so bambam solomain bambe born 13 january 1985 is a professional footballer who plays for efl championship club middlesbrough and the ivorian national team as a center back bambes started his career in his native france with paris saint-germain but failed to establish himself in their first team he moved to scotland to join dunform line athletic in 2006 helping the club reach the final of the scottish cup in his first season two years later he was transferred to hibernian before joining english side leicester city in january 2011. he was sold to turkish club trabzonsburg in 2012 for 750 000 pounds however he was loaned to leeds united after making only one appearance in six months he eventually joined leeds on a permanent deal and was appointed club captain spending a further year with the club before being released and subsequently joining cardiff city in his first full season with cardiff he helped the side win promotion to the premier league born in france to ivorian parents bamber represented ivory coast in the 2008 olympic games and became a regular for the senior national side until his most recent cap in 2014 in 2012 he was part of the side that reached the final of the africa cup of nations club career paris saint-germain family began his career with league one club paris saint-germain psg at the age of 11. he had been spotted by club scouts playing street football in paris but had initially turned the club down as his mother hoped for him to become a doctor he lived with his parents seyrata and bakery bamba in every sir sane a suburb in central paris since his family could not afford the travel to the club's training facilities outside the city he moved away from his family home to instead live at the club's academy originally playing as a defensive midfielder he converted to playing as a central defender at the age of 15 after impressing there as cover for a teammate who had missed a match due to being stuck in traffic despite impressing for psg youth and b teams he only appeared in two first-team games in his final year at the club at the age of 21. dissatisfied with his lack of appearances bambe asked to be sent out on loan to gain experience but was denied by manager bahid hala hadzik causing bambam to reject psg offer of a new contract and subsequently leave the club he later claimed that psg had damaged potential transfers to other french sides after he left the club stating i was disappointed because my club said he's a good player but he's a tough guy he doesn't listen and he can get the team into trouble son from line athletic after an initial trial period bama signed for scottish premier league side dunform line athletic in july 2006 on a two-year contract jim lushman later revealed that he had been intending to bring over another player from france on trial but this deal fell through and bambes agents sent him instead fleshman was immediately impressed by bambam's physique and his performance as a trialist during a pre-season friendly against west bromwich albion striker john hartson he made his competitive debut for the club in dunfermline's opening league match of the season a 2-1 defeat to hearts on 2 december 2006 bam bam was sent off for the first time in his professional career after pushing stephen naismith in the chest during a 5-1 defeat to kilmarnock in his first season at the club bambam was part of the squad that reached the 2007 scottish cup final and played in a 1-0 defeat to celtic in the final however the club also suffered relegation from the scottish premier league after a seven-year spell in the division fam they signed a two-year contract extension at the start of the 2007-8 season the extension brought an end to rumors of his desire to leave the club in order to play at a higher level and further his chances of breaking into the ivory coast national side having not played in any of dunfermline's pre-season matches bambam was allowed to go on trial with championship side watford in july 2008 appearing in a friendly for them against boreham wood soon afterwards manager jim mcintyre said he expected a fee to be agreed between dunform line and watford which would allow bamba to move to the championship side the deal was thought to be almost complete with waffed sending a doctor to china where bambe had traveled with the ivory coast olympic squad to conduct his medical however waffed later pulled out for unknown reasons a few weeks later gunfirmline accepted offers of 50 000 pounds for bambi to move to either hibernian and motherwell keeping him in the scottish premier league hibernian amber chose to move to hibernian signing a three-year contract with the club as part of the transfer deal dunform line would do 10 of any future transfer fee he was sent off on his debut for a second bookable offense against dundee united but bamba subsequently established himself in the hib's first team despite being a natural centre-back manager miksu pottelainen praised bamva's performance as a defensive midfielder during a 2-0 win over celtic in december 2008. paulinen commented further that he believed bambam had improved as a player since his spell at dunform line with him no longer going to ground when making a challenge and described him as possessing tremendous pace and physical presence famba quickly became a popular player with the hibs support due to his tough and committed tackling in this new role following pottalainen's departure new manager john hughes moved bambam back to a central defensive role after the departure of rob jones in the 2009 season in his second match in this position bambes scored his first ever professional goal in a 3-1 win against falkirk on 22 august heading in from a john rankin corner coincidentally he scored his second goal for the club at the same ground against the same team and in another 3-1 win on 27 march the edinburgh evening news reported on 8 may 2010 that bambe's performances had not gone unnoticed with scouts from fulham and wren's due to watch bamberg sven goran eriksson the new manager of the ivorian national team was also due to watch bambam head of the 2010 world cup but was not spotted at the last game played by hibbs in the 2009-10 season fambeck angered manager john hughes when he failed to report for a pre-season tour of the netherlands in july 2010 bamberg responded angrily to the criticism by claiming that he needed a full three weeks off after returning from the world cup and had attempted to contact both hughes and hibernian's chairman to discuss the situation but hughes dropped bamber from the first team squad when he eventually returned to edinburgh bambam was made to train with the club's youth team on his return but was recalled for the second leg of a ufo europa league tie with nk maribor at easter road which hibs lost 3-2 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate following the incident manager hughes stated his desire for the situation to be forgotten during his time with hibs he made 80 appearances in all competitions scoring four times leicester city with baba's contract with him is due to expire at the end of the 2010-11 season the club agreed on a deal with football league championship club leicester city for his transfer the deal was confirmed onto january 2011 with banned by joining for an undisclosed fee midway through the season although sources placed the figure around 250 000 pounds with him is also due to receive a percentage of any future transfer fee he was reunited at leicester with his former ivory coast manager sven goran ericsson he made his debut for the club in a 2-2 draw against manchester city on 9 january in the third round of the fa cup scoring with his first touch of the ball he scored his first two league goals in a 4-2 win over millau on 22 january after speculation linking him with several premier league sides including blackburn rovers and french side marcel during the 2011 summer transfer window bambe signed a new contract with leicester in september 2011. during negotiations eriksen compared bambes style of play to that of former german international player franz beckhambar blackburn manager steve king had claimed that the two clubs had made a bid for bamber and described the move as being quite close to being completed after ericsson was replaced by nigel pearson as leicester manager bamba played less regularly particularly after january when the club signed was morgan and bambam missed a month to play in the african cup of nations with ivory coast in his 17 months at the club in total he played 55 games for the club in all competitions scoring four goals he later expressed his regret at leading the club stating his belief in pearson's ability to help them when promotion to the premier league frabs onspur fanbase signed for turkish club trabzonsburg in june 2012 for a fee of 750 000 pounds after being recommended to the club by his international teammate didier zakor he made his debut for the club on 26 august 2012 playing the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 victory at home to allais expert he only made 18 appearances during his first season at the club missing a proportion of fixtures in december and january in part because he was away with ivory coast as they qualified for the 2013 african cup of nations during the 2013-14 season bambam made 15 appearances for trabzonspur in the first half of the season including being a regular starter in their europa league campaign however on 22 january 2014 he picked up an ankle injury which ruled him out for the majority of the latter part of the season bambam was not selected to play for trans onspur again after suffering the injury however he recovered in time to play for ivory coast at the 2014 fifa world cup palermo on 26 august 2014 after having been released by trabzon spur bambang agreed a three-year deal with newly promoted soraya club paloma he made his palomo debut on 24 september 2014 when he started the match for palomo in a 3-3 draw against napoli however he made no further appearances for the club after leaving the club he expressed his confusion over not playing more for palomok commenting the manager would say you're not far off leeds united on 23 january 2015 less than six months into his palomo contract bamba was loaned to championship side leeds united for the remainder of the season with the possibility of making the transfer permanent at a later date he made his debut for leagues in a 2-1 west yorkshire derby when over huddersfield town a week later less than a month after joining the side bambam was named captain for three games in place of liam cooper in particular he served as captain when leeds beat the then league leaders middlesbrough 1-0 with bambam receiving praise for his performance bambes scored his first goal for leads against fulham in a 3-0 away victory in march after impressing during his time at leeds bamberg revealed his desire to join the club on a permanent basis however he was also outspoken towards the club's owner massimo celino advising the person in charge has to do better for the sake of the club and the supporters in june leeds arranged with bambes club palomo to sign him on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee the deal was for two years with the option for a third year new leads united head coach hugh rossler described bamba as a match winner in both boxes and said that he brings fantastic qualities with him and he can be a leader by himself for the young team he is working with in the off-season bam bam was appointed captain of leeds by head coach rossler taking over from previous captain liam cooper famber received the man of the match award in a 1-1 draw against burnley in the league on the opening day of the season pamber scored a stunning long-range volley against wolverhampton wanderers in a 2-1 win late in the season at the end of the 2015-16 season bambam was again critical of leeds owner celino calling on him to put promises to action he revealed the players were unaware if head coach steve evans would be retained for the following 2016-17 season that the players were unaware of when to return for pre-season training and they were told they would find out by text when celino had made a decision nonetheless new head coach gary monk announced bamba would remain as leads captain for the 2016-17 seat on 7 august bambes scored an own goal against queen's park rangers in a 3-0 defeat in the opening match of the season and was subsequently dropped from the side falling behind kyle bartley liam cooper and pontus janssen in the pecking order on 1 september 2016 bambam despite being leeds captain was released by the club his contract was cancelled by mutual consent following the close of the transfer window the previous day the decision was made after monk informed him that he would no longer be first choice at the club cardiff city following his release bama trained with derby county who were managed by his former leicester boss nigel pearson but was not offered a deal he instead joined neil warnock at cardiff city in october 2016 signing a two-year contract ornack had long been keen on signing bam back previous clubs and had contacted him a month before the move when both were without a club and urged him to wait for warnock's appointment at a new club to join him there he made his debut for the club in a severn side derby match against bristol city on 14 october scoring the winning goal as the bluebirds two one his performances for cardiff led manager warnock to declare that i wouldn't want anyone else i don't think there's anyone better bamber received his first red card in seven years against ipswich town in december following a scuffle with forward david mcgoldrick after receiving the red card bambeck clashed with the fourth official before being physically restrained by warnock and leaving the pitch his reaction led to a three-match ban in april babe suffered a groin injury against barnsley which ended his season prematurely amber returned to the squad at the beginning of the 2017-18 season helping cardiff win their three opening games of the season for the first time in their history he signed a new three-year contract on 25 august 2017 following it up by heading in the winner against queen's park rangers the next day he went on to help the club win promotion to the premier league after finishing the season in second place he was ever present in the league appearing in all 46 league matches and was named in the pfa championship team of the year he made his debut in the premier league in cardiff's first match of the 2018-19 season a 2-0 defeat to afc bournemouth before scoring his first goal in the top division in a 4-1 defeat to chelsea in september 2018. bamba scored a further three goals during the season including in wins against brighton and hove albion in southampton having missed only one match during the course of the season he was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after rupturing his cruciate knee ligaments in a defeat against wolverhampton wanderers on 5 march 2019 in july 2019 it was revealed that bambe would miss the start of the 2019-20 season due to injury middlesbrough amber was reunited with former manager neil warnock after joining middlesbrough on a one-year contract on 10 august 2021 he made his first start for the club one day later in a 3-0 defeat away to blackpool in the caraval cup his first league start came in a 2-0 defeat away to coventry city on 11 september 2021 fambau won the skybet man of the match award for his performance in a 2-0 victory against his former club cardiff city on 23 october 2021 on 4 february 2022 bambam was subbed on in the 28th minute of extra time in middlesbrough's fa cup tie against manchester united upon the game going to penalties he took and converted middlesbrough's fifth spot kick and ultimately allowed the boro to progress to the fifth round of the tournament for the first time since 2015. international career although born in france bamberg represents his parents nation of ivory coast he featured in the 2003 fifa world youth championship the 2005 african youth championship and the 2008 toulon tournament bambe was part of the ivory coast squad that reached the quarterfinals of the 2008 olympic games bamba won his first cap at full international level for ivory coast in a 2008 friendly match against israel and his second cap as a late substitute in a friendly against turkey bambam made his competitive debut in a 5-0 win against malawi in a 2010 fifa world cup qualifying match this match was played in the aftermath of the houffowitz boyne arena stampede which killed dozens of ivorian spectators and they became a regular in the national team as they qualified for the 2010 africa cup of nations and the 2010 fifa world cup bamba scored his first goal for the team in a friendly against randa as part of the squad's preparation for the 2010 african cup he played in all of ivory coast's matches at the 2010 africa cup of nations but the team suffered a quarter-final defeat to algeria after extra time the uneasy central defensive partnership between kolotur and bambam was cited as one of the reasons for their defeat the tournament had been played in the shadow of the shooting of the togo team bus however with death threats also being made against the ivory coast team manager bahid halahadzik who had worked with bamba at psg and given him his first appearances at club and international level was sacked after the tournament the new ivorian coach sven goran eriksen selected bamba in his provisional 30-man squad for the 2010 world cup on 11 may fambas scored in ericsson's first match in charge a 2-2 draw with paraguay babba was selected in the ivory coast's 23-man world cup squad but was dropped from the starting lineup with midfielder didier zakora chosen to partner with kolo tour in central defence bamber resumed his partnership with tour in the 2012 africa cup of nations ivory coast did not concede a goal during the entire tournament but lost the final against zambia on a penalty shootout at the 2014 fifa world cup bambeck played in central defense alongside zakur after tour contracted malaria in the period before the tournament the bambe was booked in the first match which ivory coast 121 against japan ivory coast were eliminated at the group stage after suffering 2-1 defeats against both colombia and greece amba was called up to the squad for 10 september 2014 fixture against cameroon however on 29 december 2014 he was a surprising omission from the ivory coast squad for the 2015 africa cup of nations although he has not retired from international football he has not appeared for the side since 2014. style of play chiefly a centre-back bambam played as a defensive midfielder during his emergence of paris sg before becoming a center back at age 15. he has sporadically played in the midfield since then most successfully from mixopotalain and at hibbs jim leshman who signed bam back at done from line athletic said of his former charge in 2010 he certainly got the physique and he's got the potential to do it but potential sometimes passes you by it's all about going out and doing it he's a great runner he's as strong as an ox and he's a strong tackler sky sports soruba caju in september 2011 said bam sven goran eriksson who managed bambaat club level for leicester city and internationally for the ivory coast compared the defender with franz beckenbauer cardiff manager neil warnock regularly told bam they don't beat beckham bar just kick or head it when it's on pass it but if it's not on just put it up there and in december 2017 warnock branded bam bam and fellow cardiff center half sean morrison as better than virgil van dijk fabba's favorite players growing up were lillian theorem and george we personal life fabbin met his english wife chloe while playing for lester they have three children together he also has a son called jackson shields from a previous relationship with a scottish woman bambe is multilingual being able to speak english french italian turkish and the ivorian dialect that his father used at home in 2021 he was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma and began undergoing chemotherapy treatment four months later in may 2021 he announced that he was cancer free career statistics club club as of match played for february 2022 international as of match played 10 september 2014 otters son from line athletic scottish cup runner-up 2006-7 cardiff city efl championship runner-up 2017-18 ivory coast africa cup of nations runner-up 2012 individual pfa team of the year 2017-18 championship leeds united player of the month august 2015