Gaëtan Bong

FC Metz

Bong was born in Sackbayeme, the hometown of renowned goalkeeper Jacques Songo'o. He began his career in Metz's youth ranks at age fourteen, having started out at La Madine Training Centre in his native Cameroon. Bong was part of the FC Metz youth side when he helped the team win the 25th edition of the "Mondial de la Saint-Pierre" by beating FC Nantes on penalties on 22 April 2002. While progressing the youth team, Olivier Perrin commented about Bong, saying: "He's a real competitor. He still has a lot of work to do, especially on the technical side. Physically, he is able to repeat high-level efforts. But its main quality is to succeed in making the most of its potential." In July 2005, he was one of the four players to receive the BEP LEC following his exam results. In October 2005, Bong suffered an injury during training that required stitches. Two months later, he was called up to the first team for the first time at age seventeen. Bong made his FC Metz debut against Sochaux on 10 December 2005, starting the whole game, in a 1–1 draw. He appeared two more matches later in the 2005–06 season. However, he was plagued with injuries that saw him sidelined for the rest of the 2005–06 season. Despite this, Bong signed his first professional contract with the club. Bong continued to recover from his injuries at the start of the 2006–07 season, playing for the club's reserves side to gain playing time. He returned to the first team on 20 October 2006 as a late…

Bong was eligible to play for either France, where he grew up, or Cameroon, where he was born and has a Franco-Cameroonian nationality. Having previously represented the youth system for France, Bong played one international match for the France U21, before opting to play for Cameroon. Bong was named in Paul Le Guen's final 23-man roster for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Bong played one match for Cameroon in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Cameroon's last group match against the Netherlands, where Cameroon lost 2–1. Cameroon lost all three group games, finishing bottom of Group E of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Four years later, he didn't make the cut for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Bong spent four years away from Cameroon, due to a dispute with the Cameroonian Football Association. As a result, he didn't get a call up from the national side until September 2018. He was in the starting lineup in the 1–1 draw against Comoros on 8 September. Two months later on 20 November 2018 against Brazil, Bong captained the Cameroon team for the first time in the 1–0 loss. Bong was included in the Cameroon squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The defending champions, Cameroon beat Guinea-Bissau 2–0 in their opening group game with Bong an unused substitute. Bong started in their next group stage match against Ghana where it finished 0–0.

Club

International

Real Madrid

La Liga Title : 2013–14 Brighton & Hove Albion

EFL Championship runner-up: 2016–17