Vincent Aboubakar (born 22 January 1992) is a Cameroonian 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 plays as a striker for

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club

Al Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yello ...

and captains the Cameroon national team. Aboubakar began his career at Coton Sport and moved to Europe in 2010, playing for Ligue 1 clubs

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

and

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

, totalling 109 appearances and 26 goals in France's top division. In 2014, he signed for

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, where he played 125 games and scored 58 goals, winning a Primeira Liga title. He won the Turkish

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 ...

while on loan at Beşiktaş in 2017, and again in 2021. Aboubakar has earned over 90 caps 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 ...

since his international debut in May 2010. He was part of their squads for the 2010,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

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 ...

s, as well as the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. He scored the winning goal in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the 2017 tournament, and was the top goalscorer of the 2021 edition.

Club career

Valenciennes and Lorient

On 26 May 2010, Aboubakar signed with

in France. He was assigned the number 9 shirt and made his debut in the club's opening league match of the season against

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

appearing as a substitute. He scored his first goal and hat-trick against Boulogne in Coupe de la Ligue. Aboubakar signed for

on a free transfer on 1 July 2013. He made his debut for the Breton team on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 loss at

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, and scored his first goal eight days later, equalising in a 2–1 win over Nantes at the Stade du Moustoir. He came joint second top scorer over the season with 16 league goals from 35 appearances, including braces in a 4–0 win at

Évian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

on 23 November and a 4–4 home draw with Montpellier on 20 April 2014.

Porto

Aboubakar signed for

on 24 August 2014, signing a four-year contract for a fee of €3 million, equivalent to 30% of his economic rights. He had previously been a target for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. He made his debut on 14 September in a 1–1 Primeira Liga draw at Vitoria S.C., replacing

Héctor Herrera Héctor Miguel Herrera López (; born 19 April 1990) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo and the Mexico national team. Herrera began his career with Pachuca in 2011 and sp ...

in added time. Three days later 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 ...

, after coming on for

Jackson Martínez Jackson Arley Martínez Valencia (; born 3 October 1986) is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He started his career with Independiente Medellin in 2004 and becoming the league's top scorer in 2009, before be ...

, he scored his first Porto goal to conclude a 6–0 home win over BATE Borisov in the

group stage. On 25 October, again as the Colombian's replacement, he scored a first league goal to wrap up a 5–0 victory at F.C. Arouca. He was used almost exclusively as a substitute over the season, as Porto finished runners-up to

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 ...

. In his second season in Portugal, following the sale of Martínez, Aboubakar played much more regularly. He opened the season on 15 August 2015 with two goals in a 3–0 win over Vitória at the

Estádio do Dragão The Estádio do Dragão (; English: Dragon Stadium) is an All-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Porto, Portugal, and the home ground of FC Porto since 2003. It has a seating capacity of 50,033, making it the Lis ...

, and scored twice the following 10 January in a 5–0 win at city rivals Boavista FC. He scored once in five games as the team reached the final of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

, and scored the only goal of the fifth-round win at C.D. Feirense on 16 December 2015.

Loan to Beşiktaş

On 27 August 2016,

reigning champions Beşiktaş signed Aboubakar on a season-long loan. He made his debut for the

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

-based club on 10 September, replacing Olcay Şahan for the last six minutes of a 3–1 home win over

Kardemir Karabükspor Kardemir Demir Çelik Karabükspor or simply known as Kardemir Karabükspor or Karabükspor is a Turkish sports club based in Karabük. The team was founded in 1969 after a merger between "Karabük Gençlikspor" and "Demir Çelik Spor". The club ...

. He did not score until his eighth match, in which he contributed two goals to a 3–2 Champions League win at

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

on 19 October 2016 that was his club's first win in the competition since November 2009. Four days later he scored his first league goal, also assisting

Talisca Anderson Souza Conceição (born 1 February 1994), known as Anderson Talisca or simply Talisca, is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder and Forward (assoc ...

in a 3–0 victory over

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

Vodafone Park Vodafone Park is an all-seater An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Nethe ...

. In March 2017, he scored in each leg of a 5–2 aggregate win over Olympiakos in the last 16 of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

, although he was sent off in the second game for fighting with Panagiotis Retsos. He finished the season scoring 12 goals in 27 league appearances, as the Black Eagles retained their league title.

Return to Porto

After returning to Portugal, Aboubakar was part of a three-pronged attack made of African players, alongside the Malian

Moussa Marega Moussa Marega (born 14 April 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a second striker for Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal. Born in France, he represents the Mali national team. He began his career in France, playing no higher ...

and Algeria's

Yacine Brahimi Yacine Nasreddine Brahimi (born 8 February 1990) is a professional footballer who plays for and captains the Qatari club Al-Gharafa and the Algeria national team. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is described as "technical ...

. He scored his first hat-trick for the Dragons on 20 August 2017 in a 3–0 home win over

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

. On 13 September, as the Champions League campaign began with a 3–1 home loss to Beşiktaş, he celebrated with his former teammates in their changing room. He scored five times in the group as Porto advanced, including two-goal hauls in both wins over French champions

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

. On 10 December, he scored another hat-trick in a 5–0 win at Vitória F.C. that put Porto back on top of the table. In September 2018, Aboubakar suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury against C.D. Tondela. He underwent surgery, causing a long-term absence. On 4 May 2019, he made his comeback as a late substitute for Marega in a 4–0 home win over

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

. On 18 August 2019, Aboubakar played the full 90 minutes of

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

's 1–1 home draw with Varzim S.C. in LigaPro.

Return to Beşiktaş

After terminating his contract with Porto, Aboubakar returned to Istanbul to meet with Beşiktaş on 25 September 2020. The following day, he signed a contract until 31 May 2021. In his one season back in Istanbul, he was the fifth-highest goalscorer with 15 goals as his team won the league. This included two on 29 November in a 4–3 win at city rivals Fenerbahçe.

Al Nassr

On 8 June 2021, Aboubakar signed with

club

on a three-year deal. His salary was set at €6 million per year.

International career

On 18 August 2009, Aboubakar was called up to the

Cameroon national under-20 football team The Cameroon national under-20 football team, more commonly known as The Indomitable Lions, represents Cameroon in international youth association football, football competitions. The Stade Omnisports (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo) in Yaounde is used for ...

for the Francophone Games in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. In May 2010, aged 18, he was named to the

23-man squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. Aboubakar was the only player in the squad who was based in Cameroon. He made his debut in the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

on 29 May 2010 against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. On 11 August 2010, Aboubakar scored his first goal for the national team, in a friendly against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He was called up for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, and subsequently for the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

. In the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

, Aboubakar scored an 88th-minute goal in the final to hand Cameroon a comeback 2–1 victory against

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 ...

to end his nation's 15-year wait for a continental crown. Later that year, he was part of the Cameroon squad at the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...

in Russia. He scored a consolation goal in their 3–1 loss to world champions Germany in Sochi on 25 June. Aboubakar was a noted absence from Cameroon's

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...

squad, with manager

Clarence Seedorf Clarence Clyde Seedorf (; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is regarded by many to be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Seedorf is considered one of the most successful players in UE ...

doubting his fitness after his recent return from long-term injury. Aboubakar returned to the national team for the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

, hosted by his country at the start of the following year. He scored five group stage goals against

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and Cape Verde, followed by a sixth in a 2–1 win over Comoros in the last 16. In the third-place match against

, he scored twice in a 3–3 draw, which was eventually won on penalties. With 8 goals in 7 games, he was the top scorer and made the Team of the Tournament. In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he scored a goal and provided an assist in a 3–3 draw against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. His goal was described as an "outrageous scoop" by

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 ...

. He scored the winning goal against Brazil in the third match, after which he drew his second yellow card for taking off his shirt and was therefore sent off.

Style of play

In November 2017, Goal.com's Solace Chukwu wrote that Aboubakar had much in common with his Porto strike partner

in that both are physically imposing but have insufficient technical ability. He added that

's skill set made up for this deficit and was a factor in the team's success.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Cameroon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aboubakar goal.''

Honours

Coton Sport * Cameroon Premiere Division: 2009–10 Beşiktaş *

: 2016–17,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

Porto * Primeira Liga: 2017–18, 2019–20 *

: 2019–20 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Cameroon * Africa Cup of Nations:

Individual *Africa Cup of Nations Golden Boot:

*Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aboubakar, Vincent 1992 births Living people People from Garoua Cameroonian footballers Association football forwards Cameroon international footballers Cameroon youth international footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Coton Sport FC de Garoua players Valenciennes FC players FC Lorient players FC Porto players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers FC Porto B players Al Nassr FC players Ligue 1 players Primeira Liga players Süper Lig players Liga Portugal 2 players Saudi Professional League players Cameroonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia