Olympic Mvolyé, also known as Olympique Mvolyé, is a

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 ...

ian

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 ...

club based in Mvolyé.

Overview

Olympic enjoyed some success in the 1990s as they won the

Cameroonian Cup The Cameroon Cup or ''Coupe Du Cameroon'' in French is the national football competition in Cameroon, on a knock-out-basis. Cup finals Before independence * 1941 : Caïman de Douala 6-0 Mikado ASTP * 1942 : Caïman de Douala 3-1 Léopards ...

twice in 1992 and 1994 and then went on to compete in

Elite One The Championnat du Cameroun de football (also known as MTN Elite One since 2007 for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of professional association football league system in Cameroon, governed by the Cameroonian Football Federation sin ...

, the country's top level, from 1997 to 2001. They also reached the second round of the

African Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and w ...

on two occasions in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, where they were knocked out by

El-Kanemi Warriors El-Kanemi Warriors Football Club is a football team based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Their play ground is the El-Kanemi Stadium, Maiduguri. The club is on a positive rebound having gained promotion to the 2024–25 Nigeria Premier Footb ...

in 1993 and Hearts of Oak in 1995. In the 1990s a number of

Cameroon national football team The Cameroon national football team (French language, French: ''Équipe du Cameroun de football''), also known as the Indomitable Lions (French: ''les lions indomptables''), represents Cameroon in men's international Association football, footb ...

regulars played for the club, including

Stephen Tataw Stephen Tataw Eta (31 March 196331 July 2020) was a Cameroonian football right-back who played club football in his home country and Japan. He captained the Cameroon national team at the 1990 and 1994 editions of the FIFA World Cup. He was the ...

, Hans Agbo,

Bertin Ebwellé Bertin Ebwellé Ndingué (born 11 September 1962) is a retired professional footballer who represented Cameroon at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He also took part in 1992 African Nations Cup. He played club football with Tonnerre Yaoundé, Persisam ...

, Benjamin Massing, Tobie Mimboe, Victor Ndip and Alphonse Yombi. In ''

Football Against the Enemy ''Football Against the Enemy'' is a book by Simon Kuper. It won the 1994 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. Subscription required. In the United States, it was released as ''Soccer Against the Enemy.'' In fiction In Ted Lasso ''Ted L ...

'',

Simon Kuper Simon Kuper is a British, and naturalized French, author and journalist, best known for his work at the Financial Times and as a football writer. Born in Uganda to South African parents, Kuper spent most of his childhood in the Netherlands and ...

described Olympique Mvolyé as: "the richest and most bizarre club in Cameroon". Founded three years before their 1992

final appearance, they were conceived as a homage to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

by Damas Omgba, an arms dealing henchman of

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo, 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has been serving as the second president of Cameroon since 1982. He was previously the fifth Prime Minister of Cameroon, prime minister under Pre ...

. The club became unpopular by paying relatively high wages to sign players from traditionally bigger clubs 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 ...

. Club captain Stephen Tataw was dragged from his car and beaten up by four armed men days before the 1992

final against

Diamant Yaoundé Diamant de Yaoundé is a Cameroonian football club based in Yaoundé. In 1966 the team has won the Cameroon Première Division. Achievements * Cameroon Première Division **Champion (1): 1966 *Cameroon Cup The Cameroon Cup or ''Coupe Du Cameroon ...

. He rebounded to play well in the match, winning the penalty kick from which teammate

struck the only goal.

References

Football clubs in Cameroon 1989 establishments in Cameroon {{Cameroon-footyclub-stub