Dedryck Boyata

Early career

Born in Uccle, Belgium, Boyata started his career in the youth team at Brussels before joining Manchester City in 2006. He was part of City's 2008 FA Youth Cup winning side, starting in both legs of the final against Chelsea. He won City's Academy Player of the Month award for April 2009. He was one of seven Academy players from his year to be promoted to training with the senior players from the start of the 2009–10 season.

Manchester City

Boyata made his first team debut against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup third round on 2 January 2010, playing centre-back and helping his side to a 1–0 win at the Riverside Stadium. His league debut was as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers nine days later, replacing Martin Petrov in the 86th minute of a 4–1 home win. His first start in the Premier League came away against Hull City on 6 February. He was named young player of the 2009–10 season for his efforts during both legs of the League Cup semi-final against rivals Manchester United. Early in the 2010–11 season he scored the second goal in the Europa League play-off match against FC Timişoara on 26 August, his first for the club. His form continued to improve and was chosen to start against Chelsea on 25 September, who had been undefeated in the start of the season. Boyata played the match at right-back and put in a good performance as City kept a clean sheet to win the match 1–0. He was shown a red card just five minutes into a 3–0 home loss against…

Youth teams

Boyata played 12 matches for the Belgium under-19s, scoring two goals. Boyata made his Belgium U21 debut in a 1–0 win over Malta on 3 March 2010. Five months later, he received his first senior international call-up when he was named in the squad for a friendly against Finland. He continued to show some impressive performances as he was promoted to a full first team player for Manchester City.

Senior team

Belgium manager Georges Leekens selected Boyata for two UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Austria in late 2010. He did not play against Kazakhstan, but made his debut against Austria on 10 October 2010, coming on as a half-time substitute for Toby Alderweireld in a 4–4 draw. He received a call up for a friendly match against Slovenia in August 2011, but did not play. Boyata was recalled to the Belgium squad in October 2015 for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers against Andorra and Israel. He failed to play in either of these fixtures, but was called up again for a friendly against Portugal on 29 March 2016. He won his second cap in this match after coming on as a substitute in the 86th minute for Jason Denayer. In May 2018, Boyata was named in Belgium's preliminary squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. On 4 June 2018, Boyata was named in the final 23-man squad. He played every minute of Belgium's three group stage matches; however, he was dropped for the knockout stage as Belgium finished third. In June 2021, Boyata was called up…

Club

International

Boyata is from Uccle, a suburb of Brussels and is known to have a good relationship with former Manchester City and Belgium team-mate Vincent Kompany. His father Bienvenu Mandungu Boyata is a former Congolese footballer, who played during the 1990s in Belgium for Union Saint-Gilloise and Stade Leuven.