Cameroon national football team. Cameroon national team Cameroon national football team world champions

The national team of Cameroon is one of the strongest teams on the African continent and a regular participant in the world championships.

History of the Cameroon national football team

• Participation in the final stage of the world championships: 7 times.
• Participation in the final stage of the African Cup of Nations: 18 times.

Achievements of the Cameroon national team

• African Champion - 2 times.
• Silver medalist - 4 times.
• Bronze medalist - 1 time.

Like many other national teams of the African continent, the Cameroon national team is a relatively young team. The country gained independence on January 1, 1960, and on April 13, the national team met with the Djibouti team and won 9: 2.

This victory remained the largest in the history of the "indomitable lions".

Cameroon national team at the world championships

For the first time, the Cameroon national team got into the year and immediately attracted attention, without losing a single match - a draw with the teams of Poland, Italy and Peru. Only in terms of more goals scored (2 against 1) did the future world champions Italians overtake Cameroon in the group. And if we also take into account that the Poles became bronze medalists of that championship, then the performance of the Cameroon team was considered successful.

But all these were flowers compared to what the Cameroon national team showed to the world at the Italian World Cup in 1990. The team of Soviet coach Valery Nepomniachtchi was predicted the unenviable fate of outsiders, because their group rivals were the reigning world champions Argentines, the second team in Europe - and a strong Romanian team.

Already in the first match, the Cameroonians, due to the goal of Francois Omam-Biyik, defeated Argentina, led by, and scored it, playing with ten men, and defended their goal with nine at all.

In the second round, Romania was beaten 2-1, both goals scored by substitute 38-year-old Roger Milla, who was included in the squad either at the request or on the recommendation of the then President of Cameroon, Paul Biya.

The third match, lost to the USSR national team 0:4, at first caused a lot of rumors, given the nationality of the Cameroon national team coach. However, the conversations soon fell silent, since Cameroon still remained in first place, and the Soviet team did not leave the group.

In the 1/8 final match, Roger Milla surprises once again - this time his double in Extra time the match with Colombia brings Cameroon a ticket to the quarterfinals. There, in extra time, the "indomitable lions" lost to the England team 2: 3, and scored two goals from the penalty spot.

After the match, Valery Kuzmich complained that his guys, leading 2:1, instead of playing to keep the score, ran to score the third goal. By the way, Omam-Biyik had a moment for this, but saved the England team

However, in any case, the national team at home was expecting a holiday - tens of thousands of people came to meet the team, the players and the coaching staff were awarded state awards. So Cameroon set the bar for all African teams, which since then has not been surpassed. And further. It was this performance that forced FIFA to revise the African quota and give the teams of the "black continent" the third place in the final stage of the world championships.

Of the next six world championships, the Cameroon team missed only, but its performance in the remaining five tournaments did not live up to the expectations of the fans. Of the 15 matches, Cameroon won only one and ended three in a draw, and in the last two tournaments the team lost all their matches.

The failure on was especially offensive. Then the Cameroonians had a very serious composition: Jeremy Nzhitap represented Real Madrid, Etome Laurent - Arsenal, Marc Vivien Foe - Lyon, Salomon Olembe - Marseille. The star of 21-year-old Samuel Eto'o was rising, Patrick Mbomba, Rigobert Song, Pierre Vome played in the team.

But the Cameroonians became victims of their carelessness: at first they missed the victory in the match with, and only won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia, and therefore they had to beat the German national team in the last round.

Now no one will believe it, but then the chances of Cameroon were quoted, if not higher, then at least on an equal footing with the Germans. But the Teutonic "Ordnung" took over the stellar, but not always organized and disciplined Cameroon.

At the last World Cup, the Cameroon team did not evoke any feelings other than disgust. Numerous scandals with bonuses, women of easy virtue, the absence of a fight, deliberate rudeness towards an opponent and fights among themselves - a team made up of, in general, not bad players, demonstrated only this in Brazil.

It is not surprising that the Cameroonians went home the very first, which no one, I think, regretted.

Cameroon team at Africa Cup of Nations

Cameroon's debut in the continental championships took place in the seventh edition of the African Cup of Nations in 1970. Then the "indomitable lions" won two victories in the group, but in terms of the difference between goals scored and conceded, they took only third place there. At the next tournament, which was held in Cameroon, this team became the third.

The "golden period" fell on the middle - the end of the 80s: three times in a row the Cameroon national team reached the final, winning two of them, in 1984 and 1988, and at the 1986 African Cup, the defeat in the final from Egypt happened only in the series post-match penalties.

The team of Eto'o, Song, Njitap, Mbomba and other stars of the early-mid 2000s took revenge on their predecessors: victories in the 2000 and 2002 CAF finals were achieved thanks to victories in football roulette.

The last success was recorded quite a long time ago, in 2008 (the African Cup of Nations is played every two years), Cameroon reached the final, but lost to the Ghana team 1:0.

The crisis in Cameroonian football also affected the performance of the national team at the continental championships - "indomitable lions", which, in last years more like capricious kittens, they missed two tournaments in a row, and at the last they could not leave the group.

Cameroon national football team players

Record holders for the number of matches played

1. Rigobert Song - 137 matches.
2. Samuel Eto'o and Jeremy Njitap - 118 each.
3. Thomas N'Kono - 112.
4. Francois Omam-Biyik - 74.
5. Carlos Kameni - 70.

top scorers

1. - 55 goals.
2. Patrick Mbomba - 35.
3. Francois Omam-Biyik and Roger Millat - 28 each.
4. Pierre Vebo - 19.
5. Jeremy Nzhitap and Eric Shupa-Moting - 13 each.

Cameroon national football team

Unlike the recent past, the current team is not replete with big names. A wide range of fans know Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Jean Makun, Stefan Mbia, Joel Matip, Eric Choupo-Moting.

It is possible to assemble a strong team around these players, but the first three have already exceeded 30, Matip will soon reach this age, and they do not see a change.

Cameroon national football team coach

Belgian Hugo Broos was appointed to his post in February 2016. This is the first national team in the career of a 64-year-old specialist. Prior to that, he worked with Belgian, Algerian, Greek and Turkish clubs.

With Brugge and Anderlecht he won the championship, Cup and Supercup of Belgium, was recognized four times as the best coach in the country.

present tense

Now Cameroon is fighting for a direct ticket to the 2018 World Cup with the teams of Algeria, Zambia and Nigeria. So far, after two rounds, the "indomitable lions" have two points, and the leading Nigeria already has six.

To be honest, after the 1990 World Cup, every time I sincerely worried about this team. But after what the Cameroonian football players showed to the world at the Brazilian World Cup, sympathy for this team faded away. For me, let Algeria come to Russia better. Or Nigeria.

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Cameroon national football team- managing organization - Cameroon Football Federation. Head coach – Hugo Broos. The main uniform is green, with a yellow collar, red stripes on the shoulders, a red insert with an ornament on the back, a guest uniform - yellow with red ornament on a T-shirt, red leggings. Nickname - Les Lions Indomptables (Indomitable Lions).

National team of Cameroon- one of the strongest African teams in history. Played my first match in 1960 year after French Cameroon became independent.

1970 – "Indomitable Lions" managed to get to the final part of a more or less significant tournament for the first time - African Cup of Nations. Next Continental Championship 1972 which took place in Cameroon, brought the team the final 3rd place.

She managed to get into the final stage of the world championship only by World Cup 1982- in Spain, the Cameroonians did not leave the group, while they never lost - all three matches ended in a draw.

On the African continent, the team became the finalist three times in a row African Cup of Nations – 1984 And 1988 she won the continental championship, 1986 - won silver medals.

1990 - the Cameroon national team for the second time in its history got to the final part of the world championship, where it became the main sensation of the Italian world championship - reached the 1/8 finals from the first place in the group, beating Romania And Argentina headed by Diego Maradona. Africans lost only to the national team USSR, but this match was no longer decisive for them. At 1/8 they knocked out Colombia and only the quarterfinals were lost to the British. Then the Cameroonian striker became widely known Roger Milla- he now has two records of the final stages of the World Cups - he is the oldest participant in the world championships (in 1994 he was 42 years) and the oldest scorer.

The Cameroonians became the first African team to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup, led by a Soviet specialist Valery Nepomniachtchi.

In subsequent years, Cameroonians regularly came to the World Championships ( 1998, 2002 and in 2010 year), but they failed to overcome the group stage.

Gold became a significant event Olympic Games 2000 (Sydney). In the 1/4 finals, the team defeated Brazilians(2:1), semi-final - Chileans(2:1), and in the final - Spaniards (5:3).

Concerning African Cup of Nations– the team won this trophy twice more – 2000 And 2002 .

As the winner of the African Cup of Nations, the Cameroonians took part in the Confederations Cup twice. 2003 - managed to reach the final, beating the Brazilians, Turks and Colombians along the way. In the final, the Cameroonians lost to the French (extra time).

2017 – Cameroon won his 5th title African Cup of Nations taking revenge on Egypt. 64 year old Belgian coach Hugo Bros took charge of the Cameroon national team last February and for various reasons got rid of almost all the stars and just experienced players in a year. As a result, a young (only one person turned 30, the rest 22-26) gathered a hungry team, devoid of sluggish stars, from which no one expected anything. The national team of Cameroon in December was called the weakest in its history, but a month later it won African Cup.

The captain and one of the few experienced players is the forward of the French "Lorient" Benjamin Mukanjo, was recognized as the best player final match with Egypt.

One of the main characters of the Cameroonians is the goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa. He is 21 years old, he is lost somewhere in the reserve teams "Seville", and on African Cup entered the symbolic team of the tournament.

Central defender Michel Ngade-Ngajui– 26 years old, plays for Prague "Slavia", only last year he made his debut in the national team - he suddenly became top scorer teams by scoring the winning goal in the group stage Guinea-Bissau, and in the semi-finals by opening the score with Ghana. Christian Bassogog- the main star of Cameroon and the best player Africa Cup 2017. He is 21, he played in the 4th league of the USA a couple of years ago, and now he scores for the Danish "Aalborg" and interested in Moscow "Locomotive".
Cameroon's all-time leading scorer - Samuel Eto'o (55 heads), and the largest number of matches played by Rigobert Song (138 ).

Number	Player	Club	Age	Role
1	Fabrice Ondoa	Sevilla Atlético	21	VR
16	Jules Goda	Ajaccio	27	VR
23	Georges Boque	Coton Sports	27	VR
2	Ernest Mabuka	Zhilina	28	Protect
3	Nicolas N'Kulu	Lyon	26	Protect
4	Adolf Teiku	Sochaux	26	Protect
5	Michel Ngadu-Ngaji	Slavia (Prague)	26	Protect
6	Ambroise Oyongo	Montreal Impact	25	Protect
19	Collins Fai	Standard (Liège)	24	Protect
21	Mohammed Jete	Gymnastic (Tarragona)	22	Protect
22	Jonathan Ngwem	Progresso do Sambizanga	25	Protect
7	Clinton N'Jie	Marseilles	23	PZ
11	Edgard Sully	Nuremberg	24	PZ
12	Frank Boya	Munich 1860	20	PZ
14	Georges Manjack	Metz	28	PZ
15	Sebastien Siani	Ostend	30	PZ
17	Arno Jum	Heart of Midlothian	27	PZ
20	Carl Toko-Ekambi	Angers	24	PZ
8	Benjamin Mukanjo	Lorient	28	Nap
9	Jacques Zois	Kaiserslautern	25	Nap
10	Vincent Abubakar	Besiktas	25	Nap
13	Christian Bassogog	Henan Jianye	21	Nap
18	Robert Ndip Tambe	Spartak (Trnava)	23	Nap

In early February 2017, the red-greens won the African Cup, which gave the "lions" the right to qualify for the Confederations Cup.

Team History

This participation will be the third for the Cameroon national team, before that the "lions" took part in tournaments in 2001 and 2003. At the turn of the century, Cameroon had a very combat-ready team, led by the leader of Barcelona, ​​Samuel Eto'o. In their debut Confederations Cup in 2001, the "lions" could not achieve any significant success. The team finished third in their group with just one victory over Team Canada.

The next tournament in 2003, which was held in France, brought the Cameroon team silver medals. However, first of all, that tournament will be remembered by fans all over the world for the terrible tragedy that happened to one of the Cameroon players. During the second half of the Cameroon-Colombia semi-final match, African team midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed on the lawn during the game and died 45 minutes later in the hospital without regaining consciousness. The football player was only 28 years old... If we dwell only on the sports component, then the Cameroon national team performed brilliantly at the tournament. At the group stage, the Cameroonians confidently took first place, defeating the teams of Brazil (the current World Champions at that time!), Turkey, and also tied with the US team. In the tragic semi-final match against Colombia, the Cameroonians also scored a minimal 1-0 victory. In the final match, the demoralized Africans looked quite worthy against the backdrop of the hosts of the tournament, but still lost in extra time. Thus, the Cameroon national team, without losing a single match in the tournament in regular time, was the first African team to win the Confederations Cup medals.

The Cameroon national team was able to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 1982. After that, Cameroonians took part in the main football tournament six more times, missing only two tournaments (Cameroon holds the record for the number of participations in the World Championships among African countries). On account of the "lions" there is another major achievement - reaching the 1/4 finals of the tournament. It happened at the 1990 World Championship.

At the World Championship in Italy in 1990, the Cameroon team was in the same group with the reigning World Champions, the team of Argentina, the silver medalists of the last Euro of the USSR team and the Romanian team. On paper, Cameroon looked like a clear outsider of the group, but the "lions" put all forecasters to shame. Already in the first match at the tournament, the wards of Valery Nepomniachtchi (in the early 90s, this most experienced Soviet specialist coached the Cameroon team) presented a super sensation by beating Argentina. In the second round, the "lions" confidently dealt with the Romanian national team, thus securing the first place in the group and reaching the playoffs of the World Championship for the first time in their history. But Cameroon did not stop there. In the 1/8 finals, Cameroon outplayed the Colombian team in extra time thanks to a double of their leader Roger Milla. Thus, Cameroon was the first of the teams from the African continent that managed to break into the top eight of the strongest teams on the planet. In the quarterfinals, luck left the Lions. The team in a bitter struggle in extra time lost to the England team, although even 7 minutes before the end of regular time, the Cameroon team was leading with a score of 2:1.

At the Africa Cup of Nations, the Cameroonians also achieved significant success. The Lions won the main tournament of the African continent five times (the second indicator after Egypt), became second three more times and third once. The victory at the last tournament, held in Gabon in 2017, was largely unexpected. The hosts, as well as the national teams of Côte d'Ivoire, Algeria and Egypt, were considered the favorites of the tournament. However, the first two teams were eliminated at the stage group stage, and Egypt was defeated by Cameroon in the final of the tournament.

The Cameroon national team is the most titled African team. There are two significant stages in the history of the national team. The first of them falls on the junction of the 80s and 90s. At this time, the Cameroonian football legend Roger Milla shone in the national team, who spent a total of more than 20 years in the national team. During this period, the Cameroonians were able to reach the 1/4 finals of the World Cup, and also win the African Cup twice. The second period came at the turn of the millennium, when the Cameroon national team was led by one of the best forwards in the world, Samuel Eto'o. During Samuel's performance for the national team, the Lions won the African Cup of Nations twice, won the Olympics in Sydney, and also received silver medals in the Confederations Cup.

The Cameroon national team goes to the Confederations Cup, like any African team, in the status of a "dark horse". The Lions can both fail in the tournament and give out a fantastic performance (as in the 1990 World Cup). Still, given the modest names of the line-up, let's assume that the Cameroonians will not be able to leave the group at the Confederations Cup.

Cameroon prefers to play athletic, strong football with an emphasis on defence. The team includes Turkish Besiktas forward Vincent Abubakar and Lyon defender Nicolas N'Koulou. However, there are no world-class stars in the Cameroon national team today.