Pierre Nlend Womé (born 26 March 1979) is a Cameroonian former 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 played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. A

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

, he played for 14 clubs in six countries. At international level, he made 68 FIFA-official appearances scoring 1 goal for the Cameroon national team.

Club career

After spending his youth career at Fogape Yaoundé and the relatively eminent regional side

Canon Yaoundé Canon Sportif de Yaoundé, commonly known as Canon Yaoundé, is a Cameroonian professional football club based in the capital city of Yaoundé. The club was formed in 1930 and play their games at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo. Their most successful perio ...

, Womé moved to Italy from Cameroon in the summer of 1996 to start his professional career. He began his senior career at

Vicenza Calcio L.R. Vicenza S.p.A. (acronym for ''Lanerossi Vicenza''), better known as Vicenza or Lanerossi, is an Italian football club based in the city of Vicenza. It plays in Serie C, the third division of the Italian football league. Founded on 9 March ...

and spent almost seven years playing in Italy until moving to English

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 ...

side

Fulham FC Fulham Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football. They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spen ...

in August 2002. He was sold to

Bologna F.C. 1909 Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna (), is an Italian association football, professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Football in Italy, Italian football. The clu ...

in a co-ownership deal for 6 billion lire in 1999, until Roma acquired him for 2 billion lire in the same summer that

Francesco Antonioli Francesco Stefano Antonioli (born 14 September 1969) is an Italian former footballer who played as goalkeeper. He was the oldest footballer in Serie A until his club Cesena were relegated to Serie B at the end of the 2011–12 season, after wh ...

Amedeo Mangone Amedeo Mangone (born 12 July 1968) is an Italian football coach and former player, who played as a defender. Playing career Mangone was born in Milan. A product of A.C. Milan's youth system, he was transferred in 1987 to Pergocrema of Serie C ...

and Alessandro Rinaldi joined Roma for 10 billion lire, 13 billion lire and 6 billion lire respectively. In June 2000 Bologna acquired Womé outright for a fee of 1 million lire. During his time in England at Fulham, Womé scored once in the league, in a 3–0 win over West Brom in February 2003. After playing for some notable clubs, including

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

and

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

, Womé joined

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

in the summer of 2008 and left the team on 30 June 2010. In late February 2012, it was announced that Womé would join

Coton Sport FC de Garoua 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 chair ...

in his homeland. From 2012 to 2014, Womé played for

, also of the

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 ...

. In January 2014, he moved to Canon Yaoundé's league rivals

UMS de Loum Union des Mouvements Sportifs de Loum (known simply as UMS de Loum) is a Cameroonian professional football club based in Loum. They are a member of the Cameroonian Football Federation and Elite One, the topflight football league of Cameroon. Curr ...

. After not having made an appearance under two coaches, he decided to leave the city and return to

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 ...

. The club's president, Pierre Kwemo, threatened to take Womé to court for "fraud and breach of trust". In March, two months after joining the club, he agreed the termination of his contract. In March 2014, shortly after his release by UMS de Loum, he joined Renaissance de Ngoumou. In September 2014, Womé signed with

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

side

FC Chambly Football Club Chambly Oise, commonly known as Chambly, is a French professional football club based in Chambly in the Hauts-de-France region. Their home stadium is the Stade Walter-Luzi in the town, and they compete in the Championnat National ...

. In 2015, he joined French fourth-tier side US Roye-Noyon.

International career

Womé was a regular starter in the left back position for Cameroon during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was a key member of the squads that won consecutive

African 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 ...

titles in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medal in 2000. All three tournaments were won on penalty shoot-outs, and Womé was a taker in all three victories. In the Olympic gold medal match, Womé scored the fifth and decisive penalty to win the title for his country. He also scored from the spot in the 2000 African Cup of Nations final, but his penalty in the following tournament was saved by

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Tony Sylva Tony Mario Sylva (born 17 May 1975) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent the vast majority of his 16-year professional career in France, playing in 157 Ligue 1 games during eight seasons and repre ...

. Womé also played as Cameroon's first-choice left back in the

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 ...

and

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

s. On 8 October 2005, Womé missed a 95th-minute

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

during

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 ...

's final

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

that would have sent the ''Indomitable Lions'' to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

; unfortunately for Womé he cannoned the shot off the outside of the post, the match ended 1–1 and the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

qualified at their expense. Womé later claimed that some Cameroon fans wanted to kill him as a result of the miss. On 19 March 2007, Womé announced his retirement from international football. He later returned to the team in 2009 for a

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

match against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Post-playing career

In March 2017, Womé was appointed sporting director of

by the club's president Emmannuel Mve.

Honours

Werder Bremen *

DFL-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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 ...

: 2000, 2002 *

Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wome, Pierre 1979 births Living people Footballers from Douala Men's association football fullbacks Cameroonian men's footballers Canon Yaoundé players LR Vicenza players Lucchese 1905 players AS Roma players Bologna FC 1909 players Serie A players Serie B players Fulham F.C. players RCD Espanyol footballers Brescia Calcio players Inter Milan players SV Werder Bremen players 1. FC Köln players UMS de Loum players Renaissance FC de Ngoumou players US Roye-Noyon players FC Chambly Oise players Premier League players La Liga players Bundesliga players Olympic footballers for Cameroon Olympic gold medalists for Cameroon Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cameroon men's under-20 international footballers Cameroon men's international footballers 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Gabon Expatriate men's footballers in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in England Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Gabon Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France