Jacques Celestin Songo'o (born 17 March 1964) is a Cameroonian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

who is the current goalkeeping coach of the Cameroon national team. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in France and Spain, most notably with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, appearing in more than 200 official games over the course of six seasons and winning the

1999–2000 La Liga The 1999–2000 La Liga season, the 69th since its establishment. It began on 21 August 1999, and concluded on 20 May 2000. Deportivo La Coruña won a first La Liga title with 69 points, the lowest for a champion since the three points for a win ...

. Songo'o represented the Cameroon national team at four

World Cups 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 ...

, being first-choice in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Club career

Songo'o was born in Sackbayeme, in the

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 ...

suburbs. After first establishing himself as a professional in France, with

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

, he was voted ''Best African Goalkeeper'' in 1996, then arguably lived his most successful period at Spain's

. With the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

, Songo'o won the 1996–97 edition of the Ricardo Zamora Trophy (awarded to the best goalkeeper of the season), and was his side's undisputed starter in his first four years, which ended with a first-ever title in

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 ...

. When ''Depor'' bought José Francisco Molina in 2000, he soon lost his place and was eventually transferred to old team Metz; on 13 February of that year, from a

corner kick A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defe ...

, he was supposed to have scored his first career goal, but it was wrongfully disallowed in a 1–0 away loss against

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

. After two seasons, Songo'o returned to Deportivo and

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, again in a free transfer. He settled there after having retired from football, aged 40.

International career

Songo'o featured for

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 ...

in every

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

from

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, although only as first-choice in

. He was also a member of the squad that competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. After retiring in 2004, Songo'o was hired as the national team's goalkeeper coach. He left the position in 2006, returning four years later as a replacement for Thomas N'Kono. In the

2010 World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

in South Africa, Songo'o was part of Paul Le Guen's coaching staff. After the tournament, which ended in the group stage, he led Cameroon to a 3–0 victory over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

on an interim basis, the nation's first win in ten competitive games. Songo'o returned for a third spell in the same capacity in September 2019, now under newly hired manager Toni Conceição.

Personal life

Songo'o also held French citizenship. Both of his sons, Franck and

Yann Yann is a French unisex given name, specifically, the Breton form of "Jean" (French for " John"). Notable persons with the name Yann include: __NOTOC__ In arts and entertainment * Yann Martel (born 1963), Canadian author * Yann Moix (born 1968 ...

, were also professional footballers.

Honours

Canon * Elite One: 1984–85, 1985–86 * Cameroonian Cup: 1985–86 Metz *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 1995–96 Deportivo *

: 1999–2000 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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 ...

: 1988,

Individual * Ricardo Zamora Trophy: 1996–97

References

External links

* *
Deportivo archives
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Songo'o, Jacques 1964 births Living people French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent Cameroonian men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Canon Yaoundé players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players SC Toulon players Le Mans FC players FC Metz players La Liga players Deportivo de La Coruña players Cameroon men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1984 African Cup of Nations players 1986 African Cup of Nations players 1988 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Olympic footballers for Cameroon Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain 20th-century French sportsmen