Alhaji Momodo Njie (30 March 1948 – 19 July 2020), also known as Biri Biri, was a Gambian

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 played as a

right winger 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 ...

. He most notably played for

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

in Spain and

Herfølge Boldklub Herfølge Boldklub is a Danish football club founded in 1921. It is based in Herfølge, a southern suburb of Køge in the eastern part of Zealand. In 2009, the club shared its licence, and merged its professional football with Køge BK to form ...

in Denmark. He was also a Gambian international footballer, and is regarded by several as the best Gambian footballer of all time.

Club career

Before his time in Europe, Biri Biri played for Black Diamonds, Phontoms and Augustines in Gambia as well as Mighty Blackpool of Sierra Leone. Biri Biri was spotted by Danish club

B 1901 B, or b, is the second Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English ...

during a training camp in Gambia in 1972. He left them in 1973 for Spanish team

. He was the first black player to play for Sevilla, and was considered one of their best players. Biri Biri returned to Denmark to play for

in 1980, and in 1981 he signed for Wallidan F.C. back in Gambia, for whom he played until retirement in 1987.

International career

Biri Biri played on multiple occasions for The Gambia's national men's football team, starting as a youth in 1963.

Retirement

Biri Biri was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Banjul after

Yahya Jammeh Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the leader of The Gambia from 1994 to 2017, firstly as chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 199 ...

came to power in 1994, a post he had relinquished by 2005. He also worked as the manager of Royal Albert market in the city. In 2000, Jammeh awarded him the Order of Merit, and he was described as The Gambia's "greatest footballer of the last millennium and of all time." Biri Biri died on 19 July 2020, aged 72, in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

, Senegal.

References

External links

* * 1948 births 2020 deaths Sportspeople from Banjul Gambian footballers Association football wingers Augustinians FC players Derby County F.C. players Wallidan FC players Sevilla FC players Herfølge Boldklub players La Liga players The Gambia international footballers Gambian expatriate footballers Gambian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Denmark {{Gambia-footy-bio-stub