Steven Nzonzi
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Nzonzi with France at the 2018 FIFA World Cup | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Steven Nkemboanza Mike Christopher Nzonzi | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 15 December 1988 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | La Garenne-Colombes, France | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Sepahan | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 15 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Racing Paris | ||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2002 | Paris Saint-Germain | ||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | CA Lisieux | ||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Caen | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Beauvais | ||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2007 | Amiens | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | Amiens | 37 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2012 | Blackburn Rovers | 86 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | Stoke City | 109 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Sevilla | 90 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2021 | Roma | 30 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | → Galatasaray (loan) | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | → Rennes (loan) | 39 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2023 | Al-Rayyan | 39 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Konyaspor | 33 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Sepahan | 20 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | France U21 | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2020 | France | 20 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 February 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 November 2020 | |||||||||||||||||
Steven Nkemboanza Mike Christopher Nzonzi (born 15 December 1988) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Persian Gulf Pro League club Sepahan.
Nzonzi began his career with Ligue 2 side Amiens, impressing enough to earn a move to Premier League side Blackburn Rovers in 2009 for £650,000. He spent three years at Ewood Park which ended with Rovers being relegated at the end of the 2011–12 season. He remained in the Premier League however, joining Stoke City for £3 million. At Stoke, Nzonzi established himself as a key member of the squad under Tony Pulis and then under Mark Hughes, where his performances during the 2014–15 earned him the club's Player of the Year award. He joined Spanish side Sevilla for a fee of £7 million in July 2015, and won the UEFA Europa League in his first season. Nzonzi joined Italian club Roma in 2018, where he played a season before being loaned to Galatasaray in Turkey and Rennes in France the following two seasons. In 2021, he signed for Qatari side Al-Rayyan.
Nzonzi represented France at under-21 level. He turned down the chance to represent his ancestral DR Congo at senior international level, and was unsuccessful in his attempt to become eligible to play for England. In November 2017, he made his debut for the senior France squad, and he was part of their team that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.