Thomas N'Kono (born 20 July 1956) 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 ...

. One of the greatest goalkeepers from the continent of Africa, he was mainly associated with

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 sy ...

, whom he represented for almost a decade playing more than 300 official matches. N'Kono appeared for the Cameroon national team in 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 four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Playing career

Club

N'Kono was born in Dizangue. After playing in his country with Canon Yaoundé and

Tonnerre Yaoundé Tonnerre Kalara Club of Yaoundé is a football club based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The club was most prominent during the 1980s, winning all of their 5 national championships. They have also won the national cup 5 times. Among the club's most notabl ...

he moved to Spain with

RCD Español 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 sy ...

in 1982, after solid performances in the

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 ...

played in that country; he received the France Football African Footballer of the Year award in that year, and also in 1979. N'Kono hardly ever missed a game while 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 ...

, going on to make 333 competitive appearances. In the 1988–89 season, however, he was not able to help prevent the team's

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' ...

relegation, and was eventually replaced by Vicente Biurrun. N'Kono would play three more years in Spain, incidentally also in Catalonia, with

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Sabadell, a city in the province of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holdin ...

( Segunda División) and

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in Tercera División RFEF - Group 5, holding home games at Estadi Municipa ...

. He retired in his 40s at

Club Bolívar Club Bolívar () is a Bolivian professional football club that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1925 in honor of Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar, it is the most successful and popular club in the history ...

from Bolivia, and subsequently returned to his main club as a goalkeeping coach, helping develop young talent and countryman Carlos Kameni. N'Kono placed second in

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

' "African Goalkeeper of the Century" elections, behind Joseph-Antoine Bell.

International

A Cameroonian international for almost two decades, N'Kono played in three

: 1982,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and

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 ...

. In the first two he was the starter, as the nation went out in the group stage without losing a match and exited in the quarter-final against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, respectively. The 37-year-old N'Kono was called as backup to Bell in the last minute of the 1994 edition's preparations, and did not play.

Coaching career

N'Kono served as assistant coach to the Cameroon national team, at the same time as being goalkeeping coach at former club Espanyol. In 2002, he was arrested by Malian police for allegedly using "

black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...

", prior to the African Cup of Nations semi-final against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

(3–0 win). He was dragged onto the running track after stepping onto the pitch at the ''26 March Stadium'' alongside coach

Winfried Schäfer Winfried "Winnie" Schäfer (born 10 January 1950) is a German football manager and former player who last managed of Qatari club Al-Khor. Playing career Winfried Schäfer played 403 Bundesliga matches and scored 46 goals in the (West) German to ...

, and eventually received a one-year ban, which was then lifted, although he was not allowed to sit on the bench for the final; the former also received an apology from the office of the Malian president. N'Kono, who was the national side's goalkeepers coach, also worked briefly as

interim manager Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change with ...

after German

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 ...

resigned in protest. The following month, as

Paul Le Guen Paul Joseph Marie Le Guen (, ; born 1 March 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Ligue 2 club Le Havre. During his playing career, Le Guen played as a midfielder, and enjoyed a su ...

took the reins of the team, he was reset in his old post.

Style of play

N'Kono was a tall, strong, dynamic and athletic goalkeeper, who was known in particular for his speed, agility, reactions, positioning, and ability to produce spectacular and acrobatic saves. One of his most notable characteristics was his ability to come out and punch the ball away with power when crosses were delivered into the area; his unique, instinctive and aggressive style inspired

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded pl ...

as a youngster. A commanding presence in goal, N'Kono also stood out for his composure, confidence and leadership throughout his career. In addition to his goalkeeping abilities, he was also known for his moustache and for wearing long trackpants instead of shorts; furthermore, he also had a penchant for performing flamboyant and acrobatic celebrations during matches. Unlike compatriot Bell, however, he preferred to position himself in deeper areas, rather than rushing out to sweep up the ball.

Legacy

Buffon declared that he decided to play in the goalkeeping position after seeing N'Kono's performances at the 1990 World Cup. In addition, he named his first son Louis Thomas in the Cameroonian's honour.

Honours

Club

Canon Yaoundé *

Elite One The Championnat du Cameroun de football (also known as MTN Elite One since 2007 for sponsorship reasons) is the top division of association football in Cameroon, governed by the Cameroonian Football Federation since its establishment in 1961. ...

: 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982 * CAF Champions League: 1978, 1980 Espanyol *

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: 1987–88 Bolívar *

Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...

: 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

International

;Cameroon * Africa Cup of Nations:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

; Runner-up

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

Individual

* African Player of the Year: 1979, 1982 *

International Federation of Football History & Statistics The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

All-time Africa Men's Dream Team: 2021

References

External links

* * *
Biography at CamLions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nkono, Thomas 1956 births Living people People from Littoral Region (Cameroon) Cameroonian footballers Association football goalkeepers Canon Yaoundé players Tonnerre Yaoundé players La Liga players Segunda División players RCD Espanyol footballers CE Sabadell FC footballers CE L'Hospitalet players Bolivian Primera División players Club Bolívar players Cameroon international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1982 African Cup of Nations players 1984 African Cup of Nations players 1986 African Cup of Nations players 1990 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Bolivia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia African Footballer of the Year winners Cameroonian football managers Cameroon national football team managers RCD Espanyol non-playing staff