Japhet N'Doram (born 27 February 1966) is a

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 ...

ian 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 striker. His 14-year senior career was mainly spent with

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 ...

, which he represented in several capacities. He was

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d ''The Wizard''.

Club career

Born in

N'Djamena N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements''. The city serves as the centre of economic activity in Chad. Meat, fish and cotton processing are the ...

, N'Doram begun his career with local

Tourbillon FC Tourbillon FC is a football (soccer) club from Chad based in N'Djamena. The club has won Chad Premier League title 6 times. The club plays home matches on Stade Omnisports Idriss Mahamat Ouya.Mohammad Reza Laghaei (DJ Tourbillon)is an Iranian ent ...

, then spent three seasons in

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 ...

with

Tonnerre Yaoundé Tonnerre Kalara Club of Yaoundé is a football club based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The club was most prominent during the 1980s, winning all of their 5 national championships. They have also won the national cup 5 times. Among the club's most notabl ...

, one of the biggest clubs in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

. In 1990 the 24-year-old signed for

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, scoring two goals in 19 games in his first season in

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 ...

; his first professional contract arrived as Argentine

Jorge Burruchaga Jorge Luis Burruchaga (; born 9 October 1962), nicknamed ''Burru'', is an Argentine association football coach and former professional football player. He played both as an attacking midfielder and forward and scored the winning goal in the fina ...

was recovering from injury and accepted to be given an amateur licence on behalf of his teammate.Japhet N'Doram, le buteur sensible (Japhet N'Doram, the sensible scorer)
at Foot Nostalgie (in French) N'Doram became something of a cult hero at

Stade de la Beaujoire The Stade de la Beaujoire – Louis Fonteneau, mostly known as Stade de la Beaujoire (), is a stadium in Nantes, France. It is the home of French football club FC Nantes. The stadium opened for the first time on 8 May 1984, for a friendly game ...

, scoring important goals as the club's 2000th in the top division, through a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

against

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

(1–0 win) or the second in a 3–2 home triumph against

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

in the

1995–96 UEFA Champions League The 1995–96 UEFA Champions League was the 41st season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the fourth since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Juventus, who beat defending champions Ajax on ...

semi-finals (3–4 aggregate loss).Japhet N’Doram: le sorcier de La Beaujoire (Japhet N’Doram: the wizard of La Beaujoire)
; at Tchachadi (in French) In 1994–95, he netted 12 goals as ''Les Canaris'' won their seventh national championship – the first in 12 years – bettering to a career-best 21 in the 1996–97 campaign (second-best in the competition). Aged 31, N'Doram left Nantes and signed for fellow league side

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

, winning the 1997 Trophée des Champions, but retired at the end of the season following a persistent injury sustained during a match against his former team. He then joined his last club's technical staff, working as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

. N'Doram returned to Nantes on 28 June 2005, replacing Robert Budzynski as

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

. In February 2007 he was appointed team manager, leaving his post in July as the season ended in relegation.

Personal life

N'Doram's son, Kévin, is also a footballer. He too played for Monaco.Germain et N’Doram, tels pères, tels fils (Germain and N’Doram, like fathers, like sons)

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

, 18 May 2017 (in French)

Career statistics

Honours

Nantes Atlantique *

French Division 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 ...

: 1994–95 AS Monaco *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:N'doram, Japhet 1966 births Living people People from N'Djamena Chadian footballers Association football forwards Tonnerre Yaoundé players Ligue 1 players FC Nantes players AS Monaco FC players Chad international footballers Chadian football managers Ligue 1 managers FC Nantes managers Chadian expatriate footballers Chadian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Cameroon Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate football managers in France