Raymond Koned Kalla Nkongo (born 22 April 1975), known as Kalla, is a Cameroonian 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 ...

who played as a

central defender 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 ...

. His main asset was a powerful physique, and he had already been picked by the Cameroonian national team for three

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 started – in his mid-20s.

Club career

Kalla was 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 ...

. After starting professionally at Canon Sportif de Yaoundé, he went on to play in four countries: first Panachaiki F.C. in Greece then Spain's

CF Extremadura Club de Fútbol Extremadura was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1924, it played two seasons in La Liga, and held home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la Hera'', with a capa ...

, where he competed in both major divisions. In 2002, after Extremadura dropped another category to the

third level Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

, Kalla signed with

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundeslig ...

in Germany– he scored five times in his last season, second-best in the squad – but the club was relegated from the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. He also received a three-match ban for anti-doping rules breaching, in late 2003. Subsequently, Kalla joined Turkish side

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

for the 2005–06 campaign, returning home for two final years at

Union Douala Union Sportive de Douala is a Cameroonian professional football club based in Douala, that competes in the Elite One. History It was founded in 1958 and played its home matches in the Stade de la Réunification. Achievements National *Cameroon ...

and retiring at age 33.

International career

Kalla won 63

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 ...

, and was a participant at three consecutive

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 2002. In the first he (aged 19) played all the matches and minutes, often being partnered by another youngster,

Rigobert Song Rigobert Song Bahanag (born 1 July 1976) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who is the manager of the Cameroon national team. Known for his defensive skills, Song usually played as a centre-back but could also operate at right-back ...

(17), in an eventual group stage exit. He was part of the victorious

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 ...

and

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. C ...

squads. After the 2002 World Cup, Kalla announced to retire from the national team due to conflicts with the

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

structure, which he accused of poor organization, but eventually changed his mind. Initially summoned for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, Kalla was forced to withdraw due to injury, and retired for the second and definitive time.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalla, Raymond 1975 births Living people Footballers from Douala Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Canon Yaoundé players Union Douala players Super League Greece players Panachaiki F.C. players La Liga players Segunda División players CF Extremadura footballers Bundesliga players VfL Bochum players Süper Lig players Sivasspor footballers Cameroon men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany