Bassey William Andem (born 14 June 1968) 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

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 most of his career career in Portuguese-speaking countries, mainly at the service of Boavista. Andem won 31

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for the Cameroon national team in nine years, being part of the squad at the 1998 World Cup.

Club career

Andem 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 his professional career with his hometown club

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 ...

(which included a loan spell at

Olympic Mvolyé Olympic Mvolyé, also known as Olympique Mvolyé, is a Cameroonian association football, football club based in Mvolyé. Olympic enjoyed some success in the 1990s as they won the Cameroonian Cup twice in 1992 and 1994 and then went on to compe ...

) he moved to Brazil, where he represented

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (), known simply as Cruzeiro, is a Brazilian sports club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its association football team. It play ...

and Esporte Clube Bahia. In January 1998, Andem joined Portuguese Primeira Liga side Boavista FC, where he engaged in an interesting battle for first-choice status with future

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

player and

Portugal international The Portugal Open in badminton is an international open held annually in Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Sou ...

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

. However, as the ''Chequereds won the 2001 national championship – their only – he appeared in just seven matches. After Ricardo left for Lisbon, Andem was restored as starter, losing the position midway through the 2004–05 campaign to new signing Carlos. He would regain his previous status after the

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n was sold to

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministr ...

, totalling a further 43 league appearances in two seasons. Andem played his last season as a professional in 2007–08, with Segunda Liga team C.D. Feirense, where he was second-fiddle. He retired at the age of 40, later working in directorial capacities at Union Douala.

International career

Barred mainly by

Jacques Songo'o Jacques Celestin Songo'o (born 17 March 1964) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is the current goalkeeper coach of the Cameroon national team. He spent the vast majority of his professional career ...

, Andem featured irregularly 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 ...

over eight years. He was selected as backup for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, also making the squad in three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andem, William 1968 births Living people Cameroonian men's footballers Footballers from Douala Men's association football goalkeepers Union Douala players Olympic Mvolyé players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Bahia players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Boavista F.C. players C.D. Feirense players Cameroon men's international footballers 1990 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal