David Ngog

David Philippe Henri Ngog (born 1 April 1989) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Ngog started his career with French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. He made his senior debut in 2006 and in 2008 won the Coupe de la Ligue. English Premier League club Liverpool signed him at the start of the 2008–09 season. After three years, he moved to fellow Premier League club Bolton Wanderers, but was relegated with them after just one season. Following that, Ngog had spells in Greece, Scotland, Hungary, and Lithuania. In 2020, he announced his retirement. However, he made a surprising comeback in 2022, having a one-year stint with third-tier club Panionios.

Ngog is a former France under-21 international. However, he was also eligible to represent Cameroon, by way of his father, and was approached by Cameroon in the past to make the switch.

David Philippe Henri Ngog was born on 1 April 1989 in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, to a Cameroonian father and a French mother. He holds both French and Cameroonian nationalities. He is the cousin of former French international player Jean-Alain Boumsong.

Ngog started his career with Paris Saint-Germain of Ligue 1 in 2001. He signed his first professional contract in June 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Manager Rafael Benítez hailed his scouting network after his signing, saying that "They are finding players like Ngog, players with quality who are not a high price". Ngog played his first game for Liverpool in a friendly game against Villarreal on 30 July 2008 and scored his first goal one game later against Rangers in another pre-season friendly. He then followed this up by scoring Liverpool's final goal in their next pre-season friendly, a 4–1 win over Norwegian side Vålerenga. He made his Premier League debut against Aston Villa, coming on as a substitute for Fernando Torres. Ngog scored his first goal for Liverpool in their 3–1 victory over PSV in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. Ngog made his first start for Liverpool on 7 February 2009 against Portsmouth, and scored his first league goal on 3 March 2009 against Sunderland in a 2–0 win at Anfield. Ngog scored his second league goal for the club on 11 April 2009 against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield in an emphatic 4–0 win.

Ngog scored his first goal of the new season with the final goal in a 4–0 home win against Stoke City. This was his fourth career goal for Liverpool, three of which came in league matches. The following month, he then went on to score the winning goal in a third-round League Cup game, to win 1–0 away against Leeds United. On 25 October, in a crucial game against Manchester United, he came on for goalscorer Torres at Anfield, scoring a goal in the 96th minute in the 2–0 win to seal an important victory for Liverpool. After the crunch tie, Ngog said scoring the goal was "a fantastic moment for me and the team and I would say it's my best moment in football." He scored his fourth goal of the season on 9 November against Birmingham City before winning a controversial penalty that gave Liverpool a draw after Steven Gerrard converted from the spot. Ngog then scored Liverpool's only goal in their next match away to Debrecen in the Champions League. Benítez showed his faith in Ngog by handing him a start against Everton in the Merseyside derby; this match finished 2–0 to Liverpool. He scored his fourth league goal (six in total of the 2009–10 season) in a 2–1 victory over Wigan Athletic. Ngog's goal nine minutes from time eventually broke the resistance of a determined Unirea Urziceni at Anfield in the Europa League.

On 29 July, Ngog scored twice in Roy Hodgson's first competitive match as manager in Liverpool's Europa League third qualifying round first leg 2–0 win over Macedonian side Rabotnički. In the second leg of the tie played at Anfield, Ngog scored the opening goal via a header and also won a penalty, which Gerrard scored, as Liverpool ran out 4–0 aggregate winners.