Mousa Dembélé (Belgian footballer)

Mousa Dembélé

Personal information
Full name	Mousa Sidi Yaya Dembélé
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Forward Winger
Team information
Current team	Fulham
Number	30
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2005	Germinal Beerschot	20	(1)
2005–2006	Willem II	33	(9)
2006–2010	AZ	118	(24)
2010–	Fulham	23	(2)
International career‡
2006–	Belgium	33	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 April 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 April 2011

Mousa Sidi Yaya Dembélé (born 16 July 1987 in Wilrijk) is a Belgian football striker currently playing for Fulham in the English Premier League. He has a Malian father and a Belgian mother.

Club career

Youth

Moussa Dembele played for K. Berchem Sport in his youth.

K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot

Dembele started his professional career playing for K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot, a team in the Belgian Pro League. He played his first game when he was 16 years old. In 2005 he signed for the youth section of Willem II Tilburg, despite apparent interest from Ajax.

Willem II Tilburg

Mousa Dembele spent the 2005-06 season in the Eredivisie with Willem II Tilburg. The team had a very bad season that year, but Dembele scored nine times. After this season for Willem II he attracted further interest from the bigger Eredivisie teams and was subsequently transferred to AZ Alkmaar in summer 2006.

AZ Alkmaar

In 2006-07 he was one of the most important players of Louis van Gaal's team. They were poised to win the championship but on the last day they lost the title to PSV Eindhoven and only finished third after losing 3-2 to Excelsior. AZ Alkmaar also lost the final of the KNVB Beker and the play-off final for qualification to the Champions League, both to Ajax. Dembele scored 6 times that season.

The season of 2007-08 was a very disappointing season for AZ. They finished twelfth, and Dembele scored four times for them.

The 2008-09 season started disappointingly as well for Dembele's team after two defeats. But then AZ started to win more games. Eventually AZ won the championship. Dembele was out injured from October until December with a knee injury, but on his return he was hailed as being one of the players of the season in the Eredivisie.

Fulham

Moussa Dembele was said to be 'edging closer' to join Birmingham City, but on 12 August 2010, Dembele declined a move to Birmingham City in favour of a move to Fulham. On the 18 August 2010, Fulham announced that Dembele had joined from AZ Alkmaar on an three-year deal for a fee of £5 million and will see the player at the club until the summer of 2013.

Dembele made an excellent start to his career at the London club. He made his Fulham debut on 22 August 2010, coming on as a substitute against Manchester United. He capped his first start for the club with a goal, scoring the second of six goals against Port Vale in the Carling Cup on 25 August. On the same week Dembele made his first league start against Blackpool in which he provided two assists. The first of the two was a cross to a Bobby Zamora following a good run in the box, and the second gave Fulham a draw and a point; he dodged past a couple of Blackpool players before playing a good ball for an on-rushing Dickson Etuhu to make the score (and result) 2–2. Dembele scored two league goals against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 11 September 2010 in a 2–1 win, his first league goals for Fulham. He then scored a great solo goal against Tottenham Hotspur, running from the halfway line before powerfully placing his shot beyond Gomes.

International career

On may 20th 2006, Dembele made his first international appearance, against Slovakia comming on as a substitute for Luigi Pieroni. He made his first international goal in October 2006 against Azerbaijan. Dembele participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he put on a remarkable show, being instrumental in Belgium's 3-2 win to Italy in the quarterfinals, scoring two goals, including the defining goal of the match. Belgium then progressed, losing to Nigeria in the semifinals and Brazil in the third place play-offs. Dembele played in all six of Belgium's games at the Olympics.

Temporarily dropped by former Belgium coach Dick Advocaat, he has been recalled for the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign by current coach Georges Leekens.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	11 October 2006	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Azerbaijan	3-0	3-0	Euro 2008 qualifying
2	22 August 2007	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Serbia	1-0	3-2	Euro 2008 qualifying
3	22 August 2007	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Serbia	3-1	3-2	Euro 2008 qualifying
4	17 October 2007	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Armenia	2-0	3-0	Euro 2008 qualifying
5	28 March 2009	Fenix Stadion, Genk, Belgium	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1-1	2-4	2010 WCQ Career statistics Club Season Competition European Cup Other Total G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions Germinal Beerschot 2003–2004 1 0 0 − 0 0 0 − 1 0 0 2004–2005 19 1 0 − 3 1 0 − 22 2 0 Willem II 2005–2006 33 9 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 39 10 3 AZ 2006–2007 33 6 2 12 3 2 5 4 0 2 0 0 52 13 4 2007–2008 33 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 4 0 2008–2009 23 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 10 0 2009–2010 29 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 4 0 Fulham 2010–2011 23 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 25 3 0 Total Competition European Cup Other Total G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions G Goals Cautions Germinal Beerschot 20 1 0 − 3 1 0 − 23 2 0 Willem II 33 9 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 39 10 3 AZ 118 24 2 12 3 2 5 4 0 2 0 0 147 31 4 Fulham 23 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 25 3 0 Total 189 36 5 14 3 2 11 6 0 5 1 0 234 48 7 Honours AZ Alkmaar Eredivisie: 2008-09 Dutch Super Cup: 2009 References External links Moussa Dembélé at Soccerbase Mousa Dembélé at National-Football-Teams.com ESPN Profile Premier League profile