François OMAM BIYIK

François Oman Biyik was - without doubt - the most famous Cameroon international to have played for Stade Rennais FC. His professional career began with Canon Yaoundé in his home country in 1986. The next year, in 1987, he departed for France where he joined Laval in the French First Division, scoring 11 goals in his debut season. He would spend three seasons with Laval, one of which was spent in the Second Division after the club had been relegated the preceding season. .He totalled 81 appearances for the club, scoring 37 goals in the process. Just prior to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where he would shine, scoring the winning goal against reigning Champions Argentina in the Opening match of the tournament, he signed for Stade Rennais, freshly promoted to the top flight in France. This pacy striker would have an accomplished season with the Red and Blacks, despite the club ending the season relegated to the Second Division. Excellent in the air, he would notably score a superb diving header for this first goal with Rennes on Matchday 2 of the 1990-1991 season against Paris Saint Germain: In the end, he would spend just one solitaty season with Rennes, but would score almost half of the total goals scored by his team that year (netting 14 times in total) before moving on to AS Cannes, where he would rub shoulders with Zidane et al for a year, making 35 appearances, scoring 7 goals. His French tour saw him make a brief stay at Marseille before joining Lens in 1992 for two seasons, where he would net 18 times, In 1994, he swapped France for a spell in Mexico, where he displayed his goalscoring talents once more. He went on to play - amongst others - for Club America, scoring 49 times in 75 appearances, and then scored 10 goals in 21 matches with Atletico Yucatan. He then returned to Europe to join Sampdoria Genoa in 1997, but made just 6 appearances for the Italian side. His last three seasons as a player saw him globetrotting to Israel (Telamon), France (Châteauroux) and finally Mexico in Puebla. After hanging up his boots as a player, he embarked on a career in coaching, with the amateur set-up at Châteauroux; before being promoted to Assistant Manager of the Cameroon national side as of 2010. As a player, he achieved 75 caps for Cameroon, scoring 45 goals between 1986 and 1998, playing at three World Cup Finals in 1990; 1994 and 1998 and he was also winner of the African Cup of Nations in 1988.