Geremi

Early career

Geremi was born in Bafoussam, Cameroon. Raised in a footballing family, Geremi was encouraged to remain focused on school by his father, a former player. But as duties for his club and national teams pulled him away from his studies, he eventually decided to pursue his playing career. Geremi gave up on studying for his university entrance exams and began playing professionally. Geremi began his career with a local side in Bafoussam, Racing FC, in 1995. A first-division club in Cameroon's MTN Elite One, Racing had won the league championship the year before 16-year-old Geremi arrived. In his only season as a professional at the club, he won the Cameroonian Cup.

Cerro Porteño

In 1996, Geremi received an offer from Cerro Porteño, which he took, after being scouted whilst playing for the Cameroon U21 national team in Brazil. Before Geremi arrived at Cerro Porteño, agent Pedro Aldave picked between Samuel Eto'o and Geremi to go to Paraguay and join the Asunción club. Geremi was 18 when he arrived at the club. In 1997, Geremi was teammates with compatriot Cyrille Florent Bella, the Uruguayan Ricardo Bitancort, Brazilian Felippe Ximenes, and Paraguayans Diego Gavilán, Jorge Martín Núñez, Paulo da Silva, Aldo Bobadilla and Roberto Fernández in Cerro Porteño's team. Geremi was the star of the title decider in Paraguay's 1997 Apertura Tournament, which Cerro Porteño lost. He only disputed one tournament with Cerro Porteño during six months at the club,…

Geremi began his Cameroon international career with the youth teams, most notably in the 1995 U-20 Youth World Cup finals. Geremi started all four games for the national team before they lost to Argentina in the quarterfinals. Geremi's senior debut came not much later, appearing in a match against Gabon in October 1996. From there, the midfielder went on to feature in four of Cameroon's six qualifiers for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, though he was left out of the finals squad after the nation qualified. Geremi won Olympic Gold with Cameroon in Sydney in 2000 when he captained his country. He has also won two Africa Cup of Nations titles in 2000 and 2002 as they demonstrated their superiority not only in Africa but at world level too. Geremi was part of the Cameroon side that qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan he also played in all three of Cameroon's World Cup final games in 2002 and scored a free-kick in a 2–2 friendly draw with England shortly before the tournament. The squad failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, finishing one point behind qualifiers Ivory Coast in their table. Geremi started nine of the squad's ten games at holding midfielder, however, and scored twice during the campaign. The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations brought Cameroon's best finish since 2002, managing to reach the finals before losing 1–0 to Egypt. Geremi again played every one of Cameroon's games and was named to the Team of the Tournament for his performances. Geremi earned his 100th cap…

Club

International

Scores and results list Cameroon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Geremi goal.

Geremi's father, Samuel, is a former footballer who represented Cameroon in the 1970s. Samuel, a striker, was nicknamed "Poison Arrow" for his powerful and accurate finishing. He was allowed five wives due to his status as a footballer, which led to Geremi having 17 siblings. Geremi's cousin, Pierre Webó, was also a professional footballer and played alongside Geremi for Cameroon at the 2010 World Cup. Geremi speaks French, English, Spanish and Turkish. In March 2024, Geremi filed for divorce after discovering his twin children were fathered by his wife's ex-partner.