Football – Cameroon, land of great goalkeepers; Cédric Badang shines
■■ For several days now, young Cameroonian international Cédric Badang Badang, who plays as a goalkeeper, has signed his first semi-pro contract at 19 with the Dubai club Shabab Alahli, an U21 team. An unusual profile that, though being an amateur offer, stands out with Cameroon’s youth teams.
Dubaï , Afrique54.net ǀ Born on April 13, 2007, in Bafia and trained in Cameroon, specifically at the Brasseries du Cameroun Training Centre in Douala, Cédric Badang, a native of Bafia in the Mbam and Inoubou division, had just signed his very first semi-pro contract with Shabab Alahli Dubai, an amateur U21 club.
For this very first three-year deal, the » Bouraka boy » spoke to our newspaper’s reporters: ‘’I will have to keep working hard, again and again, to one-day reach the top like Marc-André Ter Stegen, the Manschaft and Barcelona goalkeeper, my idol’’.
On some good beginner trails
During his six years at the Brasseries du Cameroun Centre, the young Indomitable Lion has already built a small reputation that is now appreciated by both his coaches and his former amateur teammates. With Shabab Alahli of Dubai, a pro-league club in the United Arab Emirates, the young talent will have to play a considerable number of matches with respectable results to hope to turn professional.
He already has some valuable assets from a very young age, according to one of his coaches from Les Brasseries du Cameroun, who was reached by phone: ‘’Cédric has a very good pass, very precise with his right foot, as well as a very strong kick. These are some of the qualities sought after in modern goalkeepers today.’’
Above-average stats
Consecutively Best Goalkeeper and double U-14 and U-15 Champion of the Geremi Njitap Challenge in 2020 and 2021, the Cameroonian prospect was that same year (2021) crowned Champion of Cameroon in the U-15 Youth Tournament and Best Goalkeeper once again. He repeated the title of Best U-17 Goalkeeper three years later during the final of the World Cola Tournament, which his team won in 2024 in Cameroon.
The Best Goalkeeper title seems to stick to him, it seems, since he will earn it again in 2025 by becoming the Limbé U-18 Champion, then in 2026 when he will once again be named Best U-18 Goalkeeper at the Easter Cup in Limbe, the most beautiful town in Cameroun.
Three-time best goalkeeper for the Brasserie in 2022, 2023, and 2024, it’s with this iron-willed, winning attitude that the U-17 Champion of the UNIFAC Cup in 2023 plans to defend the Green-Red-and-Yellow in Dubai this 2026–2027 season with his new club. He, who wore the colours of Thomas Nkono’s country in 2023 during the U-17 AFCON in Morocco, is already dreaming of wearing them again at the senior national level.
© Afrique54.net ǀ Joseph Ayangma
