The trophy and cash prize were offered to Abongu Nkase at a ceremony in Yaounde on Monday, December 23, 2013.
Following his significant contribution to the triumph of his club at the final of the 54th edition of the football Cup of Cameroon, the goalkeeper of Yong Sport Academy was designated the pioneer winner of the Camtel Man of the Match award.
The trophy and FCFA one million cash prize were offered him in a special ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Yaounde yesterday, 23 December presided at by the General Manager of Camtel, David Nkoto Emane. The Camtel General Manager hailed both finalists for the quality match and spirit of fair play displayed during the encounter.
He announced that Camtel will continue supporting Cameroonian football and disclosed that in addition to the individual prize for the man of the match, there is also going to be a collective prize which he will personally hand over to the club in their bastion in Bamenda. He urged them to continue working hard saying, it is easy to rise to the top but difficult to stay there as they will henceforth be the team everyone would want to beat since their status has changed from underdogs to favourites.
The president of the organization committee of the Cup of Cameroon, Abbo Mohamadou, representing the president of the Normalisation Committee of FECAFOOT, expressed gratitude to Camtel for sponsoring the event, urging the company to continue. He disclosed that all the participation bonuses will be paid to the finalists at the seat of the federation today.
Abongu Hosea, 22, was unanimously chosen from among eight other major contenders after obtaining 21 points, distancing his closest rival with six points.
This young native of Big Babanki started playing football by chance. Being a basketball player, Abongu says he was influenced to play football by his friends who direly needed a goalkeeper to complete their team for a football game and he was therefore called upon to fill the vacuum.
As he got interested in the game, he started playing a ‘hide and seek’ game with the parents who did not approve of it. But today, Abongu says his father, Ezerkiel Akochu who was present during the ceremony, attends all his matches. In his six years of practice at club level, Abongu has played with Mount Cameroon, Union of Douala and Matelots before joining Yong Sports.
He is the real architect behind YOSA’s success having saved seven penalties in the qualifying series and two at the final, making a total of nine penalties saved in the cup competition. Despite his achievement, Abongu says he is still at the beginning and promises to work harder for more victories. The ceremony was attended by the captain of the 1990 edition of the Lions, Tataw Stephen and the president of Canon, Celine Eko, in a show of fair play.
