Ngassam Nana Falemi (born 5 May 1974) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n-born Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Nana Falemi was born on 5 May 1974 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1981, aged 7 at local club, Steaua, being coached by Lajos Sătmăreanu. In 1992 he went at Voința, one year later starting his senior career at Divizia C team, Viscofil, then in 1995 he went at Chimia in the same league. Afterwards he signed with Petrolul Ploiești where he made his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 11 November 1997 in a 1–0 away victory against Steaua. He played regularly for ''The Yellow Wolves'', most notably under the guidance of coach Marin Ion, attracting the interest of Steaua who decided to transfer him in the middle of the 1999–2000 season. Falemi helped Steaua win the 2000–01 title, playing 25 games and scoring three goals, being coached by one of his childhood idols, Victor Pițurcă. Afterwards he started to play in European competitions, making four appearances in the 2001–02 Champions League qualifying rounds, helping the team get past Sloga Jugomagnat against whom he scored a goal but got eliminated in the following round by Dynamo Kyiv. In the following season he played in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup, Steaua eliminating in the first two rounds Neman Grodno and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, then obtaining a 1–1 in the first leg of the following round with

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 ...

, losing the away leg with 1–0, thus the campaign ending. In his last season with ''The Military Men'' he played four matches in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, including a 2–0 victory in the group stage with

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

and also made five league appearances, leaving in the middle of the season at Ergotelis, Steaua managing to win the title without him. Falemi made his Alpha Ethniki debut for Ergotelis on 12 February 2005 when coach Manolis Patemtzis sent him in the 66th minute in order to replace Stavros Labrakis in a 1–1 with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

in which he received a yellow card. He stayed until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with ''The Yellow-Blacks'', returning afterwards in Romania at Vaslui. In 2006, Volyn Lutsk paid 10.000€ for his transfer from Vaslui, making his Vyshcha Liha debut on 2 April as coach Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi used him all the minutes in a 2–0 away loss in front of Chornomorets Odesa. He left Volyn at the end of the

, going at China League One side Jiangsu Shuntian for a short while, then returning in Romania at second league team, Dunărea Giurgiu. For the last season of his career he played for Gaz Metan Mediaș where he was wanted by coach Cristian Pustai, making his last appearance in the Romanian first league on 23 November 2008 in a 1–0 away loss in front of Farul Constanța, having a total of 168 matches with eight goals scored in the competition.

International career

Falemi played five games at international level for

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 ...

, making his debut under coach Winfried Schäfer on 27 March 2003 when he came as a substitute and replaced Bill Tchato in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 victory against

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. His following two appearances were a 0–0 with

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in the group stage and a 1–0 victory against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in the semifinals of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup where Cameroon reached the final, but lost it with 1–0 in front of

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 ...

as Falemi did not play in it. His last two games for the national team were friendlies, a 0–0 with

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and a 3–0 loss in front of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, he was also part of Cameroon's squad at the 2004 African Cup of Nations but did not play in any game.

Personal life

Falemi was born in Romania to a Cameroonian father and a Romanian mother. He has a twin brother named Nomi. In 2018 he opened his own football school named "Nana Juniors".

Honours

Steaua București *

: 2000–01, 2004–05 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Cameroon *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

runner-up:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falemi, Nana Living people 1974 births Men's association football midfielders Romanian men's footballers Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroon men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Bucharest N'Gassam, Nana Falemi FC Petrolul Ploiești players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players FC Vaslui players FC Volyn Lutsk players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in China Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in China Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Ergotelis F.C. players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2004 African Cup of Nations players Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players Ukrainian Premier League players China League One players Jiangsu F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Romanian people of Cameroonian descent Cameroonian people of Romanian descent