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Marc Vivien Foe

Footballer

MarcVivien
Date de Naissance:
1975-05-01
Lieu de Naissance:
Yaoundé, Cameroon

Marc-Vivien Foé (1975 -2003) was born on 1st May 1975, and died on 26th of June 2003. He was a Cameroonian international footballer, who played in midfield for both his club and country.

With success in the French League, and stints in England in the Premier League, his sudden death, while in the middle of an international competitive fixture, came as a shock to the world soccer community. He was posthumously decorated with the Commander of the National Order of Valour.

Foé was born on 1 May 1975 in Yaoundé. He started as a junior with Second Division Union Garoua; moving to Canon Yaoundé, one of the biggest clubs in Cameroon.

He won the Cameroon Cup in 1993. His international debut was against Mexico in September 1993. The following year, he was included in the Cameroon squad for the 1994 World Cup, starting all three of Cameroon's matches. Marred by financial and disciplinary disputes, the 1994 Cameroon squad was a shadow compared to the quarter-finals in 1990.

Cameroon mustered just one point from three matches, and finished with a 6–1 defeat to Russia. However, Foé's performances prompted interest from European clubs.

After turning down Auxerre for a trainee position, he signed for another French club, RC Lens of Ligue 1. His debut on 13 August 1994 was a 2–1 win against Montpellier. In five seasons at Lens, he finally won the 1998 French league title.

In 1999, he was targeted by Manchester United, but refused a £3 million offer. Further negotiations were curtailed abruptly after he broke a leg at Cameroon's pre-World Cup training camp, and missed the 1998 World Cup. Shortly after his recovery, he moved to English Premier League club West Ham United, for a club record £4.2 million in January 1999. He played 38 league matches for West Ham, scoring one goal against Sheffield Wednesday. He also scored a goal in West Ham's 3–1 win against NK Osijek in the UEFA Cup.

In May 2000, he moved back to France's Lyon on a £6 million transfer. He missed much of the season from malaria. After recovery, he won the French league Cup in 2001, and the French league title in 2002.

He was on the Cameroon squad in the 2002 World Cup. As in 1994, he played in all of Cameroon's matches. Though the team performed better since 1994, they were again eliminated. At the group stage, they beat Saudi Arabia, drew with Ireland and lost to Germany.

Foé returned to the Premier League, loaned to Manchester City in the 2002–03 season for £550,000. His debut on the opening day of the season was a 3–0 loss to Leeds United. Foé was a first team regular for Kevin Keegan's team, starting 38 of 41 matches. His first goal for the club came against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on 9 December 2002, and he scored five more goals in the next month. Of nine totals, the last was most significant. His second goal in a 3–0 victory against Sunderland on 21 April 2003 was the club's final goal at their Maine Road stadium.

Death Foé was part of the Cameroon squad for the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, a tournament played between continental champions. He played in wins against Brazil and Turkey, and was rested for the match against the United States, with Cameroon having already qualified.

On 26 June 2003, Cameroon faced Colombia in the semi-final, held at the ‘’Stade de Gerland’’ in Lyon, France. In the 72nd minute of the match Foé collapsed in the centre circle, with no other players near him. After attempts to resuscitate him on the pitch, he was stretchered off the field, where he received mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen. Medics spent 45 minutes attempting to restart his heart, and although he was still alive upon arrival at the stadium's medical centre he died shortly afterwards, in spite of the efforts to save his life. A first autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death, but a second autopsy concluded that Foé's death was heart-related as it discovered evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a hereditary condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.

Foé's death caused a profound shock. Numerous tributes to his joyous personality and infectious humour were expressed in the media. Also Thierry Henry and other players pointed to the sky in tribute to Foé after Henry had opened the scoring against Turkey in France's Confederations Cup semi-final that evening. It was suggested that the Confederations Cup and the Stade Gerland could have been renamed after him, and former Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan announced that the club would no longer use the number 23 shirt Foé wore during his successful season there.

At Manchester City's former ground, Maine Road, there is a small memorial to him in the stadium's memorial garden, and on the walls of the players' tunnel are plaques paid for by supporters, with their names, dubbed the Walk of Pride. The first plaque on the wall is for Marc and reads "Marc Vivien Foé – 1975–2003". His first club (Lens) has given his name to an avenue near the Félix Bollaert Stadium.

Foé was given a state funeral in Cameroon. Lens decided to withdraw the number 17 shirt that Foé wore during five years. Lyon also decided to withdraw the number 17 shirt that Foé wore a year before when he played in Stade de Gerland with the Lyon team. People in Lyon were shocked as he had received a warm welcome on his return to the stadium. However when the transfer of fellow Cameroonian Jean II Makoun to Lyon, the number 17 shirt was used by Makoun, who stated on wearing the number: "In memory of Marc, for me and for the whole Cameroon, this will be for something."

Prior to the kick-off of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup final between United States and Brazil, his son, then fourteen years old, gave a brief speech in memory of his father.