André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (born 16 November 1995), also known as Zambo Anguissa, 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 lea ...

who plays as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

and the Cameroon national team.

Early life

Zambo Anguissa was born on 16 November 1995 in

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

to Louis and Juliette Anguissa. He is one of six children.

Club career

Early career

Zambo Anguissa began his career in

Coton Sport Coton Sport Football Club de Garoua, or simply Coton Sport, is a Cameroonian professional football club based in Garoua. They play their home games at the Stade Omnisport de Garoua, commonly known as the Roumde Adjia Stadium. The club is chaire ...

, a club in his native country. He was loaned to French club

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

in 2014, where he mostly played for their reserves team. Reims was given the opportunity to sign him at the end of the 2014–15 season, but decided against it.

Marseille

After going on trials at Valenciennes and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, Zambo Anguissa joined

on 31 July 2015, when he signed his first professional contract. He made his first team debut on 17 September 2015 in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

against

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

, where he provided an assist in a 3–0 victory for Marseille. Three days later, he made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

debut against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. On 16 May 2018, Zambo Anguissa played in the 2018 UEFA Europa League final, which Marseille lost against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

at the

Parc Olympique Lyonnais Parc Olympique Lyonnais, known for sponsorship reasons as Groupama Stadium, is a 59,186-seat stadium in Décines-Charpieu, in the Metropolis of Lyon. The home of French football club Olympique Lyonnais (OL), it replaced their previous stadium, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Fulham

On 9 August 2018,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

signed Zambo Anguissa on a then-club record transfer fee. He made his debut in a 3–1 defeat against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. He was loaned to

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

in July 2019 following Fulham's relegation from the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. He made his Villarreal debut on 17 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–4 home draw against

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

. On 31 August 2021, Zambo Anguissa signed a new three-year contract with the Championship club before heading out on loan to

for the 2021–22 season.

Napoli

On 26 May 2022, Napoli purchased Zambo Anguissa's rights from Fulham. On 7 September, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 4–1 win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. On 1 October, he scored his first

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

goals, by netting a brace in a 3–1 win over

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. At the end of the season, Zambo Anguissa and Napoli won the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years.

International career

2017: Debut and FIFA Confederations Cup

2017 Confederation Cup - CMRCHI - Zambo Anguissa

Zambo Anguissa made his international debut for the Cameroon national team in a friendly 1–0 win over

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

on 24 March 2017. Zambo Anguissa was included in the Indomitable Lions' squad for the

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

in Russia. He would score his first international goal in Cameroon's 1–1 group stage draw against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where he also won the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award for his performance.

2019–2022: First Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA World Cup

In June 2019, Zambo Anguissa was named to Cameroon's squad for the

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

in Egypt. He would also feature at the 2021 tournament, in which Cameroon were hosts and finished in third place. At the end of the 2022 calendar year, Zambo Anguissa would be called up by new national team manager

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

to Cameroon's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. He played in all three group stage matches as his side failed to progress to the second round.

2023–present: Second Africa Cup of Nations and assuming the captaincy

On 29 December 2023, Zambo Anguissa was included in the 27-man squad for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

Style of play

His style of play is definitely robust, highlighted by a dominant aerial presence and a high duel win rate. However, Anguissa's progressive carrying is notably lower, which suggests he does not frequently advance the ball through dribbling but favours a play style rooted in stability and distribution.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Cameroon's goal tally first.''

Honours

Marseille *

runner-up: 2017–18 Napoli *

2022–23 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 ...

, 2024–25 Cameroon *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

third place:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual *

CAF Team of the Year The CAF Team of the Year is an annual football award given by the Confederation of African Football during the CAF Awards. In 2007, the CAF did not choose the team of the year, but rather the best ten players of the last fifty years. The ten play ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* Serie A Player of the Month: January 2025

References

External links

Profile
at the SSC Napoli website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anguissa, Frank 1995 births Living people Footballers from Yaoundé Cameroonian men's footballers 21st-century Cameroonian sportsmen Cameroon men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Stade de Reims players Olympique de Marseille players Fulham F.C. players Villarreal CF players SSC Napoli players Ligue 1 players Premier League players English Football League players La Liga players Serie A players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in England Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy