Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Jacques Celestin Songo'o | ||
Date of birth | 17 March 1964 | ||
Place of birth | Sackbayene, Cameroon | ||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
Youth career | |||
Canon Yaoundé | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1984–1989 | Canon Yaoundé | ||
1989–1993 | Toulon | 22 | (0) |
1992–1993 | → Le Mans (loan) | 22 | (0) |
1993–1996 | Metz | 101 | (0) |
1996–2001 | Deportivo La Coruña | 150 | (0) |
2001–2003 | Metz | 26 | (0) |
2003–2004 | Deportivo La Coruña | 1 | (0) |
Total | 322 | (0) | |
National team | |||
1984–2002 | Cameroon | 98 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Jacques Celestin Songo'o (born 17 March 1964) is a Cameroonian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He spent the vast majority of his professional career in France and Spain – Deportivo de La Coruña, appearing in more than 200 official games over the course of six seasons and winning the 2000 national championship – also representing the Cameroon national team in four World Cups.
Songo'o was born in Sackbayene. After first establishing himself as a professional in France, with Ligue 1 club FC Metz, he was voted Best African Goalkeeper in 1996, then arguably lived his most successful period at Spain's Deportivo de La Coruña.
With the Galicians, Songo'o won the 1996–97 edition of the Ricardo Zamora Trophy (awarded to the best goalkeeper of the season), and was he side's undisputed starter in his first four years, which ended with a first-ever title in La Liga. When Depor bought José Francisco Molina in 2000, he soon lost his place and was eventually transferred to old team Metz; on 13 February of that year, from a corner kick, he was supposed to have scored his first career goal, but it was wrongfully disallowed in an eventual 0–1 away loss against CD Numancia.
After two seasons, Songo'o returned to Deportivo and A Coruña, again in a free transfer. He settled there after having retired from football, aged 40.