Rigobert Song Bahanang, born on the 1st of July 1976 was a Cameroonian former professional football player, who is the current manager of the Cameroon national team.
Internationally, he played at a record eight Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and served as a captain in five.
He holds a record for most consecutive games played in the tournament with 35 first-team games. He has won two CAF Africa Cup of Nations titles in 2000 and 2002.
Aside from Zinedine Zidane, Song is the only player to have been sent off in two different World cups, once against Brazil in 1994 and against Chile in 1998. He also holds the record as the youngest player ever to be sent off in a World Cup aged 17.
He was nicknamed “Big Chief” by Turkish fans; he is the Uncle of fellow Cameroon defensive midfielder, Alex Song.
He was falsely reported to have died after a near-death cerebral attack on October, 3rd 2016, that came through a stroke in Yaoundé, Cameroon that had him in a coma for two days.
He is happily married to his long time girlfriend and the love of his life, Gabrielle Esther Nnomo Mballa and they have four beautiful children together.
Aside from Zinedine Zidane, Rigoberto song is the only player to have been sent off in two different world cups; Brazil 1994 and Chile 1998.
In late 2015, Song was reportedly close to signing a managerial deal with the Chad national team but for unknown reasons, it was never finalised.
Song is the country’s most capped player, after making 137 appearances for the Indomitable lions.
After sacking the former head coach of the Cameroon national team Antonio Conceicao, who led the indomitable lions to a third place in the just concluded African cup of nations 2022, is being replaced on the instruction of the country’s President Paul Biya, by Rigobert Song.