Didier Lamkel Zé (born 17 September 1996) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club Qingdao Hainiu.

Club career

Chamois Niortais

After joining the

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

youth academy from Cameroonian club L'École de Football Brasseries du Cameroun (EFBC), Lamkel Zé progressed through its youth teams. In the summer of 2016, he moved to

Chamois Niortais Chamois Niortais Football Club (; often referred to as ''Les Chamois'', Chamois Niortais, or simply Niort) are a French association football club based in the commune of Niort, in the Deux-Sèvres department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwest ...

and ended up in the first team. Lamkel Zé made his

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

debut on 29 July 2016 in the 0–0 draw with

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Romain Grange Romain Grange (born 21 July 1988) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger. Career Born in Châteauroux, Grange started his career with hometown team LB Châteauroux in 2008, making his debut as a substitute for Rudy Haddad in ...

late in the match. He scored his first senior goal the following week, the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with

Stade Lavallois Stade Lavallois Mayenne Football Club (), also referred to as Stade Lavallois or simply Laval,Stade Laval, used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a Football in France, F ...

Royal Antwerp

On 24 July 2018, Lamkel Zé joined

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

side

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

on a four-year deal with the option of a fifth year. In December 2020, Lamkel Zé was linked to a move to

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

club Panathinaikos to play under former Antwerp manager

László Bölöni Ladislau "Loți" Iosif Bölöni (; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. After starting out at ASA Târgu Mureș (1962), ASA Târgu Mureș, Böl� ...

. To push for the move, Lamkel Zé showed up to training in early January 2021 wearing a shirt of Antwerp's rival,

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. On 6 January 2021, following a public outrage, Lamkel Zé apologized and issued a public statement re-committing to Antwerp.

Loan to Dunajská Streda

On 6 September 2021, Lamkel Zé signed a one-year loan with Fortuna Liga club

Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda (; ; ) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a population of 22,730, with ethnic Hungarians forming the 72% maj ...

Loan to Khimki

On 7 February 2022, Lamkel Zé joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

on loan. The loan was terminated early due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Loan to Metz

According to the special rules introduced by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

due to the war, foreign players with Russian clubs were allowed to sign a short-term contract with non-Russian clubs outside of the transfer window. On 1 April 2022, Lamkel Zé moved to

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

on loan under those conditions.

Kortrijk

On 23 August 2022, Lamkel Zé signed a three-year contract with

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

Hatayspor

On 8 August 2023 he signed a 2-year contract with

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Hatayspor Hatayspor Kulübü, known as Atakaş Hatayspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in Antakya, Hatay Province. Hatayspor, founded in 1967 through a merger of three local clubs, aimed to promote sports and po ...

Sint-Truiden

On 8 January 2025, Lamkel Zé signed with

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

in Belgium.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Antwerp *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamkel Ze, Didier 1996 births People from Bertoua Sportspeople from East Region (Cameroon) Living people Men's association football midfielders Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroon men's international footballers Lille OSC players Chamois Niortais FC players Royal Antwerp F.C. players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players FC Khimki players FC Metz players K.V. Kortrijk players Wydad AC players Hatayspor footballers Sakaryaspor footballers Fatih Karagümrük S.K. footballers Sint-Truidense V.V. players Qingdao Hainiu F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Belgian Pro League players Slovak First Football League players Russian Premier League players Botola players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Chinese Super League players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Morocco Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey