Christophe Atangana Assimba (born 2 March 2000) is a Cameroonian

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Gabala.

Club career

Atangana started his career with Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, having lived in the city since childhood. In 2016 he made his senior debut for Basconia, Athletic's

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

, in the fourth tier. In 2018, he was promoted to the reserve team

Bilbao Athletic Athletic Club "B", officially Bilbao Athletic, is the reserve team of Athletic Club, a football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country in Spain. The team currently compete in the . Founded in 1964, the team holds ho ...

but was deemed to be only the fourth choice (behind Unai Etxebarria, Hodei Oleaga and Ander Iru) and was sent on loan to local third tier club

Leioa Leioa () is a municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is located south of Getxo and Berango delimitating east and south with Erandio, Portugalete and Sestao. Today it is part of the Bilbao conurbation. Its population in 2019 ...

where he was backup to the more experienced Urtzi Iturrioz. At the start of 2019–20 Atangana found himself behind new signings

Jokin Ezkieta Jokin Ezkieta Mendiburu is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Racing de Santander. Club career Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Ezkieta represented CA Osasuna as a youth. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 24 August 2014, ...

and Julen Agirrezabala in the selection queue in Bilbao and returned to Leioa, but again played rarely so switched to Somorrostro (fourth tier) mid-season in search of more match action, only for that campaign to be curtailed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He spent the 2020–21 season on loan at Arenas (third tier) but was unable to displace Diego Carrio as the regular starting goalkeeper. In August 2021, after being released by Athletic Bilbao, Atangana signed for Gabala in Azerbaijan. On 10 December 2021, he debuted for Gabala during a 2–1 win over MOIK. On 17 August 2024, Gabala announced that Atangana had left the club after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Atangana was selected for the Cameroon under-20 team for the

2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations qualification The 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-20 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations. Players born 1 January 1999 or later are eligible to participate in the comp ...

fixtures, in which his team eliminated

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

over two legs but lost to

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* 2000 births Footballers from Douala Footballers from Bilbao Living people Cameroonian emigrants to Spain Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroon men's youth international footballers 21st-century Cameroonian sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Athletic Bilbao footballers CD Basconia footballers SD Leioa players Arenas Club de Getxo footballers Gabala SC players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Azerbaijan Premier League players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan 21st-century Spanish sportsmen {{Cameroon-footy-bio-stub