Serge Charles N'Gal (born 13 January 1986) 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 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

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Nkongsamba Nkongsamba is a city in western Cameroon. It is in the Moungo department, which is in the Littoral. As of the 2005 Census, the city had a population of 104,050. It is a centre for the farming of palm oil, bananas and coffee, and is between two ...

, N'Gal started his professional career in Spain with

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

at the age of 17, but could not find a place in the first team. In 2004, he moved to

FC Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional association football, football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finni ...

in the Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

, as he had visited the country before when representing

in the

2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship, was the tenth edition of FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Championship. It was held in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku in Finland from 13 to 30 August 2003. Players born after 1 January 19 ...

. His first season was not a success due to an injury, as he played only six games and scored two goals. In his second year, N'Gal was among the top players in the league, and his impressive performances attracted interest from bigger

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an clubs. Midway through the 2005–06 campaign, he signed with French second level side

Stade Brestois 29 Stade Brestois 29, commonly known as Stade Brestois or simply Brest,''Stade Brest'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a French professional football club based in ...

but, after an unsuccessful stint, joined Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pe ...

. In May 2008, N'Gal stated that

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

and

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

had shown interest in him. In August, after Leiria's relegation, he moved back to Spain and signed a two-year contract with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

, in division two. After a poor second season with the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

– 19 matches, no goals– N'Gal returned to União de Leiria. On 15 January 2012, he signed an 18-month contract with

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (), known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat National 1, is the Algerian professional league for association football clubs. It is the co ...

club

USM Alger Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger (); known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is a Association football, football club based in the inner suburbs of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its colours are red and black. Their home sta ...

, being released four months later.

International career

N'Gal represented

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, appearing in four games in an eventual quarter-final exit.

References

External links

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Football-Lineups profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:N'gal, Serge 1986 births Living people Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Villarreal CF B players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers La Roda CF players Veikkausliiga players FC Inter Turku players Ligue 2 players Stade Brestois 29 players Primeira Liga players U.D. Leiria players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players USM Alger players Olympic footballers for Cameroon Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria People from Nkongsamba Sportspeople from Littoral Region (Cameroon)