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A native of Nkenglicock, Song started his professional career with Tonnerre in 1993 but failed to make any appearances for the club. A year later he moved to Metz and helped the club to win the French League Cup back in 1996. After appearing at the 1998 World Cup he left Italy, where he signed for Salernitana, to start successive stints with Liverpool, West Ham United and Cologne but after failing to hold down a first-team place he returned to France to play for RC Lens. He stayed there until 2004 and moved on to Turkey, where he spent four years with Galatasaray, winning two Turkish League titles and the Turkish Cup. Song then signed a contract with Trabzonspor in 2008, where he won another Turkish Cup and stayed until 2010. Along with Zinedine Zidane, Song is the only player to have been sent off in two different World Cups, once against Brazil in USA 94 and once against Chile in France 98. He also holds the record as youngest player ever to be sent off in a World Cup, aged 17. Nicknamed "Big Chief" by the Turkish fans, he is the cousin of fellow Cameroon defensive midfielder and Arsenal player Alex Song, although Alex refers to Rigobert as his uncle. |