Kameni playing for Cameroon in 2009
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Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Full name | Idriss Carlos Kameni | |||||||||||
Date of birth | 18 February 1984 | |||||||||||
Place of birth | Douala, Cameroon | |||||||||||
Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||
Playing position | Goalkeeper | |||||||||||
Club information | ||||||||||||
Current team
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Málaga | |||||||||||
Number | 1 | |||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||
1995–2000 | Kadji Sports | |||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||
2000–2004 | Le Havre | 2 | (0) | |||||||||
2002–2003 | → Saint-Étienne (loan) | 0 | (0) | |||||||||
2004–2012 | Espanyol | 222 | (0) | |||||||||
2012– | Málaga | 98 | (0) | |||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||
1999 | Cameroon U20 | 3 | (0) | |||||||||
2000 | Cameroon U23 | 3 | (0) | |||||||||
2001– | Cameroon | 71 | (0) | |||||||||
Honours
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 February 2017. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 00:00, 18 November 2015 (UTC) |
Idriss Carlos Kameni (born 18 February 1984) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Málaga CF as a goalkeeper.
He spent the vast majority of his career in Spain, mainly with Espanyol, with which he appeared in 229 official games over the course of eight La Liga seasons.
A Cameroonian international before he was 20, Kameni represented the country in two World Cups and five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Born in Douala, Kameni was first spotted when, aged 16, he became the youngest footballer to win an Olympic gold medal, in 2000. This earned him a transfer to French club Le Havre AC but he was unable to break into the first team, and remained a reserve throughout his four-year stay, also being loaned to AS Saint-Étienne and also failing to gain any playing time there; in 2001 he was linked with a move to Juventus FC, but nothing came of it.
Kameni almost moved to Premier League's Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season-long loan for 2003–04, but the deal collapsed after he was not granted a United Kingdom work permit.
20-year-old Kameni left for Spanish side RCD Espanyol in July 2004, for US$600,000, and became first-choice in his second year, winning the Copa del Rey as backup to Gorka Iraizoz, who started in La Liga. In 2006–07, the opposite: Kameni was the undisputed starter, and Iraizoz was picked for the Catalans' UEFA Cup runner-up campaign; early in 2006, the club suspended two fans for racist abuse towards the player.