Wilfred Nathan Douala and his club Victoria United, aka opopo, One People One Power have made history by emerging champion of the Cameroon MTN elite one football championship for the first time. The seaside resort based team was down by 2 goals to 1 by their opponents of the day, Stade Renard of Melon. In a last match of the play offs, where Opopo was looking for a draw to carry the day and its opponent a win. The boys from South West kept their dream alive till when 17 year old Nathan Douala netted a penalty kick at 10 minutes to the end of the match. Victoria United held on to this score till the end of the match, to the glory of the president Valentine Nkawin and the supporters of the club that have followed the team all the way from Limbe to the Mbape Lepe stadium in Akwa. The South West based club grabbed this year’s championship stopping Cotton Sport of Garoua’s race for a 4th consecutive win this year.
Nathan Douala is like living a dream come true. Just in January, he was selected for the Indomitable Lions. Then did the whole world came to discover that there was a Wilfred Nathan Douala that existed. His age of 17 years in sharp contrast with his face polled a lot of controversy within the country and especially out of the country. Everybody said he looked far older than what he was said to be, others even gave him 23 years old and book makers said Cameroon will likely be sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and will miss the next two editions competition according to the rules.
For a player that was just stepping into the international scene, this could have been too much to chew. Many would have thought that it will portray the end of his career, but no! Wilfred was courageous enough to overlook all that and focus on his work. Though he did not play even one match in the 2023 Cote d’ Ivoir Total energy African Cup of Nation, coming back to Cameroon to his team Victoria United, Nathan Douala was the main attraction as he proved that he had a lot of talent. He has since then become a key player in his team and even one of the stars players in the elite one championship that pulled crowd to the stadium every time Victoria United had a match.
The 17 year old, not only was he selected in the national team for a continental competition, he has just won the championship, he has been recruited for professional football in Europe with Antalya Sport Tukey and he will be playing the CAf champions league come July.
Will it be too early to say that Cameroon has found a good component to solidify the midfield of the Indomitable lions? Time will tell.