Martin_Hongla
Martin Hongla
Cameroonian footballer
Martin Hongla Yma II (born 16 March 1998) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for La Liga club Granada and the Cameroon national team.
 Hongla playing for Cameroon at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Martin Hongla Yma II[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1998-03-16) 16 March 1998 (age 26) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Yaoundé, Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder, centre-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Granada | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 0000–2016 | Nkufo Academy | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Granada B | 35 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2019 | Granada | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | → Barcelona B (loan) | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | → Karpaty Lviv (loan) | 13 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2022 | Royal Antwerp | 37 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | → Hellas Verona (loan) | 18 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Hellas Verona | 24 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | → Valladolid (loan) | 16 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Granada | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Cameroon U17 | 3 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Cameroon U20 | 3 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Cameroon U23 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020– | Cameroon | 22 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 6 January 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
Born in Yaoundé, Hongla joined Granada CF in 2016, from Blaise Nkufo's Nkufo Sports Academy.[3] He was initially assigned to the reserves in Segunda División B.
Hongla made his senior debut on 21 August 2016, starting in a 1–1 home draw against Atlético Mancha Real.[4] He made his first team – and La Liga – debut on 28 January 2017, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 defeat at Villarreal CF.[5]
Ahead of the 2017–18 season, Hongla was definitely promoted to the main squad, now in Segunda División.[6] On 16 January 2018, he was loaned to fellow league team FC Barcelona B, for six months.[7]
On 3 July 2019, after a six-month loan to FC Karpaty Lviv, Hongla joined Royal Antwerp FC in the Belgian First Division A.[8] On 9 July 2021, he joined Italian Serie A club Hellas Verona on loan with a conditional purchase obligation.[9]
On 31 January 2023, Hongla returned to Spain and its top tier, after agreeing to a six-month loan deal with Real Valladolid.[10]
On 12 January 2024, Hongla returned to Granada.[11][12] He reportedly signed a three-and-a-half-year contract for a transfer fee of €2.5 million.[13]
Hongla played at the 2015 African U-17 Championship, 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations qualification and the 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations.[14]
He made his debut for Cameroon national team on 16 November 2020 in a Cup of Nations qualifier game against Mozambique, as a starter.[15]
- As of match played 10 November 2023[16]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Granada B | 2016–17 | Segunda División B | 23 | 0 | — | — | — | 23 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | Segunda División B | 12 | 1 | — | — | — | 12 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 35 | 1 | — | — | — | 35 | 1 | |||||
| Granada | 2016–17 | La Liga | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| Barcelona B (loan) | 2017–18 | Segunda División | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | 6 | 0 | |||
| Karpaty Lviv (loan) | 2018–19 | Ukrainian Premier League | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 2[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
| Royal Antwerp | 2019–20 | Belgian First Division A | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | — | 15 | 0 | |
| 2020–21 | Belgian First Division A | 28 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 6[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 43 | 3 | |
| Total | 37 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 58 | 3 | ||
| Hellas Verona (loan) | 2021–22 | Serie A | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 20 | 1 | ||
| Hellas Verona | 2022–23 | Serie A | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2023–24 | Serie A | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 0 | |||
| Total | 38 | 1 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 43 | 0 | ||||
| Real Valladolid (loan) | 2022–23 | La Liga | 16 | 0 | — | — | — | 16 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 155 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 185 | 7 | ||
- Appearances in UEFA Europa League
International
- As of match played 28 March 2023[17]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cameroon | |||
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 22 | 0 | |
Antwerp
Cameroon
- Africa Cup of Nations third place: 2021[19]
- "Martin HONGLA". Confederation of African Football. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: List of players: Cameroon" (PDF). FIFA. 15 November 2022. p. 5. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- "Martin Hongla, convicción y atrevimiento" [Martin Hongla, confidence and audacity] (in Spanish). Granada Digital. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "El Atlético Mancha Real debuta con un empate en Granada" [Atlético Mancha Real debut with a draw in Granada] (in Spanish). El Deporte de Jaén. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "El Villarreal vuela sin Pato" [Villarreal fly without Pato] (in Spanish). Marca. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "Martin Hongla tendrá ficha con el primer equipo" [Martin Hongla will have a first team place] (in Spanish). Ideal. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- "Granada CF agree to loan of Martin Hongla". FC Barcelona. 16 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- "Comunicado | El Granada CF acuerda el traspaso de Hongla al Royal Antwerp FC" [Announcement | Granada CF agree the transfer of Hongla to Royal Antwerp FC] (in Spanish). Granada CF. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- "Benvenuto Martin! Dal Royal Antwerp arriva il centrocampista Hongla" (in Italian). Hellas Verona. 9 July 2021.
- "Hongla fortalece la plantilla" [Hongla bolsters the squad] (in Spanish). Real Valladolid. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- "Comunicado Oficial | Martin Hongla, nuevo jugador del Granada CF" [Official Statement | Martin Hongla, new Granada CF player] (in Spanish). Granada CF. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- "Martin Hongla moves to Granada". Hellas Verona. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- "Martin Hongla, quinto refuerzo" [Martin Hongla, fifth reinforcement]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 12 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- "Martin Hongla profile". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
- "Mozambique v Cameroon game report". ESPN. 16 November 2020.
- Martin Hongla at Soccerway
- Martin Hongla at National-Football-Teams.com
- "Club Brugge v Antwerp". goal.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- AfricaNews (6 February 2022). "Cameroon beats Burkina Faso to end AFCON 2021 in third place". Africanews. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- Martin Hongla at BDFutbol
- Martin Hongla at Soccerway