Jérémie Bela

Club career Lens Bela progressed through Lens' junior teams, made his reserve-team debutthree minutes in the Championnat de France Amateur (CFA) in November 2010, and was a regular in the CFA side in the 2011–12 season, with eight goals from 26 appearances. Ahead of the new campaign, he was part of an increasingly youthful reserve squad, many of whom were still eligible for the under-19s.

Bela was involved with the first team in 2012–13 pre-season, and caught the eye of his captain, Jérôme Le Moigne: in an interview in August, Le Moigne picked him out as the Lens player most likely to enjoy a good career in the future, and said he reminded him of former team-mate Lossémy Karaboué. He received his first call-up to the matchday squad for, and then made his debut as a late substitute in, a Ligue 2 match at home to Niort on 5 October 2012 that Lens won 1–0. He made his first start a month later against Armentières in the Coupe de France and scored his debut first-team goal in the 6–0 win. Bela injured a hip flexor in the Coupe de France semi-final defeat to Bordeaux, but was able to return to action in time to score his first league goal, in a 2–1 loss away to Le Mans in the last game of the season, taking his totals to three goals from 21 appearances in all competitions. A wrist sprained during the pre–season tour kept him out of the opening Ligue 2 fixture, and his substitute appearance in the second, a draw away to Dijon, proved to be his last for the club. He was made available to Sikora's CFA team, suffered a foot injury that kept him out for a couple of months and, once fit, resumed his career in the CFA.

Dijon With Lens lying third in the division at the mid-season break and little prospect of first-team football, Bela was expected to leave on loan to a lower division or possibly to be sold abroad. In the event, he was allowed to join promotion rivals Dijon where, after a successful trial, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract on 22 January 2014. Bela made his Dijon FCO debut on 27 January as a late substitute in a goalless draw with Angers, and made three more appearances, all from the bench, over the next few weeks,

Bela returned to the first team as a 70th-minute substitute in the opening game of the 2014–15 season, a 1–1 draw with Nancy, and continued as a regular in the matchday squad. He scored his first goal on 20 October in a 3–0 win over Valenciennes. He scored a stoppage-time winner against Sochaux on 7 February 2015, and in the last game of the season, in a 3–1 win over Nancy, he scored his sixth goal of the season and produced a performance that earned him a place in France Football team of the week. Speaking in March 2015, manager Olivier Dall'Oglio picked out Bela as one of two playersthe other was Júlio Tavareswho had made particular progress over the season, describing him as a player who can change a game.

Interviewed before facing his former club in August 2015, Bela admitted that he had sometimes drifted through the daily routine while at Lens. His lengthy absence through injury in 2014 had given him an awareness of how short a career could be, since when he had taken a more responsible approach to his work. He was instrumental in Dijon's 2–0 win, drawing a foul from Dušan Cvetinović that earned the defender a second yellow card and, a couple of minutes later, producing a powerful strike to score the second goal that relieved the pressure on his team. France Football marked him 8 out of 10 and gave him a place in their team of the week. After three months out with tendinitis in a knee, he came back to earn and convert a match-winning penalty against Créteil at the end of January that strengthened Dijon's position in second place, but his personal season ended in mid-March after he broke his right arm in training. He had contributed four goals from 23 matches to the team's promotion to Ligue 1, which was confirmed a few weeks later, and signed a two-year contract extension in June.

Bela made his Ligue 1 debut as a 78th-minute substitute in a 1–0 loss at home to Nantes in the opening game of the 2016–17 season. However, he found it difficult to retain a place: he started only twice at the higher level and made 12 appearances from the bench. He set up a goal with a pacy run and cross for Loïs Diony in a 3–0 win over Rennes in September, and scored once himself, against Louhans-Cuiseaux in the Coupe de France round of 64.

Albacete No longer in Dall'Oglio's plans at Dijon, Bela signed a two-year contract with Albacete, newly promoted to the Spanish Segunda División, early in August 2017. He said he had had no doubts about the move and thought his stylehe preferred to play facing the goal and enjoyed one-on-oneswould be well suited to Spanish football.

Bela made his Albacete debut as a substitute after 69 minutes of the opening game of the season, a goalless draw with Granada. He scored twice to give his side a 2–1 lead away to Osasuna in the Copa Del Rey second round, but Albacete conceded a 94th-minute equaliser and lost 3–2 after extra time. Bela's first league goal was a spectacular right-footed shot from the left edge of the penalty area into the far top corner of the net that tied the scores against Oviedo; Albacete scored again to record their first win of the season. He missed most of October with injury, but was a regular in the starting eleven from November to April. Bela suffered a minor tear to his thigh in April, but his season was ended prematurely in May by a torn hamstring. He had made 37 appearances and scored six goals in all competitions. he scored six goals by the winter break. He contributed another five goals in the regular season,

In February, Bela confirmed that he was keen to stay but that issues remained unresolved; after the play-off defeat, and with interest from top-flight Spanish clubs as well as from abroad, he opted to leave. His contract included a one-year option contingent on his making a certain number of appearances; the club's view was that this would come into force automatically, but the player claimed it required mutual consent. In mid-July, with Albacete well into pre-season while Bela trained alone in France, he published his intention to invoke his right to free movement under Spanish law; the club planned court action for breach of contract. The matter dragged on until November, when the player paid the club an undisclosed sum in return for their voiding the contract and waiving legal action.

Birmingham City Now a free agent, Bela signed a three-year contract with a one-year option with English Championship (second-tier) club Birmingham City, with whom he had been training for several weeks. He made his debut on 9 November as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat at home to Fulham, and on 7 December away to Reading, he scored a free kickwhich was voted the club's Goal of the Season Bela continued the rescue act in the next round. At 2–1 down in the replay against League One club Coventry City, "what looked like a cross ... went in off a post to reprieve the Championship side with seconds left of extra time" to take the tie to penalties; he converted his kick as Birmingham won the shootout 4–1. He injured a hamstring at the end of February, by which time he had scored four goals and supplied seven assists. The three-month interruption because of the COVID-19 pandemic gave him time to recover, and his second-half performance at home to Hull City, when he was involved in both equalisers as Birmingham came back from 2–0 and 3–2 down to draw 3–3, secured his struggling side one of just three points gained post-resumption as they narrowly avoided relegation.

Bela scored the only goal of the opening match of the 2020–21 Championship season, at home to Brentford, with a glancing near-post header from Iván Sánchez's 37th-minute corner, to give Birmingham a first win since February. A couple of weeks later, he conceded a penalty in the 86th minute of a match against Rotherham United, but redeemed himself in his role of designated penalty-taker by converting one awarded to his side in the 90th, earning praise from manager Aitor Karanka for his mental strength. Despite losing on-field time for the club because travelling on international duty without playing games had left him tired, he still had more end product by mid-November than any team-mate. He continued as a regular starter; Although the Mail suggested that Bowyer's recall of Jutkiewicz meant Bela's crossing ability would be of particular importance as Birmingham tried to avoid relegation, he played only once in the last eight matches.

Ahead of the 2021–22 season, the Mail speculated where the "struggling team's most reliable supplier of assists" might be used, as Bowyer appeared not to favour wingers. The answer, which they did not suggest, was left wing-back. In his first five matches in that position, he made two assists and created more chances. According to Bowyer, the position allowed him to come forward and make crosses and to take set pieces, and Bela had proved against Reading that he could be trusted defensively. The experienced left-back George Friend was impressed with how hard Bela was working to cope with a tiring role, giving the lie to suggestions that he could not last 90 minutes. He played the whole of five consecutive matches in February 2022 to take his total to 99 in all competitions, He did not return to the field until 23 April, by which time it had become clear that the club could not afford to take up the option for another year on his contract, and that he was not willing to take what they felt able to offer. Bela scored his ninth goal for Birmingham in a 1–1 draw with Cardiff City during his 101st and final appearance,

Clermont Amid interest and offers from Segunda División clubs Málaga, Tenerife and Leganés which reportedly could not compete financially with those from Ligue 1, Bela chose to return to French football, at least in part for family reasons. He signed a two-year contract with Ligue 1 club Clermont Foot on 2 August 2022. He made his debut on 14 August at home to Reims, who had led 2–0 at half-time, had a man sent off, and conceded twice before Bela came on after 65 minutes. Shortly afterwards, Clermont took the lead, and in the 78th minute, Muhammed Cham let Saîf-Eddine Khaoui's cross go through his legs to Bela, who hit a first-time shot into the top corner of the goal to complete the turnround.

He made 19 appearances in Ligue 1 in his first season with Clermont, mainly as a substitute, and lost significant time to injuries.

International career While Bela was at the national training centre at Clairefontaine, he was called up to the French under-16 team for two matches against Wales U16 in September 2008. He played in both matches and scored in the first, a 4–2 win.

As well as his native France, Bela qualifies by descent to play for Angola or the DR Congo. He was included in Angola coach Srdjan Vasiljevic's provisional squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but did not accept the invitation. Although he considered himself Angolan and was "proud and grateful" to be selected, he felt his priorities had to lie with Albacete's promotion play-off campaign. He was again called up by Angola in September 2020, and played on 13 October as a substitute in an unofficial friendly match against Mozambique. Having finally received confirmation of his Angolan citizenship, he made his official debut on 12 November 2021, in the starting eleven for a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Egypt that ended as a 2–2 draw. one in the quarter-final, in which Angola lost 1–0 to Nigeria.

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

2022–23

Honours Individual Birmingham City Goal of the Season: 2019–20