Steve Mandanda
Personal information
Full name	Steve Mandanda
Date of birth	March 28, 1985 (1985-03-28) (age 23)
Place of birth	Kinshasa, Zaire
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Olympique de Marseille
Number	30
Youth clubs
2001-2005	Le Havre AC
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005-2007 2007-	Le Havre AC Marseille	67 (0) 33 (0)
National team2
2003-2006 2008 2008-	France U-21 France B France	2 (0) 1 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 14, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of May 28, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Steve Mandanda (born 28 March 1985 in Kinshasa) is a French footballer of Congolese ancestry. He currently plays as a goalkeeper for Olympique de Marseille.

Football career

Mandanda made his league début for Le Havre in August 2005, and it wasn't until his fourth match that he conceded his first goal. He played 30 league matches that season and 37 in 2006-07. He won a chance to sign for Marseille in summer 2007. Mandanda also had an unsuccessful trial at Aston Villa prior to the 2007/2008 season^[1]. During the beginning of the season, he was supposed to be an understudy to Cedric Carraso. However Carraso injured his knee and was out for six months. Mandanda was installed as the first choice keeper and particpated in Ligue 1, Champions League and UEFA Cup matches.

On 5 March 2008 Mandanda joined Marseille on a permanent four year contract.

International career

He has won a number of caps for the France national under-21 football team and was named the French squad for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

For the first time, in 2007, he took part in the french A-squad pre-selection^[2].

He played in a friendly match with France B against Congo DR on 5 February 2008, in which he was substituted at half time, and his younger brother Parfait came in for Congo. He made his full international debut on May 27, 2008 in a 2-0 victory against Ecuador in a Euro 2008 warm-up friendly, coming in as a half-time substitute for Sébastien Frey, and was subsequently nominated as the third-choice goalkeeper in the French squad for the Euro.

Personal life

Steve Mandanda has three younger brothers. They all are skilled goalkeepers : Parfait, 18, Bordeaux and Congolese international goalkeeper ; Riffi, 15, Caen, and goalkeeper of the France U-16 and Ever, 9, Lusitanos Saint-Maur.^[3]

References

1. ^ France goalkeeper in Aston Villa trial
2. ^ (French) List of the pre-selected players in the french A-squad in the season 2007-2008.
3. ^ Mandanda's dynasty