Bernard Malanda-Adje (28 August 1994 – 10 January 2015) known as his nickname Junior Malanda, was a Belgian 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 last played for German club

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

as a

defensive 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 was a youth team player at

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

and

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, going on to play in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

of the latter. In 2012, he joined Zulte Waregem, and was a regular player as they finished runners-up of the

2012–13 Belgian Pro League The 2012–13 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as ''Jupiler Pro League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 110th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started on 28 July 2012 with the first match of the regular season between Kor ...

. After that he was signed by Wolfsburg of the

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 ...

on a five-year contract, loaning him back for the first season before recalling him. He also represented Belgium up to under-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 the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in his native

Club career

Early career

Formerly of the youth teams of the Belgian clubs

RWDM Brussels FC Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels Football Club, often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels, was a Belgian professional association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek, in the Brussels Capi ...

and

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

, Malanda joined French

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 ...

club

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...

in 2007. He spent the 2010–11 season with their reserves in the

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

, 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 to

Drancy Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. History Toponymy The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...

. Malanda made 17 league appearances that season, scoring a solitary goal, an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1–1 home draw against

Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...

on 20 May 2012.

Zulte Waregem

On 7 July 2012, 17-year-old Malanda returned to Belgium, signing a three-year deal with Zulte Waregem, with the option of an additional two. He made his debut in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

on 5 August, replacing

Hernán Hinostroza Paulo Hernán Junior Hinostroza Vásquez (born 21 December 1993), known simply as ''Churrito Hinostroza'', is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder who plays for Santos de Nasca of the Peruvian Segunda División. Club care ...

in the 57th minute of a 3–1 win against

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

at the

Regenboogstadion The Elindus Arena, formerly named the Regenboogstadion (; "Rainbow Stadium"), is a stadium in Waregem, Belgium. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of S.V. Zulte-Waregem. The stadium was orig ...

. 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 defeat

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

in a home fixture. He also scored the decisive goal on 21 April 2013, when his team defeated the eventual champions 2–1. On 1 August 2013,

signed Malanda on a five-year deal, with him being loaned back to Zulte Waregem for the rest of the season. Six days later, he made his debut in a European competition, featuring in a 0–3 home defeat against Dutch club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

which saw Zulte Waregem eliminated from the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Malanda played 8 matches in the club's

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 ...

campaign, and scored twice: opening a 1–1 draw against

APOEL Nicosia APOEL (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a major Cypriot multi-spo ...

in the play-offs, and netting an 88th-minute winner in a 2–1 group stage triumph away to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

on 28 November 2013.

VfL Wolfsburg

Malanda was recalled by Wolfsburg manager

Dieter Hecking Dieter-Klaus Hecking (; born 12 September 1964) is a German football manager and former professional player who is the manager of Bundesliga club VfL Bochum. He played for Hannover 96 and Eintracht Braunschweig as a midfielder. He returned to man ...

on 1 January 2014. 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 against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

. He made his debut on 8 February, replacing

Christian Träsch Christian Träsch (born 1 September 1987) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right-back or defensive midfielder. Club career Träsch had his professional debut on 3 February 2008 against FC Schalke 0 ...

for the last 8 minutes of a 3–0 home win against

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

. On 25 March, he scored his first goal for the club, opening a 3–1 win at

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

in the second minute. He added a second on 12 April, finishing off a 4–1 win against 1. FC Nürnberg. However, an injury then put Malanda out for the remainder of the 2013–14 season.

International career

While aged 17, Malanda captained the

Belgium national under-19 football team The Belgium national under-19 football team is the national under-19 football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-19 Football Championship, held every year. Their bigges ...

Style of play

Earlier in his career, Malanda played as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

before establishing himself as a

Personal life

Malanda was from a Belgian family of

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 ...

descent, and was survived by his brother named Rudy. He was a close friend of

Kevin De Bruyne Kevin De Bruyne (; born 28 June 1991) is a Belgian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and captains the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. After spending mos ...

and

Ivan Perišić Ivan Perišić (; born 2 February 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven and the Croatia national team. Usually deployed as a left winger, he has also featured as a left wing-back, ...

, teammates at Wolfsburg.

Death

Crash and funeral

On 10 January 2015, at 15:25 local time (

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

), Malanda was travelling in the back seat of a

Volkswagen Touareg The Volkswagen Touareg (German pronunciation: ) is a Luxury car, mid-size luxury crossover SUV produced by Volkswagen since 2002. The vehicle is named after the nomadic Tuareg people, inhabitants of the Sahara desert, Saharan interior in North A ...

, on the A2 near the town of

Porta Westfalica Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name "''Porta Westfalica''" is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of West ...

in northern Germany, to catch a flight to a training camp in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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. According to the police report, the crash was caused due to inappropriate speed for the very rainy weather, and an investigation into possible

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

was opened. His agent Peter Smeets stated Malanda's car was caught 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. Malanda's funeral was held on 20 January at the

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels The National Basilica of the Sacred Heart (; ) is a Catholic minor basilica and parish church in Brussels, Belgium. It is dedicated to the Sacred Heart, inspired by the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur in Paris. Symbolically, King Leopold II laid t ...

. It drew over 1,000 mourners, among them Wolfsburg manager

and Sporting Director

Klaus Allofs Klaus Allofs (born 5 December 1956) is a German former professional football player, manager, and executive. A striker, Allofs was a prolific goalscorer for club and country. He amassed Bundesliga totals of 424 games and 177 goals over the cou ...

as well as

Marc Wilmots Marc Robert Wilmots (born 22 February 1969) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the sporting director of Standard Liège. During his club career as an attacking midfielder, he won trophies with KV Mechelen, Stand ...

, the former manager of the

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football team has represented Belgium in men's international Association football, football since Évence Coppée Trophy, their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in E ...

. Songs and dances from his family's ancestral Congo were performed. After the funeral his body was buried in

Berchem-Sainte-Agathe Berchem-Sainte-Agathe ( French, ) or Sint-Agatha-Berchem ( Dutch, ), often simply called Berchem, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by Gansh ...

, where he grew up.

Reactions

Notable footballers including

Thibaut Courtois Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois (; ; born 11 May 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is known ...

Nicklas Bendtner Nicklas Bendtner (; born 16 January 1988) is a Danish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. His preferred position was centre-forward, but he has also played on the Forward ...

Benedikt Höwedes Benedikt Höwedes (born 29 February 1988) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He spent the majority of his playing career for FC Schalke 04, Schalke 04, whic ...

Mario Götze Mario Götze (; born 3 June 1992) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club Eintracht Frankfurt. Although his favoured position is that of an attacking or central midfielder, he has also played as a Winger (f ...

, and others, paid tribute to him on social media. Fellow Belgian

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Lukaku began h ...

dedicated his next goal to him after scoring for Everton in the

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 ...

on 13 January. Bundesliga club

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

observed a

minute's silence A moment of silence (also referred to as a minute's silence or a one-minute silence) is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture of ...

for Malanda at their training camp in Qatar. Fans marched outside the

Volkswagen Arena Volkswagen Arena (; also known as the VfL Wolfsburg Arena due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in the Germany, German city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was opened in 2002 and named after the auto ...

in tribute to Malanda in

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

, 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. At the end of his final season, Wolfsburg reached the

2015 DFB-Pokal final The 2015 DFB-Pokal Final decided the winner of the 2014–15 DFB-Pokal, the 72nd season of Germany's premier football cup. It was played on 30 May 2015 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Borussia Dortmund, runners-up in the previous final, faced ...

against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, where they wore shirts with his squad number 19 within a heart. They subsequently retired his number for the upcoming season.

Career statistics

'' As of 20 December 2014 ''. Appearances and goals by club, season and competitions.

Honours

VfL Wolfsburg *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2014–15 (posthumous)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malanda, Junior 1994 births 2015 deaths Belgian sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Belgian men's footballers Black Belgian sportspeople 21st-century Belgian sportsmen Lille OSC players S.V. Zulte Waregem players VfL Wolfsburg players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Footballers from Brussels Road incident deaths in Germany Men's association football midfielders Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany