 After making a number of appearances for the Cameroon under-21 side, Atangana made one full international appearance on 23 April 2000, coming off the bench to replace Pius Ndiefi after 51 minutes in a 3–0 2002 World Cup qualifying win over Somalia at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo.Atangana was in contention to play for Cameroon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but instead opted to concentrate on his club career with Dundee United.Cameroon went on to take the gold medal.