Christ Bongo-Zanoni (born 11 August 1976) is a Congolese former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He played for

SV Wilhelmshaven SV Wilhelmshaven is a German association football club from Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony. SV Wilhelmshaven play in the Regionalliga Nord. SV Wilhelmshaven was founded in 1905. Since 1999, Wilhelmshaven's stadium is the Jadestadion. History Pre ...

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

, Gazélec Ajaccio, FC Aarau,

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club plays in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Honours League Swiss Challenge League *Winners: 1962-63, 2003–04 Cup Swiss Cup *Runners-up: ...

FC Solothurn FC Solothurn is a Swiss football club based in Solothurn. The club has played in Nationalliga B (2nd level), and currently plays at 1. Liga (Group 2) (3rd level). History From season 1925–26 to 1930–31, when a new system got introduced, ...

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the ...

and

FC 105 Libreville Football Canon 105 de Libreville or simply FC 105 Libreville is a Gabonese football club based in Libreville. It was founded in 1975 as is the club of the army and the police. They play at the Stade Omar Bongo. Achievements *Gabon Championnat Nat ...

, and also represented the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

internationally.

Club career

Bongo was born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. His first European club was

of the Regionalliga Nord, the third tier of German football. In his single season at the club he made 26 league appearances, scoring six goals. Wilhelmshaven were involved in a struggle against relegation, but Bongo's goals, including a late winner against SV Lurup, helped the club to finish a single place above the relegation zone. During the 1997 close season Bongo joined another Regionalliga Nord side,

, signing a three-year contract. His Hannover debut did not come until November, when he played in a 4–0 victory against

Sportfreunde Ricklingen The Sportfreunde Ricklingen is a German association football club from the Ricklingen suburb of Hanover, Lower Saxony. The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the tier three Regionalliga Nord in 1996, where it played for thre ...

. He continued his nomadic career in France and Switzerland with Gazélec Ajaccio and FC Aarau, before signing for

on a one-year contract in 2000. From there he moved to

, where he was top scorer, and scored the winner in a local derby against FC Grenchen. This proved to be his last goal for the club before moving on loan to

until the winter break. In 2004, having returned to Africa with Gabonese club

, he scored against 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 ...

in the final of the Coupe de l'Uniffac, a competition contested by clubs from Central African countries, but finished on the losing side. Bongo's late equalising goal sent the match into extra time, but his team were defeated 6–5 in a penalty shootout. Bongo signed for Sporting Cabinda in Angola in 2006 and retired in 2008.

International career

Bongo was capped at international level by the Republic of the Congo national team. In January 2001 he scored in a World Cup qualifier against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and was one of only three Congolese players to score in the qualifying tournament. The other were Edson Dico Minga and Walter Bakouma; in addition a Malagasy opponent scored an own goal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bongo, Christ 1976 births Living people Footballers from Kinshasa Men's association football forwards Republic of the Congo men's footballers Republic of the Congo men's international footballers Regionalliga players Championnat National players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Serie C players SV Wilhelmshaven players Hannover 96 II players Gazélec Ajaccio players FC Aarau players FC Schaffhausen players FC Solothurn players FC Thun players AC Prato players FC 105 Libreville players Sporting Clube de Cabinda players Republic of the Congo expatriate men's footballers Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Gabon Expatriate men's footballers in Gabon Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Angola Expatriate men's footballers in Angola 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people