Ariel Thierry Ngueukam (born 15 November 1988), nicknamed "Tuco", is a Cameroonian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who most recently played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Filipino club

United City United City is a group of businesses based within Greater Manchester, England, who supported proposals for congestion charging in Greater Manchester via the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund bid for £3 billion. The bid was rejec ...

Career

Born in

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

, Ngueukam began playing football as a striker with local sides FC Achille de Sa'a and FC Lotus-Terek. After unsuccessful trials with clubs in Hungary and Bulgaria, he signed with Finnish second division club

JIPPO Jippo (stylised as JIPPO 2001–2024) is a Finnish football club, based in Joensuu. It plays in the Ykkösliiga, the second highest level of Finnish football. Jippo plays its home matches at Mehtimäki, Joensuu. History JIPPO was formed in 200 ...

in 2011, where he scored 13 goals in his first 11 matches. In 2012, he moved to

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish professional football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish second tier Ykkösliiga, after relegating from Veikkausliiga after the 2024 season. The homeground of Lahti is Toolpoint Arena. La ...

in the Finnish first division. Ngueukam scored two goals on his debut for FC Lahti on 31 August 2012. Ngueukam signed for Turkish club

Denizlispor Denizlispor is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. The Denizli Atatürk Stadium, which has a seati ...

in January 2013, but returned FC Lahti, playing with them in the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He moved to SJK for the 2015 season, and

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

for the 2017 season. On 6 November 2017, Ngueukam signed a two-year contract with

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. In January 2018 Ngueukam joined Al-Khor in Qatar, without having played for HJK. On 11 July 2018, Ngueukam signed to the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

club Hapoel Ra'anana. In June 2019 he returned to Finland to sign for

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS ha ...

. In November 2019, it was announced that Tuco would return to SJK for the 2020 season. In the 2021 season he scored 14 goals for SJK in

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

, making him the joint top scorer of the season alongside

Benjamin Källman Paul Benjamin Källman (; born 17 June 1998) is a Finnish professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for club Hannover 96 and the Finland national football team, Finland national team. C ...

. On 17 March 2022, Ngueukam returned to Ilves for the 2022 season, with an option to extend for 2023. Following a season with the club, he joined

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is a Finnish football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''), winning their first title in 2016. The club is managed by Gary Williams, and it plays ...

for the 2023 season. In March 2024 he signed for Filipino club

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Team of the Year:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* Veikkausliiga Top scorer:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

(14 goals) * Veikkausliiga Player of the Month: October 2021Tuco äänestettiin Veikkausliigan kuukauden pelaajaksi
JPY, 12 November 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngueukam, Ariel 1988 births Living people Cameroonian men's footballers 21st-century Cameroonian sportsmen Jippo players FC Lahti players Denizlispor footballers Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players Ilves (football) players Al-Khor SC players Hapoel Ra'anana A.F.C. players Kuopion Palloseura players IFK Mariehamn players United City F.C. players Philippines Football League players Ykkönen players Veikkausliiga players TFF 1. Lig players Qatar Stars League players Israeli Premier League players Men's association football forwards Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in the Philippines Footballers from Yaoundé