Timothée Atouba Essama (born 17 February 1982) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a left back.

He started playing football in Yaoundé in a small club called Minéduc (Ministère de l'éducation national).

[3] Atouba played his league debut for the club in the home game in the Stade de la Maladière (1924) on 19 July 2000 as Xamax won 2–0 against FC Basel.

Atouba joined Basel's first team as a left-back during their 2001–02 season under head coach Christian Gross for the transfer fee of CHF 400,000.

Just four days later they played in the cup final against Grasshopper Club winning 2–1 in extra time they won the double.

Hakan Yakin fired a free kick from the right towards Jerzy Dudek's goal.The ball bounced off the goalie, it came to me, and somehow, I steered it over the line from the corner of the five-yard-line.

[2] Liverpool fought back, during the second half they managed to draw level, but the score remained at 3–3 right up until the final whistle.

[8] Basel ended the second group stage in third position behind Manchester United and Juventus, but ahead of Deportivo La Coruña.

[9] Basel ended their league season as runners-up, but in the cup they advanced to the final and here they beat Xamax 6–0 to defend the title.

[15][16] Although he played promising games in his first few months at the club, scoring the only goal in a win at Newcastle United,[17] he finished the season as an occasional left-back.

[18] In 2006, Atouba caused a stir after several rash challenges led to goals against his German club in the Champions League.

[23] In November 2012, the Spanish team UD Las Palmas confirmed the signing of Atouba until the end of season 2012–13.

[24] He was part of the Cameroonian 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished top of their group in the first round of competition, before failing to secure qualification for the semi-finals.