# Nana Falemi

Ngassam Nana Falemi (born 5 May 1974) is a Romanian-born Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

## Club career

Nana Falemi was born on 5 May 1974 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1981, aged 7 at local club, Steaua, being coached by Lajos Sătmăreanu. In 1992 he went at Voința, one year later starting his senior career at Divizia C team, Viscofil, then in 1995 he went at Chimia in the same league. Afterwards he signed with Petrolul Ploiești where he made his Divizia A debut on 11 November 1997 in a 1–0 away victory against Steaua. He played regularly for The Yellow Wolves, most notably under the guidance of coach Marin Ion, attracting the interest of Steaua who decided to transfer him in the middle of the 1999–2000 season.
Falemi helped Steaua win the 2000–01 title, playing 25 games and scoring three goals, being coached by one of his childhood idols, Victor Pițurcă. Afterwards he started to play in European competitions, making four appearances in the 2001–02 Champions League qualifying rounds, helping the team get past Sloga Jugomagnat against whom he scored a goal but got eliminated in the following round by Dynamo Kyiv. In the following season he played in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup, Steaua eliminating in the first two rounds Neman Grodno and Southampton, then obtaining a 1–1 in the first leg of the following round with Liverpool, losing the away leg with 1–0, thus the campaign ending. In his last season with The Military Men he played four matches in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, including a 2–0 victory in the group stage with Standard Liège and also made five league appearances, leaving in the middle of the season at Ergotelis, Steaua managing to win the title without him.
Falemi made his Alpha Ethniki debut for Ergotelis on 12 February 2005 when coach Manolis Patemtzis sent him in the 66th minute in order to replace Stavros Labrakis in a 1–1 with Aris Thessaloniki in which he received a yellow card. He stayed until the end of the season with The Yellow-Blacks, returning afterwards in Romania at Vaslui. In 2006, Volyn Lutsk paid 10.000€ for his transfer from Vaslui, making his Vyshcha Liha debut on 2 April as coach Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi used him all the minutes in a 2–0 away loss in front of Chornomorets Odesa.
He left Volyn at the end of the season, going at China League One side Jiangsu Shuntian for a short while, then returning in Romania at second league team, Dunărea Giurgiu. For the last season of his career he played for Gaz Metan Mediaș where he was wanted by coach Cristian Pustai, making his last appearance in the Romanian first league on 23 November 2008 in a 1–0 away loss in front of Farul Constanța, having a total of 168 matches with eight goals scored in the competition.

## International career

Falemi played five games at international level for Cameroon, making his debut under coach Winfried Schäfer on 27 March 2003 when he came as a substitute and replaced Bill Tchato in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 victory against Madagascar. His following two appearances were a 0–0 with United States in the group stage and a 1–0 victory against Colombia in the semifinals of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup where Cameroon reached the final, but lost it with 1–0 in front of France as Falemi did not play in it. His last two games for the national team were friendlies, a 0–0 with Japan and a 3–0 loss in front of Bulgaria, he was also part of Cameroon's squad at the 2004 African Cup of Nations but did not play in any game.

## Personal life

Falemi was born in Romania to a Cameroonian father and a Romanian mother. He has a twin brother named Nomi.
In 2018 he opened his own football school named "Nana Juniors".

## Honours

Steaua București
* Divizia A: 2000–01, 2004–05
* Supercupa României: 2001
Cameroon
* FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 2003