1. Bernard Malanda-Adje known as his nickname Junior Malanda, was a Belgian professional footballer who last played for German club VfL Wolfsburg as a defensive midfielder.
11 Facts About Junior Malanda
1. 2.
Junior Malanda was a youth team player at Brussels, Anderlecht and Lille, going on to play in the reserve team of the latter.
3.
Anderlecht, Junior Malanda joined French Ligue 1 club Lille OSC in 2007.
4.
On 7 July 2012,17-year-old Junior Malanda returned to Belgium, signing a three-year deal with Zulte Waregem, with the option of an additional two.
5.
Junior Malanda was recalled by Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking on 1 January 2014.
6.
Junior Malanda was from a Belgian family of Congolese descent, and was survived by his brother named Rudy.
7.
Junior Malanda was a close friend of Kevin De Bruyne and Ivan Perisic, teammates at Wolfsburg.
8.
On 10 January 2015, at 15:25 local time, Junior Malanda was travelling in the back seat of a Volkswagen Touareg, on the A2 near the town of Porta Westfalica in northern Germany, to catch a flight to a training camp in South Africa.
9.
Apparently without outside influence, the car cleared the guardrail on the side of the road and crashed into a tree and overturned multiple times, Junior Malanda was catapulted from the back seat of the car.
10.
The police confirmed Junior Malanda was not wearing his seat-belt at the time of the crash, resulting in him being thrown forward at the collision and being killed instantly, Junior Malanda was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:00 PM.
11.
Junior Malanda reported that Malanda was almost never driving the car himself.