Joseph Marie Minala (born 24 August 1996) is a Cameroonian 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 plays as a

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 ...

for

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

club

Gżira United Gżira () is a town in the Eastern Region of Malta. It is located between Msida and Sliema, also bordering on Ta' Xbiex. It has a population of 11,699 as of January 2019. The word ''Gżira'' means "island" in Maltese, and the town is named ...

Club career

Early career

Minala began playing for amateur club Vigor Perconti and attracted the attention of

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

, who gave him a two-month trial. He was spotted by

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

scouts in 2013, while representing the region of Lazio in the Trofeo delle Regioni. He joined Lazio in the summer of 2013. In early 2014, Minala then made news when his age was publicly disputed by multiple parties. Both Lazio and the player denied the claims.Joseph Minala: Lazio respond to false age claims of teenager

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 13 February 2014 In May 2014, the Italian FA completed their investigation into the claims, confirming the accuracy of his given age and announcing that no disciplinary action would be taken against him or Lazio.

Lazio

Minala broke into Lazio's senior team on 16 March 2014, when he was an unused substitute in the match against

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

. He then made his full

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 6 April, replacing

Senad Lulić Senad Lulić (; born 18 January 1986) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Lulić started his professional career at Chur 97, before joining Bellinzona in 2006. Two years later, he switched to Grasshoppers. I ...

for the last 13 minutes of a 2–0 home win against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

. On 25 August 2014 Minala was loaned to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

for the 2014–15 season. On 13 December, as a 73rd-minute substitute for Marco Augusto Romizi, he scored his first career goal, the last-minute decider in an away victory over

Cittadella Cittadella () is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around . There are fo ...

. He scored two more goals, and was also sent off twice. Minala was again loaned to a Serie B team, Latina, on 6 July 2015. He made his debut on 9 August, starting in a 4–1 home defeat to

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

team

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

in the first round of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

. He scored his first goal for the team on 27 October, equalising in a 2–1 loss to

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

at the Stadio Domenico Francioni. In January 2016, he rejoined Bari. On 21 January 2017, Minala joined Serie B side

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

on loan with an option to buy. Two years later, he returned to the same club on loan for the rest of the season. Minala signed with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Qingdao Huanghai Qingdao Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that participated in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Qingdao and their home stadium was the Qingdao Guoxi ...

on loan on 28 February 2020, until the end of the year.

Lucchese

On 26 October 2021, Minala signed for

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

team

Lucchese Lucchese may refer to: * A.S. Lucchese Libertas 1905, a football team based in Lucca, Tuscany * Lucchese crime family, one of the "Five Families" of New York City's Mafia * Lucchese School, an art school in Tuscany, Italy that flourished in the 11 ...

until the end of the season.

Olbia

On 23 August 2022, Minala joined

Olbia Olbia (, ; ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune of 61,000 inhabitants in the Italy, Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle ...

on a one-year contract. On 6 January 2023, Minala's contract with Olbia was terminated by mutual consent.

Liepāja

On 3 March 2023, Minala signed for

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

club

FK Liepāja FK Liepāja is a Latvian professional football club established in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher ...

Sliema Wanderers

In the summer of 2023, Minala joined

side

Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leagu ...

International career

Minala played for Cameroon at under-23 level in their unsuccessful

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

campaign for the

2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations The 2015 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations was the 2nd edition of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 nationa ...

. He scored against Sierra Leone in a 1–1 draw on 30 May 2015, but Cameroon were eliminated in the second round on away goals.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minala, Joseph 1996 births Living people Footballers from Yaoundé Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Chinese Super League players Serie C players Latvian Higher League players Maltese Premier League players SS Lazio players SSC Bari players Latina Calcio 1932 players US Salernitana 1919 players Lucchese 1905 players Qingdao F.C. players Olbia Calcio 1905 players Sliema Wanderers F.C. players Gżira United F.C. players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in China Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Malta Age controversies Cameroon men's youth international footballers 21st-century Cameroonian sportsmen