Serge Branco (born 11 October 1980) 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 defender and as a

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 boundarie ...

Club career

Branco 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 ...

. In 1998, he left Cameroon to spend the initial years of his career in Germany. He started out at

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

side Eintracht Braunschweig, where he spent two seasons. After returning from the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney, Branco transferred to

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 ...

side

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

in October 2000. Frankfurt were relegated to the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

in 2001, but Branco stayed on for two more seasons at the club before returning to the Bundesliga by signing with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

in 2003. However, he did not become a regular in Stuttgart, making only three league appearances in 2003–04. He signed for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

in August 2004, but was released on 13 September for fitness reasons. From 2005 to 2007 he played in the Russian league, before returning to Germany for a stint with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

International career

Branco represented the victorious Cameroonian national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He was capped once for the Cameroonian senior national team, in a World Cup qualification match against

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

in 2001.

Honours

Wisła Kraków *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Cameroon * 2000 Olympic Games

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Branco, Serge Living people 1980 births Footballers from Douala Association football defenders Association football midfielders Cameroonian footballers Cameroonian expatriate footballers Cameroon international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players English Football League players Russian Premier League players Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players Eintracht Braunschweig players Eintracht Frankfurt players VfB Stuttgart players MSV Duisburg players Wisła Kraków players Leeds United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Unisport Bafang players FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players Levadiakos F.C. players Olympic footballers of Cameroon Olympic gold medalists for Cameroon Olympic medalists in football Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in England Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Greece Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in England Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Expatriate footballers in Bahrain Expatriate footballers in Kuwait Kuwait Premier League players Al-Yarmouk SC (Kuwait) players