Jean Claude Mbvoumin was born in Nkolbiyen, a suburb of Yaoundé in Cameroon, on the 5th December 1973. His youth was a fairly typical one for a young African boy and so naturally football played its part in his development. The game was his first love and it helped to mould him both as a player and as a human being.

Like all the kids around him, from about 10 years old JC played with his mates in the street and as a group they competed against others in local tournaments arranged during the school holidays. Spotted here he joined up with Red Star, a team of the “Little Pilgrims of the Abbé Zacharie” – the choir and altar boys of the Notre Dame cathedral in Yaoundé.

At 14, when it appeared that he was destined to wear the shirt of Tonnerre Yaoundé, the former stomping ground of none other than Roger Milla and George Weah, he was shrewdly recruited by Canon de Yaoundé. It did not take long for him to come to the attention of the national selectors and in June 1988 he was called up to play in a tournament in France for Les Lionceaux – the Cameroon U17 team.

Less than two years later, at only 16, JC made his first appearance for the Canon first team. Here he was surrounded by giants of the local game. Men such as Thomas Nkono, Emmanuel Kundé, François Oman-Biyick and Louis-Paul M’fédé – heroes of the Cameroon team that brought glory to Africa at Italia 1990. Jean Claude’s own first taste of glory was not far away. His mind, however, was focussed on greater things and to achieve those he would have to leave his homeland and find his way to the supposed utopia that is Europe.

Coming soon – Part 2: Getting in the game…