Gilles Augustin Binya (born 29 August 1984) is a Cameroonian retired

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 played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

. He spent most of his career in Turkey, representing

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

and

Elazığspor Elazığspor is a Turkish professional football club located in Elazığ and currently competes in the TFF Third League. They previously played their home games at Elazığ Atatürk Stadium in Elazığ, which had a maximum capacity of 13,923. T ...

and appearing in 87

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

matches for the former club. He also competed professionally, other than in his own country, in Algeria, Portugal and Switzerland. Binya won 17

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

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 ...

, representing the country in two Africa Cup of Nations.

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 ...

, Binya signed with

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

for 2007–08 after spending three years at

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n club

MC Oran ( ar, نادي مولودية وهران), known as , commonly referred to as MC Oran for short, is a football club based in Oran, Algeria. Founded on 1 January 1917 and formed again on 14 May 1946, the club was known as Mouloudia Chaâbia Ouah ...

. At the beginning of the season the Portuguese planned to loan him to fellow Primeira Liga side C.F. Estrela da Amadora for a year, but with the substitution of manager Fernando Santos for

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, inc ...

the deal was cancelled, and the player remained with Benfica. While playing for the latter team in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

in November 2007, Binya was shown a straight

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

by referee Martin Hansson following a dangerous challenge on Celtic's Scott Brown. On 16 November 2007

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

gave him a six-match ban, meaning that he would play no further part in the remaining two Champions League group fixtures against

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

and FC Shakhtar Donetsk as well as the four following European matches. Domestically, Binya finished the campaign with 16 league appearances, profiting from forced absences to first-choice holding midfielder,

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

international

Petit Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type *Petit four * Petit Gâteau *P ...

. In 2008–09 he was used rarely, but still collected four

yellow cards Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

in only seven games (including two in a 0–2 loss at

C.D. Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

); at the season's closure he was deemed surplus to requirements, going on to serve a loan at Switzerland's

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (F ...

. On 16 June 2010, Binya was signed by Neuchâtel on a three-year contract. In August of the following year, he was loaned to

in the

, with the move being made permanent subsequently.

International career

Binya was first called up to the Cameroon national team in October 2007, by national manager

Otto Pfister Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

. Subsequently, he went on to represent his country at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, where Cameroon finished second to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

– Pfister was also the team's coach.Final and third place

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 10 February 2008

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Binya, Gilles 1984 births Living people Footballers from Yaoundé Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Tonnerre Yaoundé players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players MC Oran players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Swiss Super League players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Gaziantepspor footballers Elazığspor footballers Cameroon men's international footballers 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey