Christ Bongo-Zanoni (born 11 August 1976) is a Congolese 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 played as a striker. He played for

SV Wilhelmshaven SV Wilhelmshaven is a German association football club from Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony. SV Wilhelmshaven play in the Regionalliga Nord. SV Wilhelmshaven was founded in 1905. Since 1999, Wilhelmshaven's stadium is the Jadestadion. History Pre ...

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

Gazélec Ajaccio Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio (), commonly referred to as GFC Ajaccio, GFCA, Gazélec Ajaccio or simply Gazélec (), is a French football club from Ajaccio, Corsica. Founded in 1910, Gazélec played one season in Ligue 1 in the 2015–16 seaso ...

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss professional football club based in Aarau. Founded in 1902, the club competes in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from the Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was form ...

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss Association football, football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club set to plays in the Promotion League from 2025–26, the third tier of Swiss football after relegation from Challenge League (Switzerland), Ch ...

FC Solothurn FC Solothurn is a Swiss football club based in Solothurn. The club has formerly played in the Challenge League (2nd level) and currently plays in Swiss 1. Liga (4th level). FC Solothurn is ranking as the number 1 club of Switzerland in the all- ...

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss association football, football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Super League from 2025–26, the top tier of the Swiss football league system, following promotion from the ...

and

FC 105 Libreville Football Canon (FC) 105 de Libreville is a Gabonese professional football club based in Libreville. It was founded in 1975 as the club of the army and the police. FC 105 play at the 5,000-capacity Stade Idriss Ngari in Owendo. They often play hom ...

, and also represented the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

internationally.

Club career

Bongo was born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

. His first European club was

of the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

, the third tier of German football. In his single season at the club he made 26 league appearances, scoring six goals. Wilhelmshaven were involved in a struggle against relegation, but Bongo's goals, including a late winner against

SV Lurup SV Lurup is a Football in Germany, German association football club from the city of Hamburg in the federal state of the same name. __TOC__ History The club was founded in 1923 as ''Turn- und Sportverein Lurup'' in the former town Lurup and la ...

, helped the club to finish a single place above the relegation zone. During the 1997 close season Bongo joined another Regionalliga Nord side,

, signing a three-year contract. His Hannover debut did not come until November, when he played in a 4–0 victory against

Sportfreunde Ricklingen The Sportfreunde Ricklingen is a German association football club from the Ricklingen suburb of Hanover, Lower Saxony. The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the tier three Regionalliga Nord in 1996, where it played for thr ...

. He continued his nomadic career in France and Switzerland with

and

, before signing for

on a one-year contract in 2000. From there he moved to

, where he was top scorer, and scored the winner in a local derby against

FC Grenchen FC Grenchen is a Swiss football club, based in Grenchen. They currently play in the 2. Liga, and play their matches at the Brühl Stadium. History FC Grenchen was founded in 1906. In 1937 they gained promotion to the top league of Swiss fo ...

. This proved to be his last goal for the club before moving on loan to

until the winter break. In 2004, having returned to Africa with Gabonese club

, he scored against Cameroon's

Bamboutos FC Bamboutos FC is a Cameroonian football club based in Mbouda and founded in 1966. They are a member of the Cameroonian Football Federation. Their home stadium is Stade de Mbouda. The club was founded in 1966. Honours * Cameroon Première Divis ...

in the final of the Coupe de l'Uniffac, a competition contested by clubs from Central African countries, but finished on the losing side. Bongo's late equalising goal sent the match into extra time, but his team were defeated 6–5 in a penalty shootout. Bongo signed for Sporting Cabinda in Angola in 2006 and retired in 2008.

International career

Bongo was capped at international level by the Republic of the Congo national team. In January 2001 he scored in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifier against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, and was one of only three Congolese players to score in the qualifying tournament. The other were Edson Dico Minga and Walter Bakouma; in addition a Malagasy opponent scored an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bongo, Christ 1976 births Living people Footballers from Kinshasa Men's association football forwards Republic of the Congo men's footballers Republic of the Congo men's international footballers Regionalliga players Championnat National players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Serie C players SV Wilhelmshaven players Hannover 96 II players Gazélec Ajaccio players FC Aarau players FC Schaffhausen players FC Solothurn players FC Thun players AC Prato players FC 105 Libreville players Sporting Clube de Cabinda players Republic of the Congo expatriate men's footballers Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Gabon Expatriate men's footballers in Gabon Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Angola Expatriate men's footballers in Angola 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people