François Omam-Biyik (born 21 May 1966) is a Cameroonian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who works as assistant manager of

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. A forward, he was one of the most important players of the Cameroon national team in the nineties, playing at the three World Cups in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. He played 73 international matches in total.

Early life

Omam-Biyik started out as a goalkeeper, and later a defender, before converting into a striker at the age of 16.

Club career

Omam-Biyik had success with different French clubs before moving to

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 ...

in the summer of 1992. He only played one match, and was transferred to

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

in October 1992. After a few years he continued his career in Mexico with

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

and Puebla F.C., with short stops in European clubs towards the late nineties. Omam-Biyik retired after the 1999–2000 season. In 1987 and 1991 he finished third in a run for an

African Footballer of the Year The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African association football, footballer each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992. Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Touré have won the award the ...

award. In 2003, he played in the Adecmac amateur soccer league in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

with Club Deportivo Sahara, where he scored 10 goals in the season.

International career

Omam-Biyik's greatest moment came when he scored the downward header that gave Cameroon a historic 1–0 win over defending world champions

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

in the opening match of the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. He and his brother André helped Cameroon to the quarter-finals. He also scored against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the first round of the 1994 World Cup. He was called up to 1998 World Cup, which was his third. Omam-Biyik scored a total of 26 goals in 73 appearances. He is Cameroon's record World Cup player, with 11 matches in three tournaments.

Style of play

Omam-Biyik's aerial ability led to the term "Omam-Biyik" being used as a nickname for a headed goal. While he took part in high jumping at school, he says he was "born" with his heading ability.

Managerial career

Following his retirement Omam-Biyik moved to

Colima Colima, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima, is among the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima. Colima is a small state of western Mexico on the cen ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where he was the head coach of the city's Second Division professional soccer team. Omam-Biyik was appointed assistant coach of the Indomitable Lions (Cameroon football team) for a two-year tenure, with Spaniard

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

as head coach. Omam-Biyik became the head coach of Togolese side Gomido FC in May 2013. He pledged to help rebuild the first team but worked with the club for just two months. On 20 July 2013, Omam-Biyik was signed to coach Gabonese champions Union Sportive de Bitam, replacing his compatriot Thomas Libiih. At the end of September 2019, Omam-Biyik was appointed assistant manager under newly hired manager Toni Conceição for

Personal life

He is the father of Emilio Omam-Biyik and cousin of Francis Eliezer Omam, both of whom are footballers. François' older brother, André, and André's son, Jean-Armel, are also footballers.

Honours

Lens *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 1994 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 ...

: 1988

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Omam-Biyik, Francois 1966 births Living people Men's association football forwards Cameroonian men's footballers Stade Lavallois players Stade Rennais FC players AS Cannes players Olympique de Marseille players RC Lens players LB Châteauroux players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Serie A players UC Sampdoria players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico French men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France Club América footballers Atlante F.C. footballers Club Puebla players Liga MX players Cameroon men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players 1988 African Cup of Nations players 1990 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players Cameroonian emigrants to France Canon Yaoundé players 20th-century French sportsmen