Herve Xavier Zengue or simply Xavier (born 22 January 1984 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 ...

) is a Cameroonian football player who last played for

FC Terek Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

. He holds Burkinabe citizenship as he is married to a Burkinabe women. His participation in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game caused controversy in 2011. The

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...

's rejection of an appeal from the Namibian Football Association was the subject of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in December 2011. Namibia had initially appealed to the

as Zengue was not eligible to play in international fixtures for ''Les Étalons'', their appeal was rejected on a technicality. Namibia later appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have CAF's rejection overturned. The Court ruled in favour of the African Football Governing body. Zengue's participation in a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

game in June 2012 was investigated by FIFA who ruled him ineligible to represent Burkina Faso subject to appeal.

International career

Zengue made his international début for

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in a

2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification This page details the process of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification phase. Forty-six African nations, including hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, entered the competition. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea automatically qualified as host count ...

match on 26 March 2011. He played in his first FIFA-organised game in June 2012 versus Congo.

Contested eligibility

On 4 June 2011, he played again for Burkina Faso against Namibia. Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte said that the player is eligible as he has a Burkinabé wife which entitles him to citizenship. Namibian football officials formally complained about Zengue's participation because it was thought he was not eligible to represent Burkina Faso, as he did not meet the conditions set out in FIFA's statutes which would have enabled him to become eligible for the Burkina Faso national team. On 28 October, the day before the group stage draw for the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football ( ...

, BBC reported that the player was ineligible and the player had not been granted clearance by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. However, CAF chose to dismiss Namibia's complaint as it was not counter-signed by Burkina Faso's captain as per article 37.1 of CAF's statutes. The Namibian FA appealed against CAF's decision but lost. The NFA lodged a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have CAF's decision to reject Zengue overturned. On 10 January 2012, CAS released a statement that said Namibia's appeal had been rejected. A press released by CAS stated that Zengue had taken residency in Burkina Faso in 1994, before receiving a Burkinabe nationality certificate in 2006 (whilst a player at Ankaragücü in Turkey) and a Burkinabe passport in March 2011 (the day before his début against Namibia). At no point did CAS decide whether or not Zengue was to be considered eligible for international football with Burkina Faso. In December 2012, FIFA chose to punish Burkina Faso for fielding the ineligible Zengue in their World Cup qualifying game versus The Congo. Congo were awarded a 3–0 victory and 3 points.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 2 June 2012''

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xavier 1984 births Living people Burkinabé footballers Sportspeople from Yaoundé Burkina Faso international footballers Association football defenders MKE Ankaragücü footballers Leixões S.C. players Czech First League players FK Viktoria Žižkov players Burkinabé expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Russia FC Akhmat Grozny players Russian Premier League players Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic 21st-century Burkinabé people