Bonaventure Kalou (born 12 January 1978) is an Ivorian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He serves as elected mayor of Vavoua.

Club career

Born in Oumé, Kalou started playing for

ASEC Mimosas ASEC Mimosas (short for Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas; ) is an Ivorian professional football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ''ASEC Abidjan'', especially in international club competitions. Founded in 194 ...

in his home country, before moving to Dutch-based

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. He played in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

for six seasons as a first team regular. He mainly played as a winger, but also played as a striker when necessary. Meanwhile, his brother, Salomon, who came to visit him, impressed the Feyenoord staff and was signed as a youth player. When Bonaventure decided to leave Feyenoord and try his luck in another European competition, the Ligue 1, at

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional association football, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in L ...

, Salomon was sent to Feyenoord's partner

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

on loan, before taking over his brother's role. Bonaventure played two seasons at Auxerre, where he developed further as a striker and an attacking

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

as opposed to a winger. However, he still managed to score a similar number of goals compared to previous seasons. It was in this period that he talked to his brother, who still played at Feyenoord, into acquiring Dutch citizenship, which eventually was rejected by Dutch Immigration Minister

Rita Verdonk Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk (born 18 October 1955) is a Dutch politician and businesswoman formerly affiliated with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later Proud of the Netherlands (TON), which she founded in 2 ...

. While at Auxerre, Kalou scored the winning goal in injury time in the 2005 Coupe de France final as they defeated his future club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

. In 2005–06, he was transferred to Auxerre's

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

rivals Paris Saint-Germain. He scored one of PSG's goals as they won the 2006 Coupe de France Final; the second consecutive season he had scored in the final. PSG started to become a relegation-threatened team and he soon signed for another French team,

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

. The future looked bright for them, but they were surprisingly relegated at the end of the season. Kalou returned to the Netherlands in 2008 with

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

, with whom he won the

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

in 2009. Heerenveen beat

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

in the final, and Kalou scored a goal. In the end of 2009, he was on trial at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

and

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

, but both trials were unsuccessful. In February 2011, Kalou announced his retirement from professional football. He joined French lower league amateur club Combs-la-Ville for the 2011–12 campaign.

International career

Kalou played in the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 i ...

, and was also in the squad for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

for the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. He scored the winning goal in their final match, against

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

Political career

In 2018 Kalou successfully ran as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate for Mayor of Vavoua.

Personal life

His younger brother, Salomon, also played for

. In the build-up to the

, there was speculation that the brothers could have become the first to play against each other in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

match, as Salomon was attempting to gain fast-track Dutch citizenship. This did not happen and ultimately Salomon would also play for the

, though not until after the World Cup. Kalou was formerly a Catholic, but told '' La Croix'' in 2017 that he had become an Evangelical Christian. He holds both Ivorian and Dutch nationalities.

Honours

Feyenoord *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

: 1998–99 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 2001–02 Auxerre *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 2004–05 Paris Saint-Germain *Coupe de France: 2005–06 Heerenveen *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2008–09 Ivory Coast *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

runner-up:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2004–05

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalou, Bonaventure 1978 births Living people Ivorian men's footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers Ivory Coast men's under-20 international footballers Dutch men's footballers Naturalised citizens of the Netherlands Men's association football forwards ASEC Mimosas players Feyenoord players AJ Auxerre players Paris Saint-Germain FC players RC Lens players Al Jazira Club players SC Heerenveen players UEFA Europa League–winning players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Eredivisie players Ligue 1 players Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in France Ivorian sportsperson-politicians Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Footballers from Gôh-Djiboua District UAE Pro League players Ivorian evangelicals Converts to evangelical Christianity from Roman Catholicism 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen