Cameroon National Team and Schalke 04 Defender

Joël Job Matip born  in Bochum is a German-Cameroonian footballer currently playing for Schalke 04.

Matip began his career with SC Weitmar 45 in 1994, and was eventually scouted by VfL Bochum in 1997. After several years in VfL Bochum's different youth teams, Matip was scouted by Schalke 04 in July 2000. He made his professional debut on 17 October 2009 in the Regionalliga against 1. FC Saarbrücken, before making his Bundesliga debut on 7 November 2009 against Bayern Munich, in which he scored the game-tying goal and was subsequently named the "man of the match".

On 2 March, 2010, Matip signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Schalke 04.

Matip was called up on 23 December 2009 by the Cameroon national football team for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations but he later on declined to take part in the tournament. It is not yet clear if Matip will represent Cameroon in the future as the DFB still hopes that he might represent his country of birth instead. On 6 January 2010 Rainer Adrion announced the annulation of his nomination for the 2010 African Nations Cup. On 2 March 2010 Matip has also opted to play his international football for Cameroon, after meeting up with the national team ahead of Wednesday's friendly against Italy.[12] He made his first national cap in friendly match against Italy on 3 March 2010

Matip was born to a German mother and former Cameroonian footballer Jean Matip. He is the brother of the German football player Marvin Matip[16] and is a cousin of Joseph-Désiré Job. Matip will receive his Abitur in 2010 from the Gesamtschule Berger Feld in Gelsenkirchen.

Source; wikipedia