Joseph Elanga

Joseph Elanga

Elanga with Malmö FF in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Joseph Elanga Fils
Date of birth	(1979-05-02) 2 May 1979 (age 45)
Place of birth	Yaoundé, Cameroon
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1993–1997	C.N.P.S.
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–1998	Canon Yaoundé	0	(0)
1998–1999	PAOK	17	(0)
1999–2000	Apollon Kalamarias	29	(1)
2000–2005	Malmö FF	130	(6)
2006–2009	Brøndby	33	(1)
2008–2009	→ Horsens (loan)	32	(1)
2010	Malmö FF	10	(0)
Total		251	(9)
International career
1998–2002	Cameroon	17	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseph Elanga Fils (born 2 May 1979) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Starting off his career in Cameroon in the late 1990s, he went on to play professionally in Greece, Sweden, and Denmark before retiring in 2012. A full international between 1998 and 2002, he won 17 caps for the Cameroon national team and represented his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

Elanga was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon. After leaving the country in 1998 Elanga started his European career in Greece playing for PAOK and Apollon Kalamarias.

Malmö FF

After a year in each club Elanga left Greece in 2000 to transfer to Swedish club Malmö FF. He stayed at the club for six seasons, playing 130 league games and winning the Swedish championship in 2004.

Denmark

In 2005 Elanga left for Denmark and Brøndby IF. After a couple of tough seasons he went on loan at fellow Danish club AC Horsens. His contract with Brøndby ended in 2009 and Elanga became a free agent.

Return to Malmö and retirement

In early 2010, Elanga announced that he would be training with his old team Malmö FF for a week, ^[1] a few weeks later he signed a new contract with Malmö and returned to the club after four years. ^[2] For the 2010 season Elanga had very limited playtime as he was only the second choice for the left back position behind Ricardinho, however he did get the chance to play for a couple of games in the beginning of the season when Ricardinho was injured and a few other games. In the end he played enough games to win his second Allsvenskan title with the club.

Elanga's contract was not renewed and he moved to his family in Borås to find a new club to play for. On 9 January 2012, he announced his decision to end his playing career to focus on studying for a UEFA Pro Licence and become a coach. ^[3]

International career

Elanga represented Cameroon national team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but did not play as Cameroon was eliminated after the group stage. ^[4] He won a total of 17 caps for his country. ^[5]

Personal life

Joseph Elanga is the father of Swedish international Anthony Elanga who plays for Nottingham Forest. ^{[6] [7]}

Honours

Malmö FF

• Allsvenskan: 2004, 2010

Footnotes

1. Två vänsterfötter provtränar Archived 21 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
2. Joseph Elanga klar för Malmö FF Archived 4 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
3. Elanga lägger av: "Jag ska bli tränare"
4. "Elanga mot afrikanska mästerskapen". Malmö FF (in Swedish). 29 December 2001. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
5. "Intervju med Joseph Elanga". Malmö FF (in Swedish). 1 September 2003. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
6. "Anthony-Elanga".
7. "MFF-profilens son uttagen i landslaget: "Jag är imponerad"". 24Malmö.se (in Swedish). 22 November 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2018.

External links

• Joseph Elanga at Malmö FF (in Swedish)
• "Joseph Elanga at SvFF" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
• Danish league stats ^{[ permanent dead link ]} at hvemvandt.dk (in Danish)
• "Joseph Elanga at Brøndby IF" (in Danish). Archived from the original on 28 November 2006. Retrieved 28 August 2006.
• Joseph Elanga at DR (in Danish) (archived)
• Joseph Elanga at National-Football-Teams.com