Alvi Fokou Fopa (born May 19, 1990) is a professional

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

ian-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soccer player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for

Bangladesh Football Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), officially known as TVS Bangladesh Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a top tier of Bangladeshi professional football league pyramid. It is run directly by the professional football league committee ...

club

Saif Sporting Club Saif Sporting Club is an association football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It currently competes in the Bangladesh Football Premier League, the top flight of Bangladeshi football. The club is owned by Saif Powertec Limited. The main goal of ...

. He has been described as a "central midfielder ". He can also easily play on the sides, and even right-back when necessary."

Career

Fopa trained in high school, then with the Apejes FC in

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the capital of Cameroon and, with a population of more than 2.8 million, the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region of the nation at an elevation of about 750 metres (2,50 ...

under President Aimé Léon Zang. In 2007, at 17, while attending a youth tournament in the US, he was spotted by New York's Metropolitan Oval Academy, which he joined. In 2009, he entered the

New York Red Bulls Academy The New York Red Bulls Academy is the multi-layered youth system of the New York Red Bulls. It is the first cost-free program in Major League Soccer that provides a professional soccer training environment for youth players in the New York Tri-Sta ...

but an injury drew him away from stadiums for a year. After recovery, he joined the team's division 2 team. In 2012, he signed with the CFC Azul (now AC Connecticut). He helped the team defeat the

Vermont Voltage Vermont Voltage was an American association football, soccer team based in St. Albans (city), Vermont, St. Albans, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1997, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the Americ ...

, 4–2, that July closing their inaugural USL Premier Development League (PDL) season in fourth place in the Northeast Division. President of Panthère du Ndé

Célestine Ketcha Courtès Célestine Ketcha Courtès (born 13 October 1964) is a Cameroonian politician who serves as mayor of Bangangté and is president of the Network for Locally Elected Women of Africa (in French, Réseau des Femmes Elues Locales d’Afrique, often c ...

, on a trip to the US seeking to deal with national championship, the

Cameroon Cup The Cameroon Cup is the national football competition in Cameroon, on a knock-out-basis. Cup Finals Before independence * 1941 : Caïman de Douala 6-0 Mikado ASTP * 1942 : Caïman de Douala 3-1 Léopards Douala * 1943 : Caïman de Douala * ...

, the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and the Cup of the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...

, asked Fokou to return to Cameroon for play for his team. In February 2013, Fopa helped the team face Unisport FC du

Haut-Nkam Haut-Nkam is a department of West Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 958 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 191,600. The capital of the department lies at Bafang. Subdivisions The department is divided administ ...

, the 2012 winners of the Cameroon Cup. For the 2013–2014 season, he signed with

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-based Corinthians, for which he played

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. The next year he signed with Cameroon's

Bamboutos FC Bamboutos FC is a Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north ...

, a first division club, as midfield offense, one football blogger writing of his "outstanding technical qualities."

References

External links

Fopa playing for CFC Azul on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fopa, Alvi Fokou 1990 births American soccer players Living people Cameroonian footballers Cameroon international footballers Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Cameroon youth international footballers Cameroon under-20 international footballers APEJES Academy players Panthère du Ndé players Association football midfielders