Fabrice Olinga Essono (born 12 May 1996), known as Olinga, is a Cameroonian

footballer 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 as a

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 ...

. He became the youngest ever player to score in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

at the age of 16, at the service of

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. Released shortly after, he went on to compete professionally in Belgium, Cyprus, Romania and Portugal. Olinga represented

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 ...

at the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Early years

Born in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...

, Olinga started learning football in the "

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation from 11 December 2021. In his prime, Eto'o was regarded by pundits as one of ...

Foundation" in Cameroon. He arrived in Spain in 2009, joining the youth ranks of

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

. Two years later, Olinga was spotted by

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

's academy director, Manuel Casanova, who invited him to join the club. He played a crucial part in the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns' side that reached the final of

Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol is a youth football tournament in Spain, which is contested by sixteen teams from the División de Honor Juvenil. It is organised by the RFEF. History The Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol was founded in 1951 with ...

in 2012; however, he himself missed the decisive game against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

(1–0 loss) due to suspension.

Club career

At the age of only 16, Olinga was called up by first-team manager

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Lúis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China and Ecuador. ...

for the 2012–13 opener, away against

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

: he came on as a 60th-minute substitute for

Sebastián Fernández Sebastián Bruno Fernández Miglierina (born 23 May 1985) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Danubio. Club career upFernández with Málaga in 2012 Born in Montevideo, Fernández started his professional pla ...

, and went on to score the game's only goal, becoming

's youngest ever goalscorer at 16 years and 98 days, beating the previous record holder

Iker Muniain Iker Muniain Goñi (, ; born 19 December 1992) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao, where he is captain, mainly as a left winger. Due to his style of play and stature, he was dubbed "the Spanish Messi" by the media. He has spe ...

by 191 days. Olinga started again four days later, appearing in a 2–0 win over

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian ...

in that season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and playing 70 minutes. On 20 January 2014, he cut ties with Málaga – after rejecting the offer for a revised and improved contract counseled by his agent

Pini Zahavi Pinhas "Pini" Zahavi ( he, פנחס "פיני" זהבי; born 1955Jackson, Jamie"Profile: Pini Zahavi, football's first and only super-agent" The Observer, 26 November 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-12) is an Israeli football agent. Zahavi was involved ...

– and joined

Apollon Limassol FC Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisio ...

from the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, being immediately loaned to

S.V. Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

for five months with an option to make the move permanently afterwards. In February 2015, Apollon loaned Olinga to Romania's

FC Viitorul Constanța Fotbal Club Viitorul Constanța (), commonly known as Viitorul Constanța or simply Viitorul, was a Romanian professional football club based in Ovidiu, Constanța County. They last played their home matches in blue and black kits at the Stadionu ...

, with the transfer being superseded by

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

who had too many non-

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

players in its ranks. On 11 April of the following year, his compatriot Eto'o called a press conference in which he announced he was taking the Italian club to court for what he perceived as an unfair treatment of Olinga, going as far as claiming both signings were related. In the summer of 2015, Sampdoria renounced his rights on Olinga and he signed a two-year deal at

Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging betwee ...

. He hardly got a game during his early stint in the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

, his second goal as a professional only arriving on 30 September 2017 in a 2–2 home draw against KV Mechelen.

International career

On 2 October 2012, Olinga was called by the Cameroon national team for a

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

qualification match Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

against

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, and he scored on his debut on the 14th (2–1 win). He was selected by coach

Volker Finke Volker Finke (born 24 March 1948) is a German football manager. He was the coach of SC Freiburg for 16 years. Coaching career On 6 December 2008, Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds announced they signed a contract with Finke as head coach until ...

for his

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

squad at the age of 18, being the youngest player in the competition but remaining an unused member as the tournament ended in group stage exit.

International goals

(Cameroon score listed first, score column indicates score after each Olinga goal)

References

External links

Málaga official profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olinga, Fabrice 1996 births Living people Cameroonian footballers Footballers from Douala Association football forwards La Liga players Tercera División players Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Belgian Pro League players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Royal Excel Mouscron players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players FC Viitorul Constanța players Liga Portugal 2 players Rio Ave F.C. players Cameroon international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal