Japhet Manzambi Tanganga (born 31 March 1999) is an English

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 plays as a defender for club

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

Early life

Tanganga was born in Hackney,

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, to a

Congolese Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

family. He attended

Greig City Academy Greig City Academy is a mixed-sex secondary school in the London borough of Haringey. It has around 1,100 pupils on its roll. As well as a busy main school, the Academy includes a thriving Sixth Form with links to Russell Group and other uni ...

and joined the Tottenham Hotspur youth academy at the age of 10.

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

In June 2019, Tanganga extended his contract with Tottenham until 2020. On 24 September 2019, he made his debut in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

, in an away match to

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

. Tanganga made his full

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

debut on 11 January 2020, in a 1–0 home defeat against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Three days later he played the entire 90 minutes in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

replay against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, which Spurs won 2–1, and was named man of the match. On 27 July 2020, Tanganga signed a new contract with Tottenham, extending his contract until 2025. However, he suffered from a series of injuries and, aside from a

game against Chelsea in September, he did not play any games from March 2020 when League football was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic until 26 November 2020, in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match against

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

. Following his return, he made only a few appearances for the remainder of the season. On 16 August 2021, Tanganga started Tottenham's first game of the 2021–22 season, and was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

in a 1–0 victory against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. In a September Premier League game away 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 ...

, he was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in quick succession while the score was 0–0. Tottenham eventually lost 3–0. Tanganga was ruled out for the remainder of the 2021–22 season after he suffered a knee injury on 24 January 2022 in a 2–0 loss to Chelsea. He made 19 appearances that season, 11 of which were in the league. Tanganga was released by Tottenham at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Loan to Augsburg

On 1 September, Tanganga joined

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy. However, he did not make any appearances for Augsburg, sitting on the bench only once during his time there. He returned to Tottenham in January 2024.

Loan to Millwall

On 18 January 2024, Tanganga joined

on loan until the end of the season.

Millwall

On 10 July 2024, Tanganga joined Millwall on a permanent long-term contract. He was named as the club's Player of the Year for the 2024–25.

International career

Tanganga has represented England at various youth levels at under-16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 teams. In 2014, Tanganga represented the England under-16 team against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football (soccer), football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland national under-16 football team, Scotland, Republic of Ireland national under-16 football team, Republic of Ireland, Northern Irel ...

. In 2017, he took part in the

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

, coming on as a second-half substitute in the final as England defeated

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 ...

to retain their title. Tanganga also played at the

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth foot ...

and scored in their opening group game against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Although eligible to represent the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, Tanganga stated in May 2020 that he intended to pursue an international career with England, saying: "In life you have to have goals and one of my goals is to be capped at senior level for England". On 2 October 2020, Tanganga received his first call-up to the England Under-21 squad but withdrew on 5 October 2020 due to injury. Tanganga eventually made his debut for the U21 side in the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association ...

, starting in a 2-0 group stage defeat to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

on 28 March 2021.

Style of play

Tanganga is a versatile defender, comfortable both as a central defender and as a right back. He describes his approach as "aggressive," saying that "great players their talent can really hurt you. So my strategy is to make sure I get after him. Don't give him any time, don't give him the opportunity to get the head up and pass because he has the quality to do that."

Career statistics

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

runner-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

England U20 *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2024–25

References

External links

Profile
at the Millwall F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanganga, Japhet 1999 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Hackney People from Hackney, London English men's footballers English people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Black British sportsmen England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players FC Augsburg players Millwall F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany English expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century English sportsmen