSCUP Dieleghem Jette | ||
| 2004–2005 | Brussels | ||
| 2005–2007 | Anderlecht | ||
| 2007–2012 | Lille | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2011–2012 | Lille II | 17 | (1) |
| 2012–2013 | Zulte Waregem | 35 | (3) |
| 2013–2015 | VfL Wolfsburg | 17 | (2) |
| 2013 | →Zulte Waregem (loan) | 17 | (3) |
| Total | 86 | (9) | |
| International career | |||
| 2009 | Belgium U15 | 8 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Belgium U16 | 10 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Belgium U17 | 9 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Belgium U18 | 4 | (0) |
| 2012 | Belgium U19 | 7 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Belgium U21 | 15 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Bernard Malanda-Adje (28 August 1994 – 10 January 2015) known as his nicknameJunior Malanda, was a Belgian professionalfootballer who played for German clubVfL Wolfsburg as adefensive midfielder.[4]
He was a youth team player atBrussels,Anderlecht andLille, going on to play in thereserve team of the latter. In 2012, he joinedZulte Waregem, and was a regular player as they finished runners-up of the2012–13 Belgian Pro League. After that he was signed by Wolfsburg of theBundesliga on a five-year contract, loaning him back for the first season before recalling him. He also represented Belgium up tounder-21 level.
Malanda died at the age of 20, when a car in which he was travelling crashed in northern Germany, killing him instantly. The crash was attributed to excessive speed and wet conditions. Over 1,000 mourners attended his funeral at theBasilica of the Sacred Heart in his nativeBrussels.
Formerly of the youth teams of the Belgian clubsRWDM Brussels FC andR.S.C. Anderlecht, Malanda joined FrenchLigue 1 clubLille OSC in 2007. He spent the2010–11 season with their reserves in theChampionnat de France amateur, the fourth tier of football in the country. He made his debut on 9 October 2011, playing the entirety of a 1–0 win away toDrancy.[5] Malanda made 17 league appearances that season, scoring a solitary goal, an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1–1 home draw againstPoissy on 20 May 2012.[6]
On 7 July 2012, 17-year-old Malanda returned to Belgium, signing a three-year deal withZulte Waregem, with the option of an additional two.[7] He made his debut in theBelgian Pro League on 5 August, replacingHernán Hinostroza in the 57th minute of a 3–1 win againstGent at theRegenboogstadion.[8] Malanda played 36 league matches as his team finished as runners-up to Anderlecht, scoring 3 goals, starting with an equaliser on 16 December as Zulte Waregem came from a goal down to defeatGenk in a home fixture.[9] He also scored the decisive goal on 21 April 2013, when his team defeated the eventual champions 2–1.[10]
On 1 August 2013,VfL Wolfsburg signed Malanda on a five-year deal, with him being loaned back to Zulte Waregem for the rest of the season.[11] Six days later, he made his debut in a European competition, featuring in a 0–3 home defeat against Dutch clubPSV Eindhoven which saw Zulte Waregem eliminated from theUEFA Champions League.[12] Malanda played 8 matches in the club'sUEFA Europa League campaign, and scored twice: opening a 1–1 draw againstAPOEL Nicosia in the play-offs,[13] and netting an 88th-minute winner in a 2–1 group stage triumph away toWigan Athletic on 28 November 2013.[14]
Malanda was recalled by Wolfsburg managerDieter Hecking on 1 January 2014.[15] On the 25 January, he was included in a Wolfsburg matchday squad for the first time, an unused substitute in a 1–3 home defeat againstHannover 96.[16] He made his debut on 8 February, replacingChristian Träsch for the last 8 minutes of a 3–0 home win againstMainz 05.[17]
On 25 March, he scored his first goal for the club, opening a 3–1 win atWerder Bremen in the second minute.[18] He added a second on 12 April, finishing off a 4–1 win against1. FC Nürnberg.[19] However, an injury then put Malanda out for the remainder of the2013–14 season.[20]
While aged 17, Malanda captained theBelgium national under-19 football team.[7]
Earlier in his career, Malanda played as aright back before establishing himself as adefensive midfielder.[7]
Malanda was from a Belgian family ofCongolese descent, and was survived by his brother named Rudy. He was a close friend ofKevin De Bruyne andIvan Perišić, teammates at Wolfsburg.[21]
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On 10 January 2015, at 15:25 local time (CET), Malanda was travelling in the back seat of aVolkswagen Touareg, on theA2 near the town ofPorta Westfalica[22] in northern Germany, to catch a flight to a training camp inSouth Africa. Apparently without outside influence, the car cleared the guardrail on the side of the road and crashed into a tree and overturned multiple times, Malanda was catapulted from the back seat of the car. The police confirmed Malanda was not wearing his seat-belt at the time of the crash, resulting in him being thrown forward at the collision and being killed instantly, Malanda was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:00 PM.[23][24][25]
According to the police report, the crash was caused due to inappropriate speed for the very rainy weather, and an investigation into possiblemanslaughter was opened.[26] His agent Peter Smeets stated Malanda's car wascaught speeding 21 times in the last 6 months, of which it was faster than 200 km/h in ten instances. He reported that Malanda was almost never driving the car himself. The road was blocked for two hours to clear the scene after the crash.[27]
Malanda's funeral was held on 20 January at theBasilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels. It drew over 1,000 mourners, among them Wolfsburg managerDieter Hecking and Sporting DirectorKlaus Allofs as well asMarc Wilmots, the former manager of theBelgium national football team. Songs and dances from his family's ancestralCongo were performed.[28] After the funeral his body was buried inBerchem-Sainte-Agathe,Brussels, where he grew up.
Notable footballers includingThibaut Courtois,Ivan Perišić,Nicklas Bendtner,Benedikt Höwedes,Kevin De Bruyne,Mario Götze, and others, paid tribute to him on social media.[23][29] Fellow BelgianRomelu Lukaku dedicated his next goal to him after scoring forEverton in theFA Cup on 13 January.[30] Bundesliga clubBayern Munich observed aminute's silence for Malanda at their training camp in Qatar.[31]
Fans marched outside theVolkswagen Arena in tribute to Malanda inWolfsburg, Wolfsburg played its first match since his death, against Bayern Munich on 30 January, a giant banner with Malanda's name and image was displayed by fans at the stadium.[32]
At the end of his final season, Wolfsburg reached the2015 DFB-Pokal final againstBorussia Dortmund, where they wore shirts with his squad number 19 within a heart.[33] They subsequentlyretired his number for the upcoming season.[34]
As of 20 December 2014.
Appearances and goals by club, season and competitions.
| Club | Season | League | National Cup[a] | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Lille II | 2011−12 | Championnat de France amateur | 17 | 1 | − | − | 17 | 1 | ||
| Zulte Waregem | 2012–13 | Belgian Pro League | 35 | 3 | 4 | 0 | − | 39 | 3 | |
| Total | 35 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 3 | ||
| VfL Wolfsburg | 2013−14 | Bundesliga | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | − | 8 | 2 | |
| 2014–15 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[b] | 0 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Total | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 2 | ||
| Zulte Waregem (loan) | 2013–14 | Belgian Pro League | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9[c] | 1 | 17 | 3 |
| Career total | 86 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 96 | 9 | ||
VfL Wolfsburg
