François Omam-Biyik (born 21 May 1966) 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 ...

manager and former player who works as assistant manager of

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 ...

. Omam-Biyik also has French nationality. 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 was one of the most important players of the Cameroon national team in the nineties, playing at the three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. He played 73 international matches in total.

Early life

Omam-Biyik started out as a goalkeeper, and later a defender, before converting into a striker at the age of 16.

Club career

Omam-Biyik had success with different French clubs before moving to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

in the summer of 1992. He only played one match, and was transferred to

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

in October 1992. After a few years he continued his career in Mexico with

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

and

Puebla F.C. Club Puebla, formerly Puebla F.C. is a Mexican professional football club based in the city of Puebla, competing in the Liga MX. Known as ''La Franja'' ("The Striped Ones"), the team shirt features a diagonal stripe (traditionally blue on white ...

, with short stops in European clubs towards the late nineties. Omam-Biyik retired after the 1999–2000 season. In 1987 and 1991 he finished third in a run for an

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

award. In 2003, he played in the Adecmac amateur soccer league in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

with Club Deportivo Sahara, where he scored 10 goals in the season.

International career

Omam-Biyik's greatest moment came when he scored the downward header that gave Cameroon a historic 1–0 win over defending world champions

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

in the opening match of the 1990 World Cup. He and his brother

André André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...

helped Cameroon to the quarter-finals. He also scored against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the first round of the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

. He was called up to 1998 World Cup, which was his third. Omam-Biyik scored a total of 26 goals in 73 appearances. He is Cameroon's record World Cup player, with 11 matches in three tournaments.

Style of play

Omam-Biyik's aerial ability led to the term "Omam-Biyik" being used as a nickname for a headed goal. While he took part in high jumping at school, he says he was "born" with his heading ability.

Managerial career

Following his retirement Omam-Biyik moved to

Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he was the head coach of the city's Second Division professional soccer team. Omam-Biyik was appointed assistant coach of the Indomitable Lions (Cameroon football team) for a two-year tenure, with Spaniard

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

as head coach. Omam-Biyik became the head coach of Togolese side Gomido FC in May 2013. He pledged to help rebuild the first team but worked with the club for just two months. On 20 July 2013, Omam-Biyik was signed to coach Gabonese champions Union Sportive de Bitam, replacing his compatriot Thomas Libiih. At the end of September 2019, Omam-Biyik was appointed assistant manager under newly hired manager

Toni Conceição António Conceição da Silva Oliveira (born 6 December 1961), known as Toni Conceição, is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a right-back. His playing career was spent mostly in the Primeira Liga at Braga, as we ...

for

Personal life

He is the father of Emilio Omam-Biyik and cousin of Francis Eliezer Omam, both of whom are footballers. François' older brother,

, and André's son, Jean-Armel, are also footballers.

Honours

Lens *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

: 1994 Cameroon *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Omam-Biyik, Francois 1966 births Living people Association football forwards Cameroonian footballers Stade Lavallois players Stade Rennais F.C. players AS Cannes players Olympique de Marseille players RC Lens players LB Châteauroux players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Serie A players U.C. Sampdoria players Cameroonian expatriate footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Mexico French footballers Club América footballers Atlante F.C. footballers Club Puebla players Liga MX players Cameroon international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 1988 African Cup of Nations players 1990 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players Cameroonian emigrants to France Canon Yaoundé players