French football has lost one of its old penalty-box specialists. Joseph Yegba Maya, the Cameroon international striker who made his name with Marseille in the 1960s, died on Sunday at the age of 82.
His former French clubs, including Marseille, Valenciennes and Strasbourg, paid tribute to a forward who remained among the leading scorers in the history of France’s old First Division.
Quick facts
- Joseph Yegba Maya died aged 82.
- He scored 124 goals in 238 First Division matches.
- Marseille’s 1969 Coupe de France winner scored in the 2-0 final victory over Bordeaux.
- He won 25 caps for Cameroon and scored 10 international goals.
- His French club career also included Valenciennes, Strasbourg and Béziers.
Yegba Maya arrived in France as a teenager in 1960 after beginning his football education at Dragon de Yaoundé during the colonial period. He was 16 when he joined Marseille.
Before his breakthrough at OM, he played for Gallia Chutes-Lavie while also working as a mechanic for the SNCF railway company. Marseille noticed him during a Coupe de Provence match and brought him into their ranks.
He spent eight seasons with the southern club, recording 113 goals in 236 appearances. His most memorable Marseille moment came in the 1969 French Cup final, when he found the net against Bordeaux as OM won 2-0.
After leaving Marseille, Yegba Maya played for Valenciennes between 1970 and 1973, then Strasbourg in 1973-74 and Béziers in 1975-76.
He was a centre-forward with a clear view of his craft. In a 1973 interview, Yegba Maya said a striker was not there simply to entertain: he had to unsettle defenders, keep moving and make the decisive impact when the moment arrived.
His 124 goals across 238 top-flight games still place him inside the top 50 scorers in the competition’s historical ranking, a mark of a forward whose finishing endured long after the floodlights went out.
