Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Pascal Olivier Nouma | ||
Date of birth | 6 January 1972 | ||
Place of birth | Epinay-sur-Seine, France | ||
Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Playing position | Midfielder/Striker | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1989–1992 | Paris Saint-Germain | 19 | (0) |
1992–1993 | Lille | 22 | (2) |
1993–1994 | Caen | 32 | (7) |
1994–1996 | Paris Saint-Germain | 51 | (10) |
1996–1998 | Strasbourg | 57 | (22) |
1998–2000 | Lens | 46 | (16) |
2000–2001 | Beşiktaş | 24 | (18) |
2001–2002 | Marseille | 11 | (1) |
2002–2003 | Beşiktaş | 19 | (4) |
2003–2004 | Al Khor | 3 | (0) |
2004–2005 | Livingston | 2 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Pascal Olivier Nouma (born 6 January 1972) is a retired French footballer.
Nouma started his career in the Paris Saint-Germain youth team before moving around other teams in France. He played for Lille and Caen before moving back to PSG for two seasons in 1994. In 1996, he left for Strasbourg, spending two seasons there before he moving to Lens. After two seasons at Lens, he left for Turkish club Beşiktaş, where he achieved phenomenal success and still maintains his popularity among Beşiktaş fans, who composed special songs for him. He played for them for one season before moving to play for Marseille the next year. He returned for a short spell at Beşiktaş the next season, but received a seven-month suspension for celebrating a goal against arch-rivals Fenerbahçe by putting his hands down his shorts, a gesture he described as "a private moment of joy". The Beşiktaş board were forced to cancel his contract as a result. The incident did not diminish his popularity with Beşiktaş fans, who still look back fondly on his lob shot against Dynamo Kiev in the third round of the UEFA Cup in 2003.
Following this incident he played in Qatar and went on trial at clubs in countries like the USA and Scotland.
Nouma is currently working as an actor, and made his film debut in a Turkish movie, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adamın Oğlu (The Son of the Man Who Saved the World).
He is particularly famous for his eccentric behaviour both on and off the pitch. During an interview with Hürriyet he claimed to be a Turk and to feel that Turkey was his home country.