Cephas Malele


Cephas Malele is an Angolan-born Swiss footballer who plays as a forward for U.D. Oliveirense.

Club career

Born in Angola, Malele moved with his family in Switzerland as a child and grew up in the youth system of FC Zürich, also making a couple appearances for their Under-21 reserve side between 2010 and 2011.
During the summer of 2011, he was signed by Palermo and included into their Primavera squad. After a difficult first season due to injuries, Malele became a key player for the main Rosanero youth team throughout the first half of 2012–13 season, pairing with another rising star, Mauro Bollino, and being one of the main topscorers of the Campionato Nazionale Primavera. As a consequence, and also due to lack of strikers in the first team, he was asked by Gian Piero Gasperini to join the senior side, and made his professional Serie A debut on 7 January 2013, playing the final minutes of a league game against Parma. He was featured again on 19 January 2013, playing the final 15 minutes of a home game against Lazio as a replacement to Josip Iličić. He was successively confirmed for the club's triumphal 2013–14 Serie B campaign, where he managed to make only three appearances as a substitute throughout the whole season.
On 28 July 2014, Malele was loaned out to newly promoted Serie B club Virtus Entella for the whole 2014–15 season in order to gain more first team experience.

International career

Malele has appeared for the Swiss youth sides from U-15 to U19.