 Nguémo playing forCeltic in 2009 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joël Landry Tsafack Nguémo | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1985-11-28)28 November 1985 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Yaoundé, Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 27 June 2024(2024-06-27) (aged 38) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Obala,Centre Region, Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Defensive midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2005 | Nancy | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2011 | Nancy | 127 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | →Celtic (loan) | 35 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2014 | Bordeaux | 67 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Saint-Étienne | 14 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2017 | Akhisar Belediyespor | 21 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Kayserispor | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Kongsvinger IL | 21 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 294 | (9) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2014 | Cameroon | 42 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | COS Villers-les-Nancy U18 (youth) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2024 | Nancy (youth) | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Joël Landry Tsafack Nguémo (28 November 1985 – 27 June 2024) was a Cameroonian professionalfootballer who played as adefensive midfielder forNancy,Bordeaux andSaint-Étienne in France and for Scottish clubCeltic on loan. Nguémo played for theCameroon national team from 2006 until 2014, including at the2010 and2014 World Cups. From 2020 until his death in 2024, he coached youth football teams, one of which was Nancy.
Nguémo was a native ofDschang,[citation needed] a town in western Cameroon, he played for various local teams in Dschang before moving to Yaounde aged 13.[citation needed]
He spent a short time in EMC.[clarification needed][citation needed]
Nguémo was spotted by scouts ofNancy inYaoundé[citation needed] and was promptly invited to France where he had trials before signing for the club aged 15.[citation needed] He made his debut aged 19 in August 2005 as a substitute againstLyon in a league match.[citation needed] He made his first start one month later againstTroyes.[citation needed]
In January 2009, Nguémo said he would welcome a move away from the club after being linked by French and English media with moves toArsenal,Sunderland andEverton.[1]
On 31 January 2009, Nguémo scored his first goal for Nancy, a dramatic 90th-minute winner in a match againstLe Havre.[citation needed] His second goal for the club also came in dramatic circumstances when he again netted in the 90th minute on 23 May 2009 againstMarseille but Nancy were beaten 2–1.[citation needed]
After days of speculation, on 16 July 2009, Nguémo completed a one-year loan move toCeltic with an option to make it permanent.[citation needed] He wore the number 6 shirt the squad number previously allotted toBobo Baldé.[2] Nguémo's debut came in the 0–0 draw againstCardiff City where he was picked as Celtic's man of the match.[3]He made his competitive debut in the first leg of aChampions League qualifying tie againstDynamo Moscow in Glasgow, losing 1–0.[4] He was also part of the team that won 2–0 in the return leg in Moscow,[5] sending Celtic through to play Arsenal in the final qualifier for the Champions League. He made his league debut away toAberdeen in a 3–1 win for Celtic.[6]
In total Nguémo made 35 appearances for Celtic without scoring.[7] At the end of his loan period the two clubs were unable to agree a transfer fee for Nguémo and so he returned to AS Nancy.[8]
On 4 July 2011, Nguémo moved from Nancy toLigue 1 rivalsBordeaux, signing a three-year contract.[9] He played in 33 of Bordeaux's 38 league fixtures in his first season there, helping the club to fifth place and qualification for the following season'sEuropa League.[10] On 3 October 2013 in a Europa League tie againstMaccabi Tel Aviv, Nguémo suffered what was initially suspected to be a minor heart attack. He was substituted and taken to hospital where he underwent extensive tests, with nothing untoward found.[11] Nguémo stated on his Twitter account afterwards that "There is nothing serious. I went back home from hospital after an electrocardiogram"[12] and he returned to first team action just over two weeks later in a Ligue 1 match againstLyon.[13]
In January 2015, Nguémo signed a six-month contract withSaint-Étienne.[14]
On 29 August 2015, Nguémo signed with TurkishSüper Lig clubAkhisar Belediyespor on a three-year contract after being released from Saint-Étienne at the end of the 2014–15 season.[15]
Nguémo joined another Turkish club,Kayserispor, in January 2017, signing a contract until 2019.[16]
After a spell at Norwegian sideKongsvinger in 2019, Nguémo retired from football.[17]
Nguémo made 42 appearances for theCameroon national team, scoring three goals and being part of the squad that finished runners-up at the2008 Africa Cup of Nations.[18]
In May 2020, Nguémo was named U18 manager of French club COS Villers-les-Nancy.[17] In June 2021, Nguémo was hired as a youth coach at his former club,AS Nancy.[19]
Nguémo was a keenfalconer and kept a modest collection ofbird of prey, with his favourite, awhite-tailed eagle named Mr George afterGeorge Weah.[20]
He obtainedFrench citizenship bynaturalization in December 2007.[21]
Nguémo died in a traffic collision near the town ofObala in the night between 26 and 27 June 2024. He was 38.[18][22]
Nancy
Cameroon
Cameroon squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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