Yves Ma-Kalambay

Yves Makabu-Ma-Kalambay (born 31 January 1986) is a former professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He most recently played for English club Wycombe Wanderers. Ma-Kalambay has previously played for Chelsea, Watford, Hibernian, Swansea City and KV Mechelen.

Yves Ma-Kalambay
Ma-Kalambay in training for Hibernian in 2009
Personal information
Full name Yves Makabu-Ma-Kalambay[1]
Date of birth (1986-01-31) 31 January 1986[2]
Place of birth Brussels, Belgium
Height 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
2002–2003 PSV Eindhoven
2003–2006 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Chelsea 0 (0)
2006 → Watford (loan) 0 (0)
2007–2010 Hibernian 57 (0)
2010–2011 Swansea City 0 (0)
2011–2012 KV Mechelen 1 (0)
2013–2015 Royal Antwerp 3 (0)
2015 Oțelul Galați 2 (0)
2017–2019 Wycombe Wanderers 3 (0)
Total 66 (0)
International career
2008 Belgium Olympic 1 (0)
2010–2011 DR Congo 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

His parents are from the DR Congo, but Ma-Kalambay grew up in Brussels. Ma-Kalambay represented Belgium at the 2008 Summer Olympics and has since played for DR Congo at full international level.

Club career

Chelsea

Ma-Kalambay signed for Chelsea as a youth. In March 2004 after injuries to Carlo Cudicini and Neil Sullivan,[4] Ma-Kalambay found himself on the bench for a league match at Bolton Wanderers as cover for Marco Ambrosio.[5] He went on loan to Watford in February 2006 to cover for the suspended Ben Foster. Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd suggested that he was interested in signing Ma-Kalambay in some capacity for the 2006–07 season,[6] but this did not come to fruition.

On 18 October, Ma-Kalambay made the bench for Chelsea's 1–0 Champions League group stage win against Barcelona, due to injuries to Petr Čech and Carlo Cudicini.[7] After the arrival of Magnus Hedman, Ma-Kalambay was relegated to fifth choice goalkeeper at Chelsea.

Hibernian

Ma-Kalambay signed for SPL club Hibernian in June 2007.[8] He kept a clean sheet on his competitive debut for Hibs in an Edinburgh derby win at Tynecastle against Hearts. In a 2020 interview, Ma-Kalambay revealed that he was hurt and taken aback by the level of racist abuse he received from the Hearts support on his debut, describing it as the worst he experienced throughout his career.[9]

Despite making two bad errors in a 3–3 draw with Aberdeen, Ma-Kalambay then made a penalty save in his next match, a 1–0 win over Inverness. Ma-Kalambay has received some criticism at times for his performances for Hibs, but he claimed during an interview with the Daily Record in December 2008 that he is under greater scrutiny than goalkeepers of other Scottish Premier League clubs.[10] The newspaper surmised that this scrutiny was because of the high-profile mistakes made by his immediate predecessors in the Hibs goal, Zbigniew Małkowski and Simon Brown.[10] After making an error in an Edinburgh derby, Ma-Kalambay was replaced by Grzegorz Szamotulski at half-time due to a hamstring injury. He regained his place in the first team near the end of the season, putting in some impressive displays in draws against the Old Firm and in an Edinburgh derby win at Tynecastle, but then conceded a bizarre goal against Aberdeen on the final day of the season.[11]

Ma-Kalambay lost his place to new signing Graham Stack in the 2009–10 season.[12] With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, Ma-Kalambay expressed a desire to open talks with Hibs about a new deal.[12] Hibs signed goalkeeper Graeme Smith on the first day of the January 2010 transfer window, however, which raised further doubt over Ma-Kalambay's future at the club.[13] This doubt was confirmed on 14 May 2010 when it was announced that Ma-Kalambay's contract would not be renewed.[14] After his release, Ma-Kalambay claimed that he had only been dropped due to his refusal to sign a new contract.[15] He also claimed to have received offers from clubs in England and Spain.[15]

Swansea City

In September 2010, Ma-Kalambay went on trial with Football League Championship club Swansea City.[16] He signed a contract with the club until the end of the 2010–11 season later that month.[17] He played in all of Swansea's League Cup and FA Cup games that season, but left the club at the end of his contract in 2011.[18]

KV Mechelen

In October 2011, Ma-Kalambay signed a contract until the end of the season with Jupiler Pro League club KV Mechelen.[19] He was signed because the second choice KV Mechelen goalkeeper, Wouter Biebauw, was injured for a long time.[19] Ma-Kalambay left the club at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Royal Antwerp

In August 2013, Ma-Kalambay signed a contract for two seasons with Belgacom League club Royal Antwerp after a few weeks training in the preseason.[20]

Wycombe Wanderers

In October 2017 Ma-Kalambay agreed to a short-term deal with Wycombe Wanderers until 29 January 2018; he will wear the number 30 during his time with the club. In May 2018 it was announced that he had extended his contract for one year, to the end of the 2018–19 season.[21]

He was released by Wycombe at the end of the 2018–19 season.[22]

He subsequently retired.[9]

International career

Ma-Kalambay was first selected by Belgium in January 2008.[23] He was then selected for their squad in the 2008 Summer Olympics.[24] Ma-Kalambay played in only one match during the Olympics,[25] when he came on as a substitute for Logan Bailly during their 3–2 victory over Italy in the quarter-final.[26] Belgium eventually finished in fourth place; Ma-Kalambay missed out on a medal due to Belgian defeats by Nigeria and Brazil.[27]

Having not played in a competitive full international for Belgium, Ma-Kalambay was still eligible for selection by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the birthplace of his father.[28] Ma-Kalambay was selected by DR Congo for a friendly against Saudi Arabia in May 2010.[29] He made his international debut as Congo lost 2–0.[30]

References
  1. "La saison de nos jeunes" [The season of our young people]. La Dernière Heure (in French). Brussels. 6 September 2002. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  2. "Yves Ma-Kalambay: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  3. "First team profiles: Yves Ma-Kalambay". Swansea City A.F.C. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012.
  4. "Chelsea in keeper crisis". BBC Sport. 12 March 2004.
  5. "Bolton 0–2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 13 March 2004.
  6. "Boss hints at possible keeper move" Watford Observer
  7. "Chelsea 1–0 Barcelona". BBC Sport. 18 October 2006.
  8. "Hibs sign keeper Makaba-Makalamby". BBC Sport. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2007.
  9. "Big interview: Former Hibs keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay on experiencing a dressing-room shooting, racial profiling and abuse, and 'stalking' his former club". edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  10. Marshall, Alan (19 December 2008). "Hibernian goalkeepers are under more scrutiny than SPL rivals, claims Ma-Kalambay". Daily Record.
  11. Murray, Keir (24 May 2009). "Aberdeen 2–1 Hibernian". BBC Sport.
  12. "Ma-Kalambay set for talks over future at Hibs". Edinburgh Evening News. 2 December 2009.
  13. "Hibs secure ex-Well keeper Smith". BBC Sport. 2 January 2010.
  14. "Benjelloun among three Hibs players shown the door". BBC Sport. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  15. Leslie, Colin (23 June 2010). "Makalambay accuses Hibs of refusing to play him". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  16. "Swansea City sign Congo keeper on trial". BBC Sport. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  17. "Swans add Yves to their ranks". Swansea City official website. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  18. "Brendan hoping to take new keeper to Austria". South Wales Evening Post. 18 July 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  19. "Yves Ma-Kalambay is officieel van KVM" (in Dutch). KV Mechelen. 14 October 2011. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  20. "YVES MAKABU-MAKALAMBAY IS NIEUW BIJ ANTWERP". rafc.be (in Dutch). Royal Antwerp FC. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  21. "Done deals! Sido and Yves sign up". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  22. "Adebayo Akinfenwa: Wycombe Wanderers offer striker new deal as six depart". BBC Sport. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  23. Paterson, Colleen (29 January 2008). "Mixu's delight at Ma-Kalambay's full Belgium squad call-up". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
  24. "Hibs warning for Ma-Kalambay". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  25. "Yves Ma-Kalambay". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 August 2008.
  26. "Italy 2–3 Belgium". Eurosport. 16 August 2008.
  27. "Ronaldinho leads Brazil to bronze". BBC Sport. BBC. 22 August 2008.
  28. "Swansea City's Yves Ma-Kalambay aims to make his late father proud". thisissouthwales.co.uk. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  29. Stamford, Frank (20 May 2010). "DR Congo to miss key players in Saudi friendly". StarAfrica. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  30. ">DR Congo 0-2 Saudi Arabia". www.footballdatabase.eu. 21 May 2010.
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