Aldo Kalulu

Aldo-Nsawila Kalulu Kyatengwa (born 21 January 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and striker for Serbian club Partizan. Born in France, he plays for the DR Congo national team.

Early life
Kalulu was born in Lyon, France, and is Congolese by descent. His father was born in Kabimba, Belgian Congo, and his mother in Likasi, Congo-Léopoldville. He acquired French nationality on 26 December 2000 through the collective effect of his parents' naturalization.

Lyon
Kalulu is a youth exponent from Lyon. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 12 September 2015 against Lille OSC replacing Jordan Ferri after 78 minutes in a 0–0 home draw.

He scored his first goal against Bastia on 23 September 2015, assisted by Steed Malbranque.

Basel
On 26 June 2018 FC Basel announced that they had signed Kalulu on a three-year deal until June 2021. Kalulu joined Basel's first team for their 2018–19 season under head coach Raphaël Wicky and later Marcel Koller. After playing in three test games Kalulu played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 21 July 2018 as Basel were defeated 1–2 by St. Gallen. He scored his first goal for his new club on 18 August in the Swiss Cup away game as Basel won 3–0 against amateur club FC Montlingen.

Under trainer Marcel Koller Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter-finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel. Kalulu played in four cup games and scored that one game mentioned above.

In the first half of the season Kalulu played regularly, however, in the second half of the season he had just seven appearances and these as substitute. Therefore the club looked for a new solution.

On 5 August 2019, Kalulu signed for EFL Championship club Swansea City on a season-long loan with an option to buy at the end of the season.
 * Loan to Swansea City

Swansea did not pull the option and so Kalulu returned to Basel for their 2020–21 season under new head coach Ciriaco Sforza. However, things did not improve for the striker, he made only 12 appearances and this as substitute. At the end of this season his contract expired and he left the club. Between the years 2018 and 2021 Kalulu played a total of 51 games for Basel scoring just three goals. 27 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, five in the Swiss Cup, four in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 15 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the cup and the other two during the test games.
 * Return to Basel

Sochaux
On 29 June 2021, he returned to Sochaux and signed a three-year contract.

Partizan
On 20 July 2023 it was announced that Kalulu signed a 3-year contract with FK Partizan. He made his debut on 29 July in the first round of the 2023–24 Serbian SuperLiga campaign against TSC, entering the game in the 54th minute and receiving a red card in the 95th minute. Kalulu scored his debut goal against Napredak which sent the team to the top of the Serbian SuperLiga after 18 months. Kalulu scored the opening goal in the match against Radnički Kragujevac with an assist from Matheus Saldanha. On 9 March 2024 Aldo Kalulu scored the second goal for Partizan in the 172nd Eternal derby, which ended 2–2.

International career
Kalulu is a former youth international for France at U18 level. He debuted for the DR Congo national team in a 3–1 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification win over Mauritania on 24 March 2023.

Personal life
Aldo Kalulu is the older brother of footballers Gédéon Kalulu and Pierre Kalulu.

Aldo Kalulu is a big fan of Basketball and an avid fan of the San Antonio Spurs.

Honours
Basel
 * Swiss Cup: 2018–19