Gaël Kakuta

Kakuta was a French youth international and has represented his country at all levels. He has scored a total of 15 goals in 45 matches from under-16 level up to the under-20 level. With the under-16 team, he scored on his debut in a 1–1 draw against the Republic of Ireland. In the Tournoi de Val-de-Marne, Kakuta netted two goals in the competition against Italy and Portugal. On 15 March 2007, he was one of five players who scored a goal in the team's 5–0 thrashing of Poland in Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf. Kakuta finished the under-16 campaign making 12 appearances and converting five goals. With the under-17 team, Kakuta was a regular selection of coach Francis Smerecki. He made his debut with the team on 4 October 2007 in a 1–1 draw against Switzerland. In qualification for the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, Kakuta scored a goal in the team's 6–0 thrashing of Albania in the first qualifying round. In the Elite Round, he was clinical in the team's final group stage match against Russia scoring a double in a much-needed 3–1 victory. The win assured the team a place in the UEFA-sanctioned tournament. In the tournament, he went scoreless, but contributed to the team's finals appearance converting the 3rd penalty for France in their 4–3 penalty shootout victory over Turkey in the semi-finals. In the final, France were defeated 4–0 by Spain. With the under-18 team, Kakuta only made 5 appearances, but scored three goals, which included a brace against the Republic of Ireland…

Club

As of match played 26 January 2026

International

As of match played 6 January 2026

Scores and results list DR Congo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kakuta goal.

Early career

Kakuta was born in Lille, Nord. He started playing football at the age of seven, after seeing his uncle play for the reserve team of Lille. He began his career with local club US Lille-Moulins. In his first match with the club, they lost 17–1, however, the defeat was not enough to put him off. In 1999, he joined Lens as a youth player, and spent five years there. In 2004, Kakuta was selected to attend the Centre de Préformation de Football in nearby Liévin, a training center exclusively for players brought up in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. He spent two years at the center training there during the weekdays and playing with Lens on the weekends. One of his trainers at the facility was former Polish international Joachim Marx.

Ban and fine

On 3 September 2009, it was announced by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, that Kakuta would be banned for four months and be fined €780,000 due to a breach of contract with his old club Lens in order to sign for Chelsea in the summer of 2007. Chelsea were also banned from signing any players in the next two transfer windows due to their involvement in inducing the player to break his contract at Lens, meaning they would have been unable to buy or sell players until January 2011. Further to this they received a €130,000 fine, payable to Lens. The club stated that they would "mount the strongest appeal possible" and described the behavior of FIFA as "extraordinarily arbitrary decision". Chelsea believed…

Didier Drogba was understood to have made Kakuta his protégé when he first came to England. In October 2014, fraudster Medi Abalimba was jailed for four years after masquerading as Kakuta and spending thousands of pounds on stolen credit cards.