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Rigobert Song

Cameroon

Rigobert Song Bahanag is a Cameroonian football central defender.


More by user: avanwyk
Created: 10th Jun 2010
Modified: 10th Jun 2010
Professional Information
Professional Areas:
Soccer
Employer:
Fédération Camerounaise de Football
Position:
Professional footballer
Working primarily in:
Cameroon

Biographical Information
Rigobert Song
(At a Glance)
Date of Birth: Jul/1/1976
Gender: male
Place of Origin: Cameroon

Club career

Prior to joining Trabzonspor in 2008, Song played for Metz, Salernitana, Liverpool , West Ham, Cologne, RC Lens, and Galatasaray. He became an instant fan favorite after his transfer to Galatasaray and formed a strong defensive partnership with Stjepan Tomas at the heart of defence.

During the 2006–07 season, he struggled to find a place in the team after an argument with then Galatasaray manager Eric Gerets during a league game. Although Song apologized for the incident both publicly and privately, Gerets did not take a back step and the player remained punished. With the arrival of new coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, Song once again become a vital member of the squad. But in the following years he lost his enthusiasm to play for Galatasaray and became transferred to Trabzonspor which spent considerable amounts of money in order to build a new team at the beginning of 2008–2009 season.

After a successful start to 2008–2009 season, Song became fan-favorite in Trabzon, played 28 games in Süper Lig without any yellow/red cards or goals. After Ersun Yanal resigned he lost his place in the starting lineup.

However, he became Trabzonspor's new captain in December 1, 2009 after Şenol Güneş taking place as manager.

He is the only ever player to score three overhead kicks in one game for Cameroon against Mali in 1998, Although Steve Riley did manage to match this unique feat on Wallsend Green in the summer of 1995.

International career


Considered a key player for Cameroon for over a decade, Song played in the 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups.

Song is one of only two players to have been sent off in two different World Cups – with the other being Zinedine Zidane. He received a red card against Brazil in at USA 1994 and then again against Chile at France 1998. He also holds the record as youngest player ever to be sent off in a World Cup, aged 17.

In the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, Song became the most capped player in Cameroon history.

Although Song was dropped as captain of the Cameroonian national team, from the World Cup/ African Nations Cup qualifiers by new coach Paul Le Guen, the combative Song was the image that defined the image of the national team.

In 16 years with the national team, he has been to the African Nations cup, a record eight times ( serving as Captain in five competitions excerpt in South Africa 1996, Burkina Faso in 1998 and Angola 2010).

Song holds the record of most consecutive games played in the African Nations Cup- with 35 first team games. He only came in as a substitute during the Cameroon-Tunisia game played on January 21, 2010.

His record as the highest number of games played in the competition stands at 36 games (a total of 3201 minutes). Song won the nations cup twice in Nigeria 2000 and Mali 2002 and losing to Egypt in the finals of Ghana 2008.

If Song is selected for 2010 World Cup squad, then he'll join Lee Woon Jae of Korea Republic as one of only two players to play in 1994 World Cup and the 2010 World Cup.

Source: Wikipedia




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