Full name Vicente Engonga Mate 1986–1991 Sporting Mahones 1984–1986 Gimnastica Height 1.81 m | Years Team Role Footballer Place of birth Barcelona, Spain Name Vicente Engonga | |
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Date of birth (1965-10-20) 20 October 1965 (age 50) | ||
Vicente Engonga Maté (born 20 October 1965) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a central midfielder but occasionally as a sweeper.
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He played for six different professional clubs in his career, having his longest and most successful spell at Mallorca in spite of arriving at the club at the age of 32. In total, he appeared in 327 La Liga games and scored eight goals over the course of 11 seasons.
Engonga represented Spain at the Euro 2000, being an international for two years.
Club career
Born in Barcelona, Catalonia of Equatorial Guinean descent, Engonga spent his childhood in the Cantabria region, where his father was a footballer. He started his senior career with local lower league club Gimnástica de Torrelavega, and then played for CF Sporting Mahonés.
In 1991, Engonga moved to Real Valladolid in La Liga. In his first year the club were relegated to Segunda División and he left to Celta de Vigo, with whom he was a finalist in the 1994 Copa del Rey.
In the 1994 summer, Engonga was bought by league powerhouse Valencia CF, where he played three seasons: after a shaky start he appeared in 35 games in 1996–97, although the Che finished tenth. Subsequently he moved to RCD Mallorca under Héctor Cúper's supervision, alongside other five former teammates – including Iván Campo.
Engonga displayed his best football at the Balearic Islands side, helping them win the 1998 Spanish Supercup after beating FC Barcelona 3–1 on aggregate. also that year, Mallorca reached the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, losing 1–2 to S.S. Lazio.
During the 2000–01 campaign, Engonga scored twice in 31 league matches as his team earned a third-place finish, qualifying to the UEFA Champions League for the first time. In their first match in the competition, he scored the only goal of the game to defeat Arsenal at Son Moix, an 11th-minute penalty after Ashley Cole had been sent off for fouling Albert Luque.
In 2002, Engonga's contract expired and he joined second level's Real Oviedo where he played for six months before moving abroad in late January 2003, signing a six-month loan deal with English club Coventry City, in the Football League Division One. At the end of the season the 37-year-old retired, going on to work with Mallorca in several coaching capacities.
International career
On 23 September 1998, aged nearly 33, Engonga made his debut with the Spanish national team, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 friendly win over Russia in Granada. He was the second-oldest player to debut for the country after Ferenc Puskás, who was 34 and had previously represented Hungary.
Engonga scored his first and only goal on 5 May 1999 in a friendly with Croatia, equalising in an eventual 3–1 success in Seville. He was picked for the UEFA Euro 2000 squad, making a late substitute appearance in a 2–1 group stage win against Slovenia at the Amsterdam Arena which was the last of his 14 caps.
Engonga was the first Spanish-born black player to play for the nation. During his career, he also represented the unofficial Cantabria autonomous team.
In August 2008, Engonga was appointed manager of Equatorial Guinea.
Personal life
Engonga's younger brother, Óscar, was also a professional midfielder. He played most of his career in the lower leagues of Spain, but was at Valladolid at the same time as Vicente. Óscar has also managed the Equatorial Guinea national team.
His nephew, Igor, was called by Equatorial Guinea for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.