Joseph Fabrice Ondoa Ebogo (born 24 December 1995) 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, rugb ...

who plays as

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 ...

for French club

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

and the Cameroon national team. Having made his debut in 2014 at the age of 18, he represented

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 ...

at two

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 internat ...

tournaments, winning the 2017 edition.

Club career

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 ...

, Ondoa joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

in 2009, aged 13, after starting it out at

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation from 11 December 2021. In his prime, Eto'o was regarded by pundits as one of ...

Foundation. He progressed through the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, and renewed his link with the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citize ...

until 2017 in 2014. In June 2014, Ondoa was promoted to the reserves in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the L ...

. However, he was only used as a backup to Adrián Ortolá during the campaign. On 7 January 2016, Ondoa signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

also in the second level, after rescinding his link with ''Barça''. He was assigned to their

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

, CF Pobla de Mafumet of the third division, and made his senior club debut three days later in a 3–2 loss at

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before fol ...

. On 17 August 2016, Ondoa was loaned to fellow second-tier club

Sevilla Atlético Sevilla Atlético is a Spanish football team based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1950, it is the reserve team of Sevilla FC. It plays in Segunda Federación, and holds home games at '' Estadio Jesús Navas'', w ...

, for one year. Second choice to Churripi, he made his professional club debut on 18 March 2017 in a 2–1 win at

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

, in which he was punished for timewasting by conceding a free kick in the penalty area from which

Edu García Eduardo "Edu" García Martín (; born 24 April 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for China League One club Sichuan Jiuniu. He has played in a host of different countries, including Chi ...

scored; with two minutes remaining he was sent off for a foul with all substitutions having been made, and debutant defender José María Amo had to replace him in goal. On 11 May 2017, Ondoa signed for the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

ns until 2020, as the club exercised his buyout clause. After suffering relegation, he signed a four-year deal with Belgian side

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, a ...

International career

On 24 August 2014, Ondoa was called up to

for the matches against

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre i ...

. Thirteen days later he made his international debut, starting in a 2–0 win against the former, and being later praised by manager

Volker Finke Volker Finke (born 24 March 1948) is a German football manager. He was the coach of SC Freiburg for 16 years. Coaching career On 6 December 2008, Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds announced they signed a contract with Finke as head coach unt ...

. Ondoa and Barcelona teammate

Macky Bagnack Macky Frank Bagnack Mouegni (born 7 June 1995) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Kairat. Club career Born in Yaoundé, Bagnack came to FC Barcelona in 2008, through the Samuel Eto'o Foundation at the ...

were included in the 23-man squad for 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 ...

. He played all three of their matches at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea, as they came last in their group. At the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

in Gabon, Ondoa was again the undisputed goalkeeper for the ''Indomitable Lions''. He was man of the match in their quarter-final win over

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

, in which he saved the decisive attempt from

Sadio Mané Sadio Mané (born 10 April 1992) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Senegal national team. Considered one of the best players in the world and amongst the greatest African ...

in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Cameroon won the title with a 2–1 victory over

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, and he was elected into the Team of the Tournament.

Personal life

His cousin, André Onana, also plays as a goalkeeper for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Barcelona *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

: 2013–14 FK Auda *

Latvian Football Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company W ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Cameroon *

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 ...

Individual * CAF Team of the Tournament: 2017

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ondoa, Fabrice 1995 births Living people Footballers from Yaoundé Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Segunda División B players Belgian Pro League players Latvian Higher League players Championnat National players FC Barcelona Atlètic players CF Pobla de Mafumet footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Sevilla Atlético players K.V. Oostende players Deportivo Alavés players NK Istra 1961 players FK Auda players Nîmes Olympique players Cameroon men's international footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Expatriate men's footballers in France