Franck Olivier Ongfiang (born 6 April 1985) is a Cameroonian former 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 ...

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 ...

Club career

Early career and Italy

Born in

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 ...

, Ongfiang started his European career at France for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. In the 2001–02 season, he was signed by

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

and made his Serie A debut on 17 March 2002 against

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

, substituted Arturo Di Napoli in the last minutes. The match ended in 1–1 draw. At that time he was the 4th all-time youngest Serie A foreign player, after

Valeri Bojinov Valeri Emilov Bojinov ( bg, Валери Емилов Божинов, ; born 15 February 1986) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Throughout his career, Bojinov has played for seventeen different clubs during his ...

Lampros Choutos Lampros Choutos (sometimes Lambros; born 7 December 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. During his career, he played equal periods of time in his country and Italy. Club career Early years Born in Athens, ...

and Claiton. In August 2002, after Venezia's owner

Maurizio Zamparini Maurizio Zamparini (9 June 1941 – 1 February 2022) was an Italian businessman. He was the owner and director of football club U.S. Città di Palermo between July 2002 – February 2017 and from July 2017 – December 2018. Biography Zampari ...

purchased Palermo, he followed his team-mates likes Di Napoli, Kewullay Conteh, Mario Santana, Igor Budan, Stefano Morrone and Daniel Andersson, etc. transferred to the

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

side. In 2003–04 season, he left for

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. ...

of Serie C1 on loan. In the next season, played for Martina.

Africa & Middle East

On 1 July 2005, he left for

Espérance de Tunis :''See also Esperance (disambiguation)'' Espérance is one of the two French words that can be translated into "hope", the other being "espoir". Whereas the latter is closer to the idea of "dream" or "fantasy" and corresponds to most of the commo ...

and played at

2005 CAF Champions League The 2005 CAF Champions League was the 41st edition of the CAF Champions League, the Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was started on 29 January 2005 with a preliminary r ...

. In 2007, he left for Al Ain and played at

2007 AFC Champions League The 2007 AFC Champions League was the 26th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament and the 5th edition under the current AFC Champions League title. Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds became champions for the first time, beating S ...

. In mid-2008, he left for Al Ahly Tripoli.

Ukraine

In March 2011 he sign for the Ukrainian side

Zirka Kirovohrad FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, ФК "Зірка Кропивницький") is a Ukraine, Ukrainian amateur football club from Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad Oblast, with its team currently playing in the Ukrainian Amateur Football Championship, Ukrainia ...

International career

Ongfiang was the captain of Cameroon U20 team at 2005 African Youth Championship qualification. Ongfiang was a member of Cameroon U23 team. He was called up to a 42-men preliminary squad for 2004 CAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament against Ivory Coast U23 team in February 2004. In November 2004, he was called up to the senior national team against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as reserve player. He also capped for Cameroon Youth team at

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nig ...

References

External links

*
Profile at ilpalermocalcio.it – The Official Site of Palermo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ongfiang, Franck Living people 1985 births Footballers from Yaoundé Association football midfielders Cameroonian footballers Cameroon under-20 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Venezia F.C. players Palermo F.C. players A.C. Cesena players A.S.D. Martina Calcio 1947 players Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Al Ain FC players Sharjah FC players FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi players Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Tunisia Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in Libya Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Libya UAE Pro League players