Cyrille Ndongo-Keller (born 16 February 1974) is a Cameroonian

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 ...

coach and former player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Ndongo-Keller grew up in the

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 ...

neighborhoods of Mballa II and Nlongkak. He started his career in

Olympic Mvolyé Olympic Mvolyé, also known as Olympique Mvolyé, is a Cameroonian association football, football club based in Mvolyé. Olympic enjoyed some success in the 1990s as they won the Cameroonian Cup twice in 1992 and 1994 and then went on to compe ...

and went on to top-tier team

Tonnerre Yaoundé Tonnerre Kalara Club of Yaoundé is a football club based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The club was most prominent during the 1980s, winning all of their 5 national championships. They have also won the national cup 5 times. Among the club's most notabl ...

in 1991. While here he represented Cameroon in the

1993 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1993 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 9th edition FIFA World Youth Championship. U20 Brazil defeated Ghana, 2–1 for its third title. It took place ac ...

, where Cameroon was grouped with Colombia, Russia and Australia. In the summer of 1993 he migrated to Australia where he signed with

Parramatta Eagles Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales. The club was established by Maltese migrants in 1956 and played sever ...

. After a four-month stint in

Darwin Cubs Darwin Cubs is a now-defunct soccer club from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The Cubs played as a foreign team in the Singapore Premier League in 1994 and finished runners-up to another Australian team, Perth Kangaroos IFC. The Cubs lost ...

from March to July 1994 he played three seasons in Adelaide Sharks. In 1995 he received his first and only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Cameroon national team in an African Nations Cup qualifier against

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

, donning the number 9 jersey formerly belonging to

Roger Milla Albert Roger Miller (born 20 May 1952), known as Roger Milla, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of the first African players to be a major star on the international stage. He played in three Worl ...

. In 1997 he had a brief stint with

Yokohama Flugels is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

in Japan. He settled in Australia where he coached the

NSW Sapphires ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

women's team in 1999–2000, and later set up his own football academy and sports entrepreneurship company.

References

1974 births Living people People from Yaoundé Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Cameroon men's international footballers Cameroon men's youth international footballers Parramatta FC players West Adelaide SC players Yokohama Flügels players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Cameroonian emigrants to Australia {{Cameroon-footy-bio-stub