FIFA World Cup™ Germany 2006 player's profile

The powerful, tall central defender is one of the mainstays of the Newcastle defence.
His heading prowess always spells a threat when he ventures towards the opponents' goal area.

Played once in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2004 UEFA European Championship, and was also part of the French team in the FIFA Centennial Match.

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UEFA EURO 2004™ player's profile

A player who possesses tremendous upper-body strength and pace, Jean-Alain Boumsong reads the game well and is an effective stopper. Hours spent working on his distribution have also paid dividends.

National team
The promising centre-back was given his debut by the French Under-21 side in February 1999, a 2-1 defeat by England. He also impressed as France reached the final of the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Switzerland. Boumsong made his full debut in a 2-1 FIFA Confederations Cup victory against Japan on 20 June 2003.

UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying
With the likes of Mikaël Silvestre, Marcel Desailly and William Gallas monopolising the central defensive berths, Boumsong appeared in just one qualifier, scoring the final goal in the 3-0 victory against Israel in Paris.

Club
Boumsong was born in Douala, Cameroon in 1979. At the age of 12 he was considered too frail to play top-level football in his homeland and he took up volleyball. But he longed to return to his favourite sport, and two years later moved to France, joining the youth set-up of US Palaiseau.

1995: Le Havre AC took him on in 1995, giving him his professional debut in March 1998. Boumsong played 18 times the following season and in 1999/00 impressed Guy Roux enough in 23 league games to earn a move to AJ Auxerre.

2000: Although he was the only member of Auxerre's first-choice defence not to have been produced by the club's phenomenal youth system, Boumsong proved a valuable addition. Was particularly impressive as they claimed a UEFA Champions League place for 2002/03, where he played every minute of Auxerre's six matches.

2003/04: He suffered a double injury in December on the weekend he agreed a summer move to Scottish side Rangers FC, where he would sign a five-year contract.

Did you know?
His father was a Cameroonian international.

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BBC's UEFA EURO 2004 player's profile

A strong central defender, Jean-Alain Boumsong is seen by many as the long-term successor to France captain Marcel Desailly.

Born in Cameroon, Boumsong moved to France as a teenager and made his professional debut at Le Havre in 1998.

He transferred to Auxerre and helped Guy Roux's side qualify for the Champions League.

In January 2004, Boumsong snubbed a move to Liverpool and will sign for Scottish giants Rangers in the summer.

His performances at Under-21 level have been impressive, especially his pace and reading of the game.

Despite his relative inexperience in the senior side, Boumsong was selected for Euro 2004 ahead of his equally-promising central defensive partner at Auxerre, Philippe Mexes.

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