Samuel Emmanuel Essende Mbongu (born 30 January 1998) is a 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for German club

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

. Born in France, he represents the DR Congo national team.

Club career

Essende joined the

Paris Saint-Germain Academy The Paris Saint-Germain FC Youth Academy () is the youth system of both Paris Saint-Germain FC, Paris Saint-Germain's male and Paris Saint-Germain FC (women), female teams. Managed by the Association Paris Saint-Germain, the men's section of ...

at the age of 12, and spent his entire youth footballing career with them. On 10 August 2018, he signed his first professional contract with PSG, keeping him with the club until 1 June 2021. On 22 August 2018, Essende signed on loan with

Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...

in Belgium. He made his professional debut with Eupen in a 1–0

Belgian First Division A 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– ...

win over

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

on 25 August 2018. In August 2019, Essende signed for

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

side

Avranches Avranches (; ) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History Middle Ages By the end of the Roman period, th ...

. In 2021, Essende joined

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

side Pau. On 20 June 2022, Essende signed a contract with

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

until 2025. On 20 July 2023, Caen sent Essende on a season-long loan to

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

side

Vizela Vizela () is a municipality in the Braga District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 23,736, in an area of 24.70 km². The present mayor is Vitor Hugo Salgado, elected as an independent. The municipal holiday is March 19. History In Au ...

. After he scored 10 goals in 22 appearances in all competitions during the first half of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, Vizela triggered a buy-clause and permanently signed Essende on contract until June 2026. On 28 June 2024, Essende signed a four-year deal with

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 ...

in Germany. Essende scored a goal and had a second goal disallowed on his

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 ...

debut, a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

International career

Essende made his debut for the DR Congo national team on 6 June 2024 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

at the

Diamniadio Olympic Stadium The Diamniadio Olympic Stadium(French: ''Stade olympique de Diamniadio''), officially known as the Stade Abdoulaye Wade, is a multi-purpose stadium. It can host association football, rugby and athletics in Diamniadio, Dakar, Senegal. It is the na ...

. He played the full match as the game ended in a 1–1 draw.

Personal life

Born in France, Essende holds both French and Congolese nationalities. Growing up, Essende was nicknamed 'Wolf', and idolised

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Essende, Samuel 1998 births Living people Footballers from Montfermeil Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's international footballers French men's footballers French sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Black French sportspeople Men's association football forwards Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Primeira Liga players Belgian Pro League players Paris Saint-Germain FC players K.A.S. Eupen players US Avranches players Pau FC players Stade Malherbe Caen players F.C. Vizela players FC Augsburg players Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Portugal French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century French sportsmen