Jacques Celestin Songo'o (born 17 March 1964) 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, and is the current goalkeeper coach of the Cameroon national team. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in France and Spain, most notably with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, appearing in more than 200 official games over the course of six seasons and winning the

1999–2000 La Liga The 1999–2000 La Liga season, the 69th since its establishment, began on 21 August 1999 and ended on 20 May 2000. Deportivo La Coruña won their first league title with 69 points, the lowest for a champion since three points for a win was intr ...

. Songo'o represented the Cameroon national team in four

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 ...

, being first-choice in

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 ...

Club career

Songo'o was born in

Sackbayeme Sackbayeme is a rural city in Cameroon. °The city's co-ordinates are 48° 21'S 34°12'W . The gynaecologist, Ernestine Gwet Bell, who supervised the successful birth of Cameroon's first In vitro fertilisation, IVF baby, was born there. Reference ...

, in the

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 ...

suburbs. After first establishing himself as a professional in France, with

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

, he was voted ''Best African Goalkeeper'' in 1996, then arguably lived his most successful period at Spain's

. With the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance l ...

, Songo'o won the 1996–97 edition of the

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ic ...

(awarded to the best goalkeeper of the season), and was his side's undisputed starter in his first four years, which ended with a first-ever title 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 ...

. When ''Depor'' bought

José Francisco Molina José Francisco Molina Jiménez (born 8 August 1970) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Eleven years of his extensive professional career were spent at Atlético Madrid and Deportivo de La Coruña, where he won a total ...

in 2000, he soon lost his place and was eventually transferred to old team Metz; on 13 February of that year, from a

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

, he was supposed to have scored his first career goal, but it was wrongfully disallowed in a 1–0 away loss against

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

. After two seasons, Songo'o returned to Deportivo and

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, again in a free transfer. He settled there after having retired from football, aged 40.

International career

Songo'o featured for

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 ...

in every

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

from

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 ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, although only as first-choice in

. He was also a member of the squad that competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. After retiring in 2004, Songo'o was hired as the national team's goalkeeper coach. He left the position in 2006, returning four years later as a replacement for

Thomas N'Kono Thomas N'Kono (born 20 July 1956) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. One of the greatest goalkeepers from the continent of Africa, he was mainly associated with Espanyol, whom he represented for almost a decade playing more than 30 ...

. In the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa, Songo'o was part of

Paul Le Guen Paul Joseph Marie Le Guen (, ; born 1 March 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Ligue 2 club Le Havre. During his playing career, Le Guen played as a midfielder, and enjoyed a su ...

's coaching staff. After the tournament, which ended in the group stage, he led Cameroon to a 3–0 victory over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

on an interim basis, the nation's first win in ten competitive games. Songo'o returned for a third spell in the same capacity in September 2019, now 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 ...

Personal life

Songo'o also held

French citizenship French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nationality, ''jus sanguinis'' ( ...

. Both of his sons, Franck and Yann, were also professional footballers.

Honours

Canon *

Elite One The Championnat du Cameroun de football (also known as MTN Elite One since 2007 for sponsorship reasons) is the top division of association football in Cameroon, governed by the Cameroonian Football Federation since its establishment in 1961. ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86 *

Cameroonian Cup The Cameroon Cup is the national football competition in Cameroon, on a knock-out-basis. Cup Finals Before independence * 1941 : Caïman de Douala 6-0 Mikado ASTP * 1942 : Caïman de Douala 3-1 Léopards Douala * 1943 : Caïman de Douala * 194 ...

: 1985–86 Metz *

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 ...

: 1995–96 Deportivo *

: 1999–2000 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

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 ...

Individual *

: 1996–97

References

External links

* *
Deportivo archives
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Songo'o, Jacques 1964 births Living people French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Canon Yaoundé players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players SC Toulon players Le Mans FC players FC Metz players La Liga players Deportivo de La Coruña players Cameroon men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1984 African Cup of Nations players 1988 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Olympic footballers for Cameroon Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain