Roudolphe Douala M'bela (born 25 September 1978), known as Douala, is a Cameroonian 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 ...

. Mainly a winger he could also operate as a forward, and played professionally in five countries, mainly in Portugal. He amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

totals of 213 games and 34 goals over the course of nine seasons, notably representing in the competition Sporting (three years), Boavista and

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

(two apiece). Douala appeared for the Cameroon national team at the

2006 Africa Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

Club career

Douala was born in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport (DLA), it is the comm ...

. He holds Cameroonian and French nationalities. He started his professional career at

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

but did not make any

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligu ...

appearances for the French club, moving to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

when he was 20 and signing with

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

. After two loans, at Gil Vicente F.C. and

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

(where he first made an impact in the

championship), Douala moved to

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foo ...

, scoring five league goals in his debut season while also helping the ''Lions'' to the campaign's

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, notably scoring against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in a 3–2 away win. Never an undisputed starter, however, he would be loaned for 2006–07 to England's

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

on the very last day of the summer

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer ...

, with a view to a permanent signing. Speculation during the 2007 winter window had linked Douala with a move away from the club, with the player reportedly frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities at

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect Ar ...

. A transfer never materialized, however, and he revealed that "On the last day of the transfer window two clubs were calling me all day, but I said 'I want to stay'". Douala returned to Sporting when his loan ended and, on 14 July 2007, rejoined old club Saint-Étienne for an undisclosed fee. After only one season where he appeared sparingly, he left for Asteras Tripoli F.C. in Greece. A fruitless spell soon followed and, after agreeing a release from his contract, he signed with English club

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

on 22 March 2009, for the remainder of the 2008–09 campaign, making his debut as a substitute in their 4–0 home win against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...

on 11 April; however, he was unsuccessful in securing a long-term deal, and was released. On 15 March 2010, 31-year-old Douala moved teams and countries again, signing with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Lierse SK Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six ...

,Twee nieuwe spelers en gesprekken over contractverlengingen (Two new players in contract negotiations)
Lierse SK, 15 March 2010 (in Dutch) and the club returned to the Pro League at the season's end, with the player contributing with one goal.

International career

Douala earned 17

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

, during five years. He participated at the

, helping the national team reach the quarter-final stage.

International goals

Honours

Club

Sporting *

: Runner-up 2004–05

Individual

: Player of the Month March 2004

References

External links

* * * * *
Biography at Anciens Verts
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Douala, Roudolphe 1978 births Living people Footballers from Douala Cameroonian men's footballers People with acquired French citizenship French men's footballers Men's association football wingers Ligue 1 players AS Saint-Étienne players Primeira Liga players Boavista F.C. players C.D. Aves players Gil Vicente F.C. players U.D. Leiria players Sporting CP footballers Premier League players English Football League players Portsmouth F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Super League Greece players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Lierse S.K. players Cameroon men's international footballers Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in England Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium