Ambroise Oyongo Bitolo (born 22 June 1991) is a Cameroonian 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 plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the Cameroon national team.

Club career

Coton Sport

Ambroise Oyongo began his career with Moussango FC of Yaoundé in 2008. His play with Moussango attracted the interest of top club

Coton Sport FC Coton Sport Football Club de Garoua, or simply Coton Sport, is a Cameroonian football club based in Garoua. They play their home games at the Stade Omnisport de Garoua, commonly known as the Roumde Adjia Stadium. The club is chaired by Sadou Fer ...

who signed him in July 2010. He quickly established himself at the club winning the league title in his first year with Coton Sport. In 2011, he helped the club to the league and cup double. In 2013, he won another league title and helped lead Coton Sport to the semi-finals of the

2013 CAF Champions League The 2013 CAF Champions League (also known as the 2013 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 49th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 17th ed ...

New York Red Bulls

During the 2013 season, Oyongo went on trial with French side

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

and it was reported that he would be joining the Ligue 1 side during the 2014 January transfer window. The move never materialised and in January 2014 Oyongo went on trial with

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

. He impressed during his trial and on 7 March 2014, he officially signed with the club. In his first season with New York, the versatile Oyongo was a key player for the club during the second half of the season as he made starts at both left-back and in midfield helping his side qualify for the league playoffs. On 30 October 2014, Oyongo assisted on

Bradley Wright-Phillips Bradley Edward Wright-Phillips (born 12 March 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career with Manchester City in the Premier League, before spending the remainder of his time in England in ...

winning goal in the last minute of the match helping New York defeat Sporting Kansas City and advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Montreal Impact

On 27 January 2015, Oyongo was traded to Montreal Impact with Eric Alexander, an international player roster spot and allocation money for Felipe and the 1st pick in the MLS allocation ranking.

Montpellier

Oyongo's contract expired at the end of the 2017 season, and he opted to move to Europe rather than renewing his deal with Montreal. He signed with French club Montpellier in December 2017. On 22 February 2021, he moved on loan to

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

until the end of the 2020–21 season. He made his debut for Krasnodar on 28 February 2021 in a

game against Ural Yekaterinburg, when he substituted injured Yevgeni Chernov in the 33rd minute. However, at half-time, Oyongo had to be substituted due to injury himself. On 4 March 2021, his agent announced that he will have to be operated on in Spain and will not be able to play for Krasnodar for the duration of the loan and will not return to the club. Krasnodar paid all of the salary due in advance at that time.

International career

Oyongo played for Cameroon at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. On 28 July 2013 he made his debut with the Cameroon senior team, starting in a 1–0 victory over

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon. It is used mostly for football matches and it also has athletics facilities. It was built in 1972. The stadium has been renovated in 2016 ahead of the African Women Cup ...

. At the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

, Oyongo scored his first international goal in a 1–1 draw against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

on 20 January 2015. He was named in Cameroon's squad for the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...

but was later ruled out of the tournament after suffering a ruptured patellar tendon during a 1–0 win over

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

on 10 June.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Cameroon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Oyongo goal''.

Honours

Coton Sport *

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. ...

: 2010, 2011, 2013 * Cameroon Cup: 2011 Cameroon * Africa Cup of Nations:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

* Africa Cup of Nations bronze:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* *
WestAfricanFootball.com profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oyongo, Ambroise 1991 births Living people Association football defenders Cameroonian footballers People from Centre Region (Cameroon) Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate footballers in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Russia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Coton Sport FC de Garoua players New York Red Bulls players CF Montréal players Montpellier HSC players FC Krasnodar players Elite One players Major League Soccer players Ligue 1 players Russian Premier League players Cameroon international footballers Cameroon under-20 international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Oyongo 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players