Emblematic figure of the French Championship, Modeste M'Bami died this Saturday, January 7 at the age of 40.
The former Cameroonian midfielder, who passed through Sedan, PSG and Olympique de Marseille in particular, died of a heart attack in the city of Le Havre where he lived.
The announcement of the death of the international footballer, who wore the jersey of his national team 38 times, is a shock for French football which saw him grow up before becoming one of the emblematic players of Ligue 1 in the course of the 2000s. He had established himself over the years as one of the very good midfielders in the elite.
His kindness, his endearing side and his benevolence were appreciated by the people who knew him during his rich career.
The @PSG_inside is in mourning.
Modeste Mbami has just left us, at the age of 40, after succumbing to a heart attack.
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) January 7, 2023
Born in Yaoundé in 1982, Modeste M'Bami grew up in difficult conditions in the Cameroonian capital.
“I was born in a very hot district of Yaoundé, he told us in 2004. Big brothers had a thousand times more talent than me.
But they went down bizarre paths and ended up getting killed.
Maybe it was my guardian angel who made me avoid certain things.
I could have gone wrong.
For my father, a storekeeper in an import-export box, you had to go to school.
He wanted to protect us.
We were not allowed to go on the road, nor towards the others.
I didn't even know the soccer field was 100m from the house.
»
He trained in Cameroon, in tournaments organized by local breweries, then at the Kadji Sport Academy located in Douala, where he was spotted before continuing his professional career in France in the jersey of CS Sedan Ardennes from the season. 2000-2001.
While the Ardennes club was relegated at the end of the 2002-2003 season, the performances of the Cameroonian midfielder stood out and Vahid Halilhodzic, who had just been appointed PSG coach, made him his priority target for strengthen his midfield in the summer of 2003. His volume of play and his qualities as a collector make him a valuable player in the Paris system.
Le Havre, his last club
In the capital, M'Bami formed a solid pair of defensive midfielders alongside Lorik Cana, which enabled PSG to finish the French Championship in second place and qualify for the Champions League the following season.
His meteoric progress was finally halted by a fibula injury in December 2004.
He will play 101 games with PSG and win two French Cups before changing clubs.
In the summer of 2006, his transfer to Olympique de Marseille was seen as a betrayal by Parisian supporters.
There, he will find his Albanian partner… Lorik Cana, who left a year earlier, to reform the duo he had formed in the capital.
A wink of fate, he played his first match in the Olympian jersey against PSG, on the lawn of the Park, facing his former supporters.
He will play for three seasons on the side of La Canebière, alternating ups and downs before continuing his career in Spain, China, Saudi Arabia and Colombia.
He will finish it in Ligue 2 in Le Havre in 2016, in relative anonymity.
An Olympic title with Cameroon
He will also remain as an emblematic player of the Indomitable Lions of the Eto'o generation, with whom he won the Sydney Olympics in 2000. By scoring the winning goal against Ronaldinho's Brazil in the quarter-finals, at only 17 years old , he will become a local hero.
It will also include a Confederations Cup final in 2003 against France and a CAN final in 2008.