Rigobert Song Bahanag (born 1 July 1976) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who is the manager of the Central African Republic national team.

[3] With 137 appearances, Song also holds the record of the most capped player in the history of the Cameroon national team and has played in four World Cups, in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010.

[4] Song started his professional career with Metz and helped the club to win the Coupe de la Ligue in 1996.

He stayed there until 2004, before moving on to Turkey, where he spent four years with Galatasaray, winning two Süper Lig titles and the Turkish Cup.

The first Cameroonian player to play for the Reds, Song made his League debut against Coventry City at Highfield Road.

He had a mixed 1999–2000 campaign, missing three months of the season, due to international matches with the Indomitable Lions, captaining them to victory in the 2000 African Nations Cup, and scoring the decisive penalty in the final game against Nigeria.

He left Anfield to sign for West Ham United on 28 November 2000, in a deal that also saw Liverpool capture young Finnish striker Daniel Sjölund.

[citation needed] Over two seasons, he made 27 appearances for West Ham in all competitions without scoring, his final game coming on 29 September 2001; a 5–0 away defeat to Everton in the Premier League.

[citation needed] During the 2006–07 season, he struggled to find a place in the team, after an argument with then-Galatasaray manager Eric Gerets during a league game.

Upon his return from the African Cup of Nations with Cameroon, however, he found himself on the bench due to injury, with the emergence of Emre Güngör who partnered Servet Çetin at the heart of the defence in Galatasaray's run for their 16th league title.

With a better offer to play elsewhere, Song decided to leave at the end of the 2007–08 season to sign for fellow Süper Lig club Trabzonspor.

After a successful start to 2008–09 season, he became a fan-favorite in Trabzon, playing 28 games in the league without accumulating any yellow or red cards, nor scoring any goals.

At only 17 years old, Song was given a surprise call-up to Henri Michel's Cameroon squad for the 1994 World Cup, playing two group matches in the finals against Sweden and Brazil.

After receiving a red card in the last game against La Roja,[20] Song broke another record: he became the first player ever to be sent off at two different World Cups.

Foé died the same day due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a hereditary condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.

After three wins over Angola (3–1), Togo (2–0) and Congo DR (2–0) in the group stage, the Indomitable Lions were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Ivory Coast, following a 24-penalty shoot-out, in which Cameroon was defeated 12–11.

After a 4–2 loss to Egypt in the Group C opening match, the veteran defender led his team to wins against Zambia (5–1) and Sudan (3–0).

In the first game against The Pharaohs, Song's nephew Alex made his international debut for Cameroon, joining Rigobert on the pitch at half-time.

The captain then carried the Indomitable Lions to the knockout stage, in which they defeated Tunisia (2–3) and Ghana (0–1) before losing the final to Egypt 1–0.

On 12 August 2009, Cameroon's most-capped player was left out of the starting eleven for the first time in ten years in a friendly game against Austria.

[27] After such events, Song was relegated to a role as backup for a string of games, as Le Guen often preferred to field younger players such as Sébastien Bassong and Benoît Assou-Ekotto.

The former captain eventually featured in the last game against the Netherlands, his fourth World Cup participation; he entered the match as a substitute for Nicolas N'Koulou in the 73rd minute of the second-half.

[34] The Indomitable Lions went out of the tournament with a 1–2 loss and shortly after, on 1 August, Song retired from international duty after 137 total appearances.

[37] Following his hospitalisation for a brain aneurysm and subsequent recovery, Song resumed coaching duties in 2017, ahead of the qualification stage of the 2018 African Nations Championship.

[38] List of international goals scored by Rigobert Song Metz Liverpool Galatasaray[57] Trabzonspor[57] Cameroon[57] Individual Orders