Benjamin Moukandjo Bilé (born 12 November 1988) is a Cameroonian former 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 plays as a forward.

Club career

Moukandjo began his career in hometown's Kadji Sports Academy, joining the club's youth setup in 1998, aged 10. Nine years later he moved to France, joining

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

. In September 2008, after making appearances only for the reserve team of Rennes, he was loaned out to L'Entente SSG. Moukandjo returned to Rennes in June 2009, but rescinded his link and joined

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

on 31 August 2009. He appeared regularly for the side in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

. Later he moved to

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

on 31 January 2011. In May 2011, after Monaco's relegation to Ligue 2, Moukandjo was linked with

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He joined Nancy on 12 August 2011 by signing a three-season contract. On 18 July 2014, Moukandjo moved to Ligue 1 side

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

on a two-year deal. On 5 August 2015, Moukandjo joined

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, also of Ligue 1. On 8 April 2017, he scored two of Lorient's goals and provided an assist for

Sylvain Marveaux Sylvain Marveaux (born 15 April 1986) is a French former professional footballer. He played a variety of positions in midfield, but was mostly utilized as a right-sided midfielder or an attacking midfielder or as a forward. He is the younger ...

in their 4–1 league away win over

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. On 13 July 2017, Moukandjo moved to the Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning on a two-year deal. On 28 February 2018, Moukandjo was loaned to Beijing Renhe until 31 December 2018. In March 2019 he left Jiangsu Suning by mutual consent. On 11 September 2019, Moukandjo joined Ligue 2 side

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

. On 23 January 2020, after his release with Lens, Moukandjo joined Ligue 2 rivals

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

where he played just two games. On 28 January 2021, Moukandjo signed with Greek club AEL.

International career

On 4 June 2011, Moukandjo made his debut for the

Cameroon national football team The Cameroon national football team (French language, French: ''Équipe du Cameroun de football''), also known as the Indomitable Lions (French: ''les lions indomptables''), represents Cameroon in men's international Association football, footb ...

, starting in a 0–0

2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

draw against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. He netted his first international goal on 16 June of the following year, the winner against

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

. Moukandjo was selected in Cameroon's squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

and started in all three group matches, against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

respectively. At the 2015 African Cup of Nations, he scored Cameroon's goal in a 1–1 draw with

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

at the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. Two years later, he was named Man of the Match in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

as Cameroon won the Africa Cup of Nations for the fifth time. He was the captain of the Cameroon national team for this tournament. In September 2018 he retired from international duty, having scored eight goals in 57 appearances.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Cameroon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Moukandjo goal.''

Honours

Cameroon *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

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 ...

References

External links

Stade Rennais profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moukandjo Bile, Benjamin 1988 births Living people Footballers from Douala Cameroonian men's footballers 21st-century Cameroonian sportsmen Men's association football forwards Cameroon men's international footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers Kadji Sports Academy players Stade Rennais FC players Nîmes Olympique players Entente SSG players AS Monaco FC players AS Nancy Lorraine players Stade de Reims players FC Lorient players Jiangsu F.C. players Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players RC Lens players Valenciennes FC players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Chinese Super League players Super League Greece players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players Moukandjo Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece 21st-century French sportsmen