Bonaventure Kalou

Bonaventure Kalou

200px Kalou playing for Feyenoord
Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-01-12) 12 January 1978
Place of birth	Oumé, Côte d'Ivoire
Height
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	Mimosas Abidjan	35	(6)
1997–2003	Feyenoord	149	(35)
2003–2005	Auxerre	63	(19)
2005–2007	Paris Saint-Germain	55	(11)
2007	Lens	4	(0)
2007–2008	Al-Jazira Club	1	(1)
2008–2010	Heerenveen	23	(2)
Total		330	(74)
International career
1998–2006	Côte d'Ivoire	47	(10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 July 2010

Bonaventure "Barry" Kalou (born 12 January 1978 in Oumé) is a retired Ivorian football player who played as an attacking midfielder .

Club career

He started playing for ASEC Mimosas in his home country before moving to Dutch based Feyenoord. He played in Rotterdam for six seasons as a first team regular. He mainly played as a winger, but also played as a striker when necessary. Meanwhile, his brother Salomon Kalou, who came to visit him, impressed the Feyenoord staff and was signed as a youth player.

When Bona decided to leave Feyenoord and try his luck in another European competition, the Ligue 1, at AJ Auxerre, Salomon was sent to Feyenoord's partner Excelsior on loan, before taking over his brother's role. Bonaventure Kalou played two seasons at Auxerre where he developed further as a striker and an attacking midfielder as opposed to a winger. However, he still managed to score a similar amount of goals compared to previous seasons. It was in this period that he talked his brother (who still played at Feyenoord) into acquiring Dutch citizenship, which eventually was rejected by Dutch Foreign Minister Rita Verdonk.

In 2005/06 he transferred to Auxerre's Ligue 1 rivals Paris Saint-Germain. Paris Saint-Germain started to become a relegation-threatened team and he soon signed for another French team, RC Lens. The future looked bright for them, but they were surprisingly relegated at the end of the season. Kalou returned to the Netherlands in 2008 with SC Heerenveen, with whom he won the Dutch Cup in 2009. Heerenveen beat FC Twente in the final, and Kalou scored a goal. In the end of 2009 he was on trial at Crystal Palace and Le Mans, but both trials were unsuccessful. In February 2011 Kalou announced his retirement from professional football. He joined French lower league amateur club Combs-la-Ville for their 2011–12 campaign.

International career

File:Ivory Coast penalty.jpg

Kalou scores for Côte d'Ivoire on Dragoslav Jevrić in the 2006 World Cup

Kalou played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, and was also in the squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup for Côte d'Ivoire. Kalou scored the winning goal in their final match, against Serbia and Montenegro.

Personal

His younger brother, Salomon Kalou, formerly played for Chelsea as a striker; Bonaventure had himself scored against Chelsea in the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League season for Feyenoord. They also have 8 sisters along with another brother.

In the build-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup there was speculation that the brothers could have become the first to play against each other in a World Cup match as Salomon was attempting to gain fast-track Dutch citizenship. This did not happen and ultimately Salomon would also play for Côte d'Ivoire, though not until after the World Cup.

Honours

• UEFA Cup: 1

2002 (Feyenoord Rotterdam)

• Intertoto Cup: 1

2007 (RC Lens)

• Eredivise: 1

1999 (Feyenoord Rotterdam)

• French Cup: 2

2005 (AJ Auxerre)

2006 (Paris Saint Germain)

• KNVB Cup: 1

2009 (SC Heerenveen)