Frédéric Koutou Nimani N'Galou (born 8 October 1988) is a professional

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

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

or winger. Born in France, he represented the France U21 and the Central African Republic senior national team at international level.

Club career

Monaco and loan moves

Born in

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 ...

, Nimani's spell at AS Monaco began well when he scored on his debut against

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

on 9 September 2006. Despite bursting onto the scene at the Stade Louis II in spectacular fashion, he was loaned to

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

in 2007. However, after a bust-up with

Christian Gourcuff Christian Jean Gourcuff (born 5 April 1955) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who was most recently the manager of Ligue 1 club FC Nantes, Nantes. Club career During his ...

in January 2008, he was recalled and loaned to Ligue 2 outfit Sedan for the rest of the season. On his return to Monaco, he scored the match winner on the first day of the 2008–2009 season against Paris Saint Germain. Nimani went on to register 7 goals in his first full season at Monaco, developing a good partnership with fellow striker

Park Chu-Young Park Chu-young (; ; also romanised as Park Ju-young; born 10 July 1985) is a South Korean footballer who plays for Ulsan Hyundai as a forward. Club career FC Seoul In February 2005, Park joined a K League club FC Seoul with the highest sa ...

and keeping the likes of Serge Gakpé and Juan Pablo Pino out of the first team. Nimani's success attracted the attention of English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and Spanish

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 ...

teams, most notably

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. In June 2009, it was reported in the press that

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

and

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

were tracking the French U21 international.

Burnley loan

On 19 January 2010, it was reported that Nimani was set to move to Premier League Club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

on loan deal with a further view to buy the player for €4 million. After training with the club he signed on a five-month loan deal on 22 January 2010. However, Nimani made two appearances for Burnley coming on for

Chris Eagles Christopher Mark Eagles (born 19 November 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. After coming through the youth system at Watford, he began his professional career with Manchester United, but was unable to b ...

on a 65 minutes in a 1–0 defeat against Bolton Wanderers and he came on as a replacement for David Nugent in Burnley's 5-2 defeat away at Aston Villa, subsequently becoming the first player from the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

to play in the Premier League. Following Burnley's relegation back to the Championship, after one season in the Premier League, Burnley did not take up a permanent move for Nimani.

Nantes loan

Following his spell in England, Nimani joined French side

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

on loan again for the rest of the season and never made appearance for Nantes. After AS Monaco's relegation to Ligue 2, Nimani scored his first goal in two years against

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

in a 1–1 draw on 6 August 2011. Nimani made only made three appearances this season at AS Monaco after falling out with managers

Laurent Banide Laurent Banide (born 26 January 1968) is a French football manager who coaches Monaco's women's side. Coaching career Born in Alès, Banide had his first job in management with the youth of AS Monaco FC, as his father Gérard led the first team. ...

and then

Marco Simone Marco Simone (; born 7 January 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a striker and winger. He most prominently played for Milan, with whom he won four Serie A championships and two UEFA Cham ...

PAOK loan

On 30 January 2012, Nimani agreed to sign with Greek club PAOK until the end of the season. He signed with PAOK on loan from Monaco with a clause allowing PAOK to make the move permanent at the end of the 2011–2012 season. He was a personal choice of club's coach

László Bölöni László Bölöni ( ro, Ladislau Bölöni; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Ligue 2 club Metz. He is best known for his time at Sporting CP as a manager where he introduced C ...

. Nimani debut for the club in a 2–0 win over

OFI Crete OFI may refer to: * Overseas Filipino Investors, Filipino expatriates who contribute to the economy of the Philippines through remittances, buying property, and creating businesses * OFI Crete, a Greek association football club based on the island ...

on 12 February 2012. Nimani made his Europa League debut in the second leg against

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

in a 3–0 loss on 23 February 2012, putting PAOK out of the tournament. On 18 April 2012, Nimani scored his first goal in a 2–0 win over

Doxa Drama Doxa Drama Football Club ( el, Δόξα Δράμας) is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Drama, Greece, Drama, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Macedonia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super ...

. After a loan at PAOK, the club did not take up a permanent move for Nimani.

Istres

After his loan at PAOK ended, Nimani return to Monaco and he was barely used in the first team. In January, it announced that Nimani was expected to leave the club before Nimani was released by the club. Just a few days later after his release, Nimani joined

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location Istr ...

on a free transfer, until the end of the 2012–13 season. He made ten appearances for the club.

OFI Crete

At the end of the 2012–13 season, Nimani left the club and move abroad to Greece by joining

on a two-year deal.

Fribourg and Egersund

In 2015, Nimani played for

FC Fribourg FC Fribourg is a Swiss football club from the town of Fribourg in the Canton of Fribourg. In the 2022/23 season, the team is playing in 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth highest tier in the Swiss football pyramid. History The club was founde ...

. Nimani had a short spell at the Norwegian side

Egersunds IK Egersunds Idrettsklubb, commonly known as Egersund or EIK, is a Norwegian sports club from Egersund in Rogaland. The club has sections for football, handball and athletics, and is most known for its football team, which plays in the 2. divisjon, ...

. He made a partnership with Stian Koldal and Frode Egebakken. He made 24 appearances and produced 12 goals. In September 2016, he returned to FC Fribourg.

Xamax

On 31 January 2017, the last day of the 2016–17 winter transfer window, Nimani joined

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

side

Neuchâtel Xamax FCS Neuchâtel Xamax Football Club Serrières or Neuchâtel Xamax FCS () is a Swiss football club based in Neuchâtel. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal, founded in 1906 and Swiss champions of 1916, and FC Xamax found ...

. He signed a contract until June 2018 with the option of an extension in case of promotion to the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

Sant Julia

In February 2021, Nimani signed for Andorran side Sant Julià.

Racing Besancon

In July 2021, Nimani joined

Racing Besançon Racing Besançon is a French association football, football club based in Besançon. It was founded in 1904. They play at the Stade Léo Lagrange. The club currently competes in the Championnat National 2 the fourth tier of France Football. Histo ...

in France.

SC Young Fellows Juventus

In January 2022, Nimani returned to Switzerland to sign for Young Fellows Juventus who play in the Swiss 1. Liga Promotion.

International career

Nimani played eight times and scored two times with the France U21, but was eligible to play for both

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and

. He was called up for the first time to the latter selection and made his debut in the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the 32nd edition of the international men's football champion ...

match against

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

on 9 September 2018.

Personal life

Nimani was born in

and is of

ian and Central African descent.

Career statistics

References

External links