Joseph-Antoine Bell (born 8 October 1954), sometimes referred to as JoJo Bell, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a 20-year career, he played in his native Cameroon as well as in the Ivory Coast and Egypt before moving to France, where he played for several top-level clubs including

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and eventually ending his playing career with

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

. He played for the national team in three World Cups ( 1982, 1990,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

), 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 ...

and several African Cup of Nations.

Club career

Bell was born in Mouandé. He started his career in Eclair Douale then Oryx Douala and Prisons Buea before Union Douala in Cameroon, where he spent the years 1975 to 1981. He then moved to Africa Sports National, staying there for two seasons. From 1983 to 1985 he played for Al-Mokawloon al-Arab in Egypt. By the time he went to France to play, he was already 31 years old. He played for

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

from 1985 to 1988, playing 36, 38, and 35 league matches in each of his three seasons there. He then spent one season at Sporting Toulon Var, playing 31 matches. Two years at

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French Association football, football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde (department), Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitain ...

followed, where he played 38 matches in 1989–90 and 37 matches in 1990–91. He ended his playing career with AS Saint-Étienne, where he played 35 matches in 1991–92 and 38 matches in 1992–93, but only 26 matches in 1993–94. Bell, in joining the campaign United Against Malaria in 2009, stated that "

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

... affected his playing".

International career

For the national team, Bell was in the squads at the 1982 and

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

but did not play any matches. He was also selected for the squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup where he eventually made his debut, playing in two of Cameroon's group matches. After Cameroon's elimination in 1994, enraged fans set fire on Bell's house 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 home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

. Bell also played at the

, and was on Cameroon's winning team in the 1984 and 1988 African Cup of Nations. At international level, though, he was second-choice goalkeeper after Thomas N'Kono for many years.

Style of play

Considered to be one of the greatest African goalkeepers of all time, Bell often acted as a sweeper-keeper, and was known for his ability to rush out of the box to sweep up the ball when his team played with a high defensive line.

Honours

Union Douala *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

: 1979 Al-Mokawloon al-Arab *

African Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and w ...

: 1982, 1983 *

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

: 1983 Individual Bell was named "African Goalkeeper of the Century" by IFFHS, as part of their "Century Elections". Cameroon had three goalkeepers among the top six, with Thomas N'Kono being second and Jacques Songo'o being sixth. Sadok Attouga was third, Badou Ezzaki was fourth and Mwemba Kazadi was fifth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Joseph Antoine 1954 births Living people Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroon men's international footballers French men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Ligue 1 players Olympique de Marseille players Expatriate men's footballers in France SC Toulon players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players AS Saint-Étienne players Olympic footballers for Cameroon Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Ivory Coast 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1984 African Cup of Nations players 1988 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Al Mokawloon Al Arab SC players Africa Sports d'Abidjan players Expatriate men's footballers in Ivory Coast Expatriate men's footballers in Egypt Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers 20th-century French sportsmen CAF Champions League–winning players