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Zoumana Camara

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Zoumana Camara
Camara with Paris Saint-Germain in 2019
Personal information
Full name Zoumana Camara[1]
Date of birth (1979-04-03) 3 April 1979 (age 45)[2]
Place of birth Colombes, France
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[3]
Position(s) Centre-back[4]
Youth career
Racing Paris
Saint-Étienne
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1998 Saint-Étienne 32 (1)
1998–2000 Inter Milan 0 (0)
1999 → Empoli (loan) 12 (0)
1999–2000 → Bastia (loan) 27 (1)
2000–2001 Marseille 42 (1)
2002–2004 Lens 14 (0)
2003–2004 → Leeds United (loan) 13 (1)
2004–2007 Saint-Étienne 108 (0)
2007–2015 Paris Saint-Germain 153 (4)
Total 401 (8)
International career
2001 France 1 (0)
Managerial career
2015–2021 Paris Saint-Germain (assistant)
2021–2024 Paris Saint-Germain U19
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Zoumana "Papus" Camara (born 3 April 1979) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back.

After starting out at Saint-Étienne, he went on to amass Ligue 1 totals of 344 matches and six goals over 15 seasons, representing mainly in the competition Paris Saint-Germain and winning eight major titles with that club. He also had a brief spell in England with Leeds United.

Camara appeared for France at the 2001 Confederations Cup.

Club career

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Camara was born in Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine to Malian parents.[5] He made his professional debut at only 17, appearing in two Ligue 2 seasons with Saint-Étienne. In the summer of 1998 he was purchased by Inter Milan in Italy,[6] but only managed to appear in two Coppa Italia matches with the Nerazzurri, also being loaned twice during his two-year spell: after a five-month stint with Empoli (suffering relegation from Serie A), he spent one season back in his country with Bastia, helping the Corsicans to a 10th-place finish in Ligue 1.[7]

After one and a half seasons with Marseille – one as a starter, the other as backup – Camara joined RC Lens. He spent the 2003–04 season on loan to English club Leeds United, scoring in a 3–2 away win against Middlesbrough on 30 August 2003[8] but eventually being relegated from the Premier League. Two months before leaving the Whites he blasted the organisation, claiming he would not have accepted the club's offer had he known about its financial predicament.[9]

Camara returned to Saint-Étienne in the 2004 off-season, only missing six a total of six games for Les Verts over three top-division campaigns.[10] In 2007, he signed a four-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain,[11] being first choice in his first three seasons.[12][13]

On 12 May 2014, aged 35, Camara signed a new one-year deal with PSG.[14] In June of the following year, after having contributed ten appearances to the conquest of four titles, scoring in a 1–1 league draw at Rennes,[15] he retired from football.[16]

International career

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Camara earned his only cap[6] for France on 1 June 2001, at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, starting in the second group stage game against Australia (0–1 loss), with the national team eventually winning the tournament.[17]

Coaching career

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After retiring, Camara worked for Paris Saint-Germain as assistant manager.[18][19] He was in this role under Laurent Blanc, Unai Emery and Thomas Tuchel successively, but left upon the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino in January 2021.[20] He then became a youth academy sports coordinator at the club. For the 2021–22 season, PSG promised Camara a role as a youth team coach.[21] He was eventually confirmed as under-19 head coach on 1 July 2021.[22] In the 2022–23 season, Camara's under-19s finished runners-up in the Championnat National U19, losing in the final to Nantes.[23] In the 2023–24 season, they came out on top, winning the league after beating Auxerre 3–1 in the final.[24] Zoumana subsequently decided to leave PSG.[25]

Honours

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Player

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Paris Saint-Germain

France

Manager

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Paris Saint-Germain U19

References

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  1. ^ "Zoumana Camara". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Zoumana Camara: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Zoumana Camara: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Zoumana Camara: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  5. ^ Billebault, Alexis (3 August 2017). "Zoumana Camara: "Je voulais jouer au football pour la France et j'y suis parvenu"" [Zoumana Camara: "I wanted to play football for France and I succeeded"] (in French). Jeune Afrique. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  6. ^ a b Dupré, Rémi (17 September 2014). "Le PSG change, Zoumana Camara reste" [PSG change, Zoumana Camara stays]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  7. ^ "SC Bastia" (in French). Le Corse. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Viduka grabs late winner". BBC Sport. 30 August 2003. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  9. ^ "Camara blasts Leeds". BBC Sport. 2 March 2004. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  10. ^ Meslin, Erwan (24 July 2007). "Camara, l'homme fort du PSG?" [Camara, PSG's strongman?] (in French). Football.fr. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Le chantier de la défense" [Defence under construction]. Le Parisien (in French). 8 August 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Foot/L1 – PSG: Zoumana Camara de retour après quatre mois d'absence" [Foot/L1 – PSG: Zoumana Camara returns after a four-month absence] (in French). RTL. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Zoumana Camara, un historique s'en va..." [Zoumana Camara, legend departing...] (in French). Planète PSG. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Zoumana Camara prolonge jusqu'en 2015" [Zoumana Camara extends until 2015] (in French). Paris Saint-Germain F.C. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  15. ^ Taisne, Emery (13 September 2014). "Le PSG accroché à Rennes" [PSG halted at Rennes]. L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  16. ^ Margueritte, Matthieu (24 May 2015). "PSG: l'adieu émouvant de Zoumana Camara" [PSG: Zoumana Camara's moving farewell] (in French). Foot Mercato. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Australia stun France". BBC Sport. 1 June 2001. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Zoumana Camara va intégrer le staff du PSG" [Zoumana Camara will be part of PSG's staff]. L'Équipe (in French). 1 June 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  19. ^ Folgoas, Ronan; Nieto, Sébastien (7 June 2016). "PSG. Zoumana Camara: "Je ne veux pas savoir où ira Zlatan"" [PSG. Zoumana Camara: "I don't want to know where Zlatan will go"]. Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  20. ^ B., Nicolas (12 January 2021). "Zoumana Camara se dirige bien vers la formation du PSG" [Zoumana Camara is heading toward the PSG academy] (in French). Paris Fans. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  21. ^ "PSG : nouvelle fonction pour Zoumana Camara". Foot Mercato (in French). Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  22. ^ "Paris Saint-Germain reveal the Youth Academy's new staff". Paris Saint-Germain F.C. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  23. ^ a b "Défaite en finale pour l'équipe U19" (in French). Paris Saint-Germain F.C. 5 June 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  24. ^ "Les U19 du Paris Saint-Germain sont champions de France !". PSG.FR (in French). 16 June 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  25. ^ "« C'était réducteur... », Zoumana Camara revient sur son expérience d'entraîneur adjoint au PSG et sa réputation d'« ami de joueurs »". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  26. ^ a b c "Zoumana Camara". Eurosport. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  27. ^ "Trophee des Champions: PSG 2 Guingamp 0". FourFourTwo. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  28. ^ "French masterclass in the East". FIFA. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  29. ^ "Senny Mayulu et les U19 du PSG vainqueurs d'Auxerre en finale du Championnat national". L'Équipe (in French). 17 June 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
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