Junior Kabananga


Junior Kabananga Kalonji is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for the DR Congo national team.

Club career

Born in Kinshasa, Kabananga began his early career with FC MK Etanchéité. He made his senior debut for Belgian club Anderlecht in the 2010–11 season, although Anderlecht later admitted negligence when transferring the player from Democratic Republic of the Congo after a forged document was used. He moved on loan to Germinal Beerschot in January 2011, and also spent the 2012–13 season on loan at Roeselare. He signed a permanent two-year contract with Cercle Brugge in July 2013.
In June 2015 he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Astana.
On 1 February 2016, Kabananga joined Kardemir Karabükspor on loan until the end of the 2015–16 Turkish season.
In June 2016 he returned from the loan.
On 27 July 2017, Kabananga signed a new two-year contract with Astana.
On 31 January 2018, Kabananga signed a $2 million two-and-a-half-year contract with Al-Nassr. He returned on loan to Astana in September 2018.

International career

Kabananga made his international debut for DR Congo in 2014. In January 2015 he was named in the final squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Career statistics

Club

International

DR CongoYearAppsGoals
DR Congo201431
DR Congo201580
DR Congo201793
DR Congo201820
DR CongoTotal224

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.15 October 2014Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Ivory Coast2–14–32015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
2.16 January 2017Stade d'Oyem, Oyem, Gabon1–01–02017 Africa Cup of Nations
3.20 January 2017Stade d'Oyem, Oyem, Gabon2–12–22017 Africa Cup of Nations
4.24 January 2017Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil, Gabon1–03–12017 Africa Cup of Nations

Honours

Astana
DR Congo
Individual