Bakary Nimaga (born 6 December 1994) is a

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

an professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

playing for Radnički Niš in the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

.Dvojica fudbalera iz Malija stigla u niški Radnički
("Two players from Mali join Radnicki Nis"), at juznevesti.com, 16-9-2023, retrieved 22-9-2023

Club career

Early career

Nimaga was born in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

an parents who were working in Cameroon at the time of his birth, but they soon moved back to Mali during Bakary's childhood, where he grew up with his three brothers and four sisters. He helped his uncle at a local market in order to aid his family financially and to also fund his passion for football, as he was part of the

Stade Malien Stade Malien is a Malian professional football and sports club based in Bamako. One of the two dominant clubs of Malian football, their eastern Bamako training grounds host other sports as well, including a successful basketball club. Football ...

academy. At the age of 15 he moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

to join a youth academy there with the help of a German couple who he had met in Mali, before moving to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to join the

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

academy. He soon left the club and went on to live in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

before returning to

Skënderbeu Korçë

Nimaga's agent was in contact with Albanian champions

Skënderbeu Korçë , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

prior to his move to the club, and was convinced by the club's official to return to Europe where he signed his first professional contract in the closing stages of the 2013 January transfer window, which was two-year deal ending on 31 December 2015. He featured in 5 league and 2

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup ( sq, Kupa e Shqipërisë) is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit (English:"The King's Cup"). Just after a year the cup was suspended as the Second World War st ...

games, helping his side win the

Albanian Superliga The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

championship for a third consecutive year. On 17 August 2014, Nimaga scored the only goal in the 2014 Albanian Supercup against

Flamurtari Vlorë Flamurtari FC is a professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria e Parë, which is the second tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Albania, and it is also one ...

Qemal Stafa Stadium The Qemal Stafa Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Qemal Stafa), named after Qemal Stafa (1920–1942), a Albanian Resistance of World War II, World War II hero, was a national stadium and the largest football (soccer), football stadium in Tirana, Albania. ...

, giving the club their only second Supercup trophy. He scored in the beginning of the second half after a cross from the captain

Bledi Shkëmbi Bledi Shkëmbi (born 13 August 1979) is an Albanian professional Association football, football coach and former player. A former Albania national football team, Albanian international, he has previously played for Ethnikos Asteras in Greece, HN ...

. Later, on 25 January of the following year, he scored the first league goal with the club, scoring the fourth during the 4–1 away win against

Elbasani Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central A ...

Elbasan Arena Elbasan Arena ( sq, Elbasan Arena, formerly known as Ruzhdi Bizhuta) is a multi-purpose stadium in Elbasan, Albania. The stadium was completed in 1967 and has been the home ground of KF Elbasani ever since. The stadium was under reconstruction a ...

, in the first match of the third phase. Nimaga played his 50th match on 2 May 2015, entering in the field in the last 15 minutes during the 4–2 home win against Teuta Durres. He ended his third season with 32 appearances and 5 goals in all competitions, with Skënderbeu Korçë by winning again the

for a record fifth time, also reaching the semi-finals of

. On 14 July 2015, in the first leg of second qualifying round of 2015–16 UEFA Champions League against

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, Nimaga scored the opening goal in the 15th minute for a 4–1 victory. That was his first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

goal in his six appearances in European competitions. On 5 November 2015, Nimaga scored a fantastic goal from 40 yards in the

2015–16 UEFA Europa League The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2016 UEFA Europa League Final w ...

group stage match against Sporting as teammate Peter Olayinka forced the Sporting goalkeeper

Marcelo Boeck Marcelo Boeck (born 28 November 1984) is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Internacional Born in Vera Cruz, Rio Grande do Sul of Belgians, Belgian d ...

into a mistake and Nimaga himself capitalised on woeful defending to score from 40 yards as Skënderbeu recorded a 3–0 win against the Portuguese side at the

, which was their first ever win at the group stage in any major tournament. During the 2015–16 season, Nimaga collected 30 appearances in all competitions, making only 15 league appearances, six of them as a starter, scoring three times in the process. He started the 2016–17 season on 5 October by scoring four goals in the returning leg of 2016–17 Albanian Cup first round against Butrinti Sarandë, helping the team to win 8–0 and to progress to the next round with the aggregate 9–1. Later on 13th, Nimaga scored his first league goal, a 94th-minute winner against

Teuta Durrës Teuta ( Illyrian: *''Teutana'', 'mistress of the people, queen'; grc, Τεύτα; lat, Teuta) was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC. Following the death of her spouse Agro ...

in the matchday 6 to help Skënderbeu maintain its 100% winning record.

Rheindorf Altach

On 28 January 2022, Nimaga returned to Austria and signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Rheindorf Altach.

Radnički Niš

On September 2023 Nimaga joined Serbian club Radnički Niš along his compatriot Lassana Ndiaye.

International career

He was named in the Mali U-20 squad for the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

held in Turkey, where he featured in all 3 group games, drawing two and losing one to finish bottom of Group D. He can represent either

Career statistics

Honours

;Skënderbeu Korçë *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double (association foot ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nimaga, Bakary 1994 births Footballers from Douala Living people Malian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Mali men's under-20 international footballers Cameroonian men's footballers Cameroonian people of Malian descent KF Skënderbeu Korçë players Hatayspor footballers TSV Hartberg players Zalaegerszegi TE players SC Rheindorf Altach players Kategoria Superiore players TFF First League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Malian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Albania Malian expatriate sportspeople in Albania Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Malian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Malian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Malian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary FK Radnički Niš players Malian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia