Joseph Edouard Oum Ndeki (8 May 1976 – 7 March 2009 in

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

) was a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian

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 last played for Rodos. He started his career in high school where he played for Lycée de New bell soccer team and quickly captioned the attention of national league recruiters. He was forced to quit high school and his first contract with

Union Douala Union Sportive de Douala is a Cameroonian professional football club based in Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was hom ...

, a division one team based in Douala. His professional career in Cameroon led him to play for

Mount Cameroon FC Mount Cameroon Football Club is a Cameroonian football club based in Buéa. The club was founded in 1997 by Hon. Calvin Foinding. They have competed for more than 12 years in the Cameroon Première Division (Elite One). Their home stadium is the ...

and Coton Sport de Garoua where he was discovered by

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 ...

coach

Pierre Lechantre Pierre Lechantre (born 2 April 1950) is a French football coach and former player. He won the 2000 African Cup of Nations with the Cameroon national team. Career On 27 April 2012, Lechantre was named as the head coach of Senegal, but failed to ...

who granted him his first selection with the national team.

Club career

Oum Ndeki had a spell with Ankaragücü in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

. He also played several seasons in Greece for Achaiki, Atsalenios, Diagoras and Rodos. During his 4.5 years in Greece he played 125 games in the Third Division scoring 52 goals.

International career

Oum Ndeki made an appearance for the senior

during a

2000 African Cup of Nations The 2000 African Cup of Nations was the 22nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, who jointly replaced Zimbabwe as host. Just like in 1998, the field ...

qualifying match in 1999.

Personal

His brother, Jean-Paul Ndeki, is also a professional footballer who played in Germany and Latvia.

Death

He died suddenly on Saturday 7 March 2009 in a

hospital after suffering from

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

. He left behind two children, a boy and girl.

References

1976 births 2009 deaths Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroon men's international footballers MKE Ankaragücü footballers A.S. Rodos players Men's association football midfielders Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece {{Cameroon-footy-midfielder-stub