Idriss Carlos Kameni (born 18 February 1984) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays for Andorran club UE Santa Coloma 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 ...

. He spent the vast majority of his career in Spain, mainly with Espanyol for whom he appeared in 229 official games over eight

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' ...

seasons. He also competed professionally in France and Turkey. A Cameroonian international before he was 20, Kameni represented the country in two

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 ...

and six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Club career

France

Born in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport (DLA), it is the com ...

, Kameni was first spotted when, aged 16, he became the youngest footballer to win an Olympic gold medal, in

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 S ...

. This earned him a transfer to French club

Le Havre AC Le Havre Athletic Club (; commonly referred to as Le Havre) is a French association football club based in Le Havre, Normandy. The club was founded as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, making Le Havre AC the oldest professional French fo ...

but he was unable to break into the first team, and remained a reserve for the duration of his spell, also being loaned to AS Saint-Étienne and also failing to gain any playing time there. In 2001 he was linked with a move to

Juventus FC )''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 = Agnell ...

, but nothing came of it. Kameni almost joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on a season-long loan for the 2003–04 season, but the deal collapsed after he was not granted a United Kingdom work permit.

Espanyol

20-year-old Kameni signed with Spanish side

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

in July 2004 for US$600,000, and became first choice in his second year, winning the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

as backup to

Gorka Iraizoz Gorka Iraizoz Moreno (born 6 March 1981) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 392 official games. In La Liga he also represented Espanyol and Gir ...

, who started in

. In the 2006–07 campaign, the opposite: Kameni was the starter, and Iraizoz was picked for 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 ...

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

runner-up run. Early in 2006, the club suspended two fans for racist abuse towards the player. In 2008–09, a tense season for Espanyol, which ranked in the bottom three for a lengthy period, Kameni had two incidents: first, he had a near-physical confrontation with a fan (who first insulted the player) after a training session in January, then fought with teammate Grégory Béranger again in training, in May. He still featured in 37 out of 38 league games, being essential to his team's survival, and also broke his compatriot

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 ...

's record of minutes without conceding a goal, setting it at 498.

Málaga

After two more seasons as starter, Kameni was demoted to third choice for 2011–12, with Argentine Mauricio Pochettino still as Espanyol's manager. On 13 January 2012 he moved to Málaga CF, making his league debut on 25 March after replacing injured Willy Caballero during the first half of a 2–1 away win against his former team, and keeping a clean sheet during his time on the pitch. Kameni became the starter after Caballero left for Manchester City. On 26 September 2015, in a game where Real Madrid registered 31 shots, he put on a

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performance in a 0–0 draw at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

. The following matchday, he became the first club goalkeeper to provide an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

in the Spanish top flight, as Charles scored the second of his three goals in a 3–1 home victory over Real Sociedad. On 2 March 2016, Kameni scored a bizarre

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in a 1–2 home loss to

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

. Three days later, at

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

, he had to be replaced shortly before

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

due to injury, as the match went on to end 3–3. On 19 November 2016, Kameni denied hosts

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 ...

on several occasions, in a 0–0 draw.

Fenerbahçe

In July 2017, Kameni signed a three-year deal with Turkish club Fenerbahçe SK. He made his

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 ...

debut on 17 September, being booked late into a 4–1 away defeat of

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club ma ...

. Kameni left by mutual consent on 28 August 2019.

Later career

In April 2021, the 37-year-old Kameni came out of retirement to join Alex Song at Djiboutian club Arta/Solar7.

International career

A Cameroonian international since the age of 17, Kameni was part of the national team squads at the 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, starting in all but the first. He was the first-choice goalkeeper as his country finished as runners-up at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In 2002, aged 18, Kameni was picked for Cameroon's squad of 23 at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. He was named ''Best African Goalkeeper'' for 2006–07, after being runner-up in the previous season. Kameni was also chosen for the 2010 World Cup in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and was expected to start by many observers. However, he ended up on the bench as coach Paul Le Guen preferred Souleymanou Hamidou over him, and the national side was the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after losing all three group matches. On 27 October 2015, more than two years after being left out of consideration for selection for "trying to orchestrate disorder", Kameni was called by new manager Volker Finke for a game against

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages2018 World Cup qualifiers Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

Personal life

Kameni's older brother, Mathurin, was also a footballer and a goalkeeper.

Honours

Espanyol *

: 2005–06 *

runner-up: 2006–07 Cameroon U23 * Summer Olympics:

Cameroon * Africa Cup of Nations: 2002 * FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 2003 Individual * Málaga Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kameni, Carlos 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Douala Cameroonian footballers Association football goalkeepers Ligue 1 players Le Havre AC players AS Saint-Étienne players La Liga players RCD Espanyol footballers Málaga CF players Süper Lig players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Djibouti Premier League players AS Arta/Solar7 players Primera Divisió players UE Santa Coloma players Cameroon under-20 international footballers Cameroon international footballers 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Olympic footballers of Cameroon Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Olympic gold medalists for Cameroon Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Djibouti Expatriate footballers in Andorra Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Djibouti