Vital Nsimba

Vital Nsimba fled Angola at the age of six and rebuilt his football life in France, moving through Bordeaux's local clubs before joining the Girondins academy at sixteen. He never made the step up to Bordeaux's first team as a youth product, instead learning his trade through Bordeaux B, a spell in Guingamp's reserves, a loan at Vendée Luçon and three seasons at Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas.

His career turned at Clermont Foot, where he signed on a free transfer in June 2018. He became a fixture in the side that won the Ligue 2 title in 2020–2021. The following season he started 34 league matches in that historic top-flight campaign and scored his first goal in France's elite division, against Lille.

Nsimba left Clermont in September 2022 to return to Girondins de Bordeaux. In the 2022–2023 season he was Ligue 2's most productive crosser among assist providers, with a 34.83% success rate on crosses. His time in Bordeaux also had its harder nights: in the 2023–2024 Coupe de France, he started the Round of 16 defeat to Nice, a 2–3 loss in which he conceded a penalty.

He left French football in August 2024 for Maccabi Haifa. That stint proved brief, and in 2025 he returned to Clermont Foot, the club where his career had first taken off. Internationally, Nsimba represents DR Congo, for whom he made his debut in 2016 and was recalled in 2022, earning two caps.