Mvondo Atangana

Simon Pierre Mvondo Atangana (born 10 July 1979) is a Cameroonian former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs across multiple countries. His career began in native Cameroon, playing for Olympic Mvolyé and Tonnerre Yaoundé with a spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Fateh separating the two stints. He earned a move to Scotland, signing for Dundee United in 2000. He went out on loan to English club Port Vale in 2002. Upon leaving Dundee United, Atangana joined Colchester United, before moving to English non-League clubs Grays Athletic and Halstead Town. He later played in eastern Europe for Luch-Energiya and Terek Grozny in Russia and Lokomotiv Minsk in Belarus. He retired in 2006, returning from retirement in 2010 to play for French club CO Saint-Dizier.

Mvondo Atangana
Personal information
Full name Simon Pierre Mvondo Atangana[1]
Date of birth (1979-07-10) 10 July 1979[2]
Place of birth Yaoundé, Cameroon[1]
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1998 Olympic Mvolyé
1998–1999 Al-Fateh
1999–2000 Tonnerre Yaoundé
2000–2002 Dundee United 11 (0)
2002 → Port Vale (loan) 2 (0)
2002–2003 Colchester United 6 (0)
2003 Grays Athletic
2003–2004 Halstead Town 19 (10)
2004 Luch-Energiya 37 (11)
2005 Lokomotiv Minsk 10 (5)
2005–2006 Terek Grozny 40 (7)
2010–2011 CO Saint-Dizier
Total 125 (33)
International career
2000 Cameroon 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Atanga received one cap for Cameroon at full international level, and also played for the Cameroon under-21 team.[3]

Club career

Born in Yaoundé, Atangana began his career with Olympic Mvolyé in 1996, spending three seasons with the club. He joined Al-Fateh in 1998, returning to Cameroon in 1999 to join Tonnerre Yaoundé.[4] During his time with Tonnerre Yaoundé, Atangana was called up to the Cameroon national team which led to interest from abroad.[3]

In August 2000, Atangana joined Scottish team Dundee United on a long-term deal, joining up with countryman Alphonse Tchami after impressing manager Alex Smith in a trial.[5][6] He made 11 league appearances for Dundee United during the 2000–01 season[2] but was transfer listed in May 2001 after failing to make the first-team in eight months.[7]

Atangana suffered a bout of malaria during pre-season for the 2001–02 season,[8] recovering to earn a loan move to English club Port Vale in January 2002.[9] However, his stay with the Valiants was cut short with a hamstring injury, pulling up after just 37 minutes of a game against Wycombe Wanderers, and having only played 45 minutes previously.[10] In April 2002, Atangana was released by Dundee United after just twelve appearances in all competitions.[11]

Following his Dundee United exit, Atangana returned to England to join Colchester United in November 2002 on a weekly contract.[12][13] He suffered another hamstring injury that left him out for one month in a match against Peterborough United on 26 December, following scoring seven goals in seven reserve team matches.[14]

In the summer of 2003, he was released by Colchester after being told he would not be offered a long-term contract,[15] having made just six league appearances.[2] He joined non-League Grays Athletic and scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Chesham United on his debut.[15] He later joined Halstead Town, scoring ten goals in 19 appearances for the club.[4] While playing for Halstead, he went on trial with clubs in France and made a 3,200-mile round trip to Turkey for a trial with İstanbulspor.[16]

Atangana eventually joined Russian club Luch-Energiya in 2004, making 37 appearances and scoring 11 goals, before joining Belarusian side Lokomotiv Minsk. He scored a ten-minute hat-trick against BATE Borisov in June 2005, and scored five goals in ten appearances in total.[17] He later returned to Russia with Terek Grozny, scoring seven goals in 40 appearances, before retiring from the game in 2006.[4]

In 2010, Atangana came out of retirement to play for French amateur club CO Saint-Dizier, before calling time on his career once again in 2011.[18]

International career

After making a number of appearances for the Cameroon under-21 side,[7] Atangana made one full international appearance on 23 April 2000, coming off the bench to replace Pius Ndiefi after 51 minutes in a 3–0 2002 World Cup qualifying win over Somalia at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo.[3]

Atangana was in contention to play for Cameroon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but instead opted to concentrate on his club career with Dundee United. Cameroon went on to take the gold medal.[19][20]

Career statistics

Source:[21][22][4]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dundee United 2000–01 Scottish Premier League 1100010120
2001–02 Scottish Premier League 00000000
Total 1100010120
Port Vale (loan) 2001–02 Second Division 20000020
Colchester United 2002–03 Second Division 60100070
Halstead Town 2003–04 Essex Senior League 1910–1910
Luch-Energiya 2004 Russian First Division 3711–3711
Lokomotiv Minsk 2005 Belarusian Premier League 105–105
Terek Grozny 2005 Russian Premier League 9200–92
2006 Russian First Division 31531–346
Total 40731––438
Career total 12533411013034

References
  1. "Colchester United – Player profile". Coludata.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  2. "Mvondo Atangana – Football Stats – Soccer Base". Soccerbase. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  3. "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan – FIFA.com". FIFA. Archived from the original on 16 November 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  4. "National Football Teams – Player – Mvondo Atangana". National Football Teams. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  5. "United sign Olympic star Mvondo". Dundee United FC. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  6. "Cameroon connection grows at Tannadice". BBC Sport. 31 August 2000. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  7. "Atangana and Licina on transfer list". BBC Sport. 18 May 2001. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  8. "Two new faces at training". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  9. "Transfers – January 2002". BBC Sport. 5 September 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  10. "Atangana blow for Vale". BBC Sport. 5 February 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  11. "Mvondo departs United". Dundee United FC. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  12. "Stockley signs for U's". Colchester Gazette. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  13. "Colchester chase Beadle". BBC Sport. 12 November 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  14. "Colchester suffer striker blow". BBC Sport. 27 December 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  15. "Grays go for Atangana". Sky Sports. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  16. "Simon's 3,200-mile football odyssey". Colchester Gazette. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  17. "Switchman Atangana". sb.by. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  18. "Football: Simon Mvondo Atangana". FootballDatabase.eu. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  19. "United's Olympic bid for Mvondo". Dundee United FC. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  20. "Interview with Mvondo". London: The Observer. 7 January 2001. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  21. Mvondo Atangana at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  22. Mvondo Atangana at Soccerbase
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