 Foé playing forCameroon in 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Marc-Vivien Foé | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1975-05-01)1 May 1975 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Yaoundé, Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 26 June 2003(2003-06-26) (aged 28) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Lyon, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Union de Garoua | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Fogape Yaoundé | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994 | Canon Yaoundé | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1999 | Lens | 85 | (11) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | West Ham United | 38 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2003 | Lyon | 43 | (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | →Manchester City (loan) | 35 | (9) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 201 | (24) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Cameroon U20 | 3 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993–2003 | Cameroon | 62 | (8) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Marc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a Cameroonian professionalfootballer, who played as adefensive midfielder.
Having initially played forCanon Yaoundé, Foé went on to play professionally inLigue 1 and thePremier League withLens,West Ham United,Lyon andManchester City. On 26 June 2003, Foé died suddenly during an international match forCameroon, an event which shocked the football community worldwide.[1] The death was later ruled to be due tohypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He was capped 62 times by his nation and had scored 8 goals.
He was posthumously decorated with the Commander of the NationalOrder of Valour and had his shirt numbers 23 and 17 retired by Manchester City and Lens, respectively.
Foé was born on 1 May 1975 inYaoundé. He started as a junior withElite Two side Union de Garoua.[2] Moving toCanon Yaoundé, one of the biggest clubs in Cameroon, he won theCameroonian Cup in 1993.[3]
After turning downAuxerre for a trainee position, he signed for another French club,RC Lens ofLigue 1.[4] His debut on 13 August 1994 was a 2–1 win againstMontpellier.[4] In five seasons at Lens, he won the 1998 French league title.
In 1998, he was targeted byManchester United, but Lens turned down a£3 million offer for him.[5] Further negotiations between the clubs were curtailed abruptly after he broke a leg at Cameroon's pre-World Cup training camp,[6] and subsequently missed the whole of the1998 World Cup.
Shortly after his recovery, he moved to EnglishPremier League clubWest Ham United, for a club record fee of £4.2 million in January 1999.[7] He played 38 league matches for West Ham, scoring one goal againstSheffield Wednesday.[8][9] He also scored a goal in West Ham's 3–1 win againstNK Osijek in theUEFA Cup.[10]
In May 2000, he moved back to France, joiningLyon on a £6 million transfer.[11] He missed much of the season after he developed symptoms ofmalaria.[12] After recovery, he won theCoupe de la Ligue in 2001, and theDivision 1 league title a year later.[13]
Foé then returned to the English Premier League, loaned toManchester City in the2002–03 season for £550,000.[14] His debut on the opening day of the season was a 3–0 loss toLeeds United. Foé was a first team regular forKevin Keegan's team, starting 38 of 41 matches. His first goal for the club came againstSunderland at theStadium of Light on 9 December 2002,[15] and he scored five more goals in the next month. His second goal in a 3–0 victory against Sunderland on 21 April 2003 was the club's final goal at their oldMaine Road stadium.[16]
Foé began representing Cameroon atunder-20s when he was called up to the squad of 18 players for the1993 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia, under the management ofJean Manga-Onguéné.[17] He played in all of their three group stage matches, scoring one goal in a 3–2 defeat toColombia in their second match on 8 March 1993, as Cameroon were eventually eliminated from the competition after finishing third.[17] Foé later made his senior debut againstMexico on 22 September 1993 at theMemorial Coliseum, a match which Cameroon lost 1–0.[18][19]
The following year, he was included in theCameroon squad for the1994 World Cup, starting all three of their matches.[20] Team members had been in various financial and disciplinary disputes with the Cameroon Football Association,[21] and the squad was a shadow of the one which had famously reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1990.[22] Cameroon mustered just one point from three matches, and finished with an embarrassing 6–1 defeat toRussia.[23] However, Foé's consistently strong performances as a defensive midfielder (including a goal assist)[24] prompted interest from European clubs.
He was in the Cameroon squad in the2002 World Cup. As in 1994, he played in all of Cameroon's matches. Though the team performed better than in 1994, they were again eliminated at the group stage, having beatenSaudi Arabia, drawn withIreland and lost toGermany.[22][8]
Foé was part of the Cameroon squad for the2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. He played in wins againstBrazil andTurkey and was rested for the match against theUnited States, with Cameroon having already qualified.
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On 26 June 2003, Cameroon facedColombia in the semi-final, held at theStade de Gerland inLyon, France. In the 72nd minute of the match Foé collapsed in the centre circle[25] with no other players near him.[26] After attempts to resuscitate him on the pitch, he was stretchered off the field, where he received mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen. Medics spent 45 minutes attempting to restart his heart and although he was still alive upon arrival at the stadium's medical centre, he died shortly afterwards.[25] A first autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death, but a second autopsy concluded that Foé's death was heart-related as it discovered evidence ofhypertrophic cardiomyopathy,[27] a hereditary condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.
Foé's widow Marie-Louise stated that he had been ill with gastric problems anddysentery before his final match, but he was adamant to play in his adopted hometown of Lyon. Cameroon managerWinfried Schäfer wanted to substitute him minutes before his collapse, observing that the player seemed fatigued, but he signalled that he wanted to continue.[28]
Foé was a practising Roman Catholic and donated money to charity regularly.[29] He held Cameroonian and French nationalities.[30]
Foé's death caused a profound shock. Numerous tributes to his joyous personality and infectious humour were expressed in the media.France national team playerThierry Henry and other French players pointed to the sky in tribute to Foé after Henry had opened the scoring against Turkey in their Confederations Cup semi-final that evening.[31]
It was suggested that theConfederations Cup and the Stade Gerland could have been renamed after him, andManchester City managerKevin Keegan announced that the club would no longer use thenumber 23 shirt Foé wore during his successful season there. At Manchester City's former ground,Maine Road, there is a small memorial to him in the stadium's memorial garden, and on the walls of the players' tunnel are plaques paid for by supporters, with their names, dubbed the Walk of Pride. The first plaque on the wall is for Marc and reads "Marc Vivien Foé – 1975–2003". His first club,Lens, gave his name to an avenue near theStade Félix Bollaert. Foé was given a state funeral in Cameroon.[1]
Similar to Manchester City, Lens decided to withdraw the number 17 shirt that Foé wore for five years.Lyon also decided to withdraw the number 17 shirt that Foé also wore a year before during the time which he played at theStade de Gerland with the Lyon team. People in Lyon were shocked as he had received a warm welcome on his return to the stadium. However, when fellow CameroonianJean II Makoun was transferred to Lyon, Makoun took up the number 17 shirt, explaining that he wore the number: "In memory of Marc, for me and for the whole Cameroon, this will be for something." Cameroon also attempted to retire Foé's number 17 shirt, but were blocked from doing so byFIFA rules.
Prior to the kick-off of the2009 FIFA Confederations Cup final between the United States and Brazil, his son, then fourteen years old, gave a brief speech in memory of his father.
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Lens | 1994–95 | Division 1 | 15 | 3 | 15 | 3 | ||||||
| 1995–96 | 19 | 2 | 19 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1996–97 | 28 | 2 | 28 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1997–98 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 2 | ||||||
| 1998–99 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | ||||||
| Total | 85 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 86 | 11 | ||||||
| West Ham United | 1998–99 | Premier League | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1999–2000 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 32 | 2 | ||
| Total | 38 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 45 | 2 | ||
| Lyon | 2000–01 | Division 1 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 39 | 2 |
| 2001–02 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 2 | ||
| Total | 43 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 65 | 4 | ||
| Manchester City (loan) | 2002–03 | Premier League | 35 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 9 |
| Career total | 201 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 234 | 26 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cameroon | 1993 | 2 | 0 |
| 1994 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 8 | 3 | |
| 2001 | 9 | 2 | |
| 2002 | 14 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 62 | 8 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 December 1995 | Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo,Yaoundé, Cameroon | 10 |  Liberia | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 22 January 2000 | Accra Sports Stadium,Accra, Ghana | 28 |  Ghana | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2000 African Cup of Nations |
| 3 | 6 February 2000 | 31 |  Algeria | 2–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | 19 April 2000 | Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé, Cameroon | 34 |  Somalia | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 5 | 1 July 2001 | 42 |  Togo | 2–0 | 2–0 | ||
| 6 | 14 July 2001 | Independence Stadium,Lusaka, Zambia | 43 |  Zambia | 1–0 | 2–2 | |
| 7 | 7 January 2002 | Stade du 4 Août,Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | 45 |  Burkina Faso | 1–0 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 8 | 7 February 2002 | Stade du 26 Mars,Bamako, Mali | 51 |  Mali | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2002 African Cup of Nations |
Cameroon
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