Dianbobo "Bobo" Baldé (born 5 October 1975) is a former 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 played as a defender and is the current manager of Guinea U20. He played for

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

and Arles-Avignon. Born in France, Baldé was also a Guinean international and represented them 52 times scoring two goals.

Club career

Early career

Baldé started his career in 1995 at centre back for

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, where he stayed until 1997 but could not make the first-team breakthrough, so he had to leave his hometown club to join second division outfit

FC Mulhouse Football Club de Mulhouse (; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth level of French foot ...

for the 1997–98 season, staying only that year. When Mulhouse were relegated he joined

on loan in 1998 where he had little success, in the league making 29 appearances and scoring 4 goals. He left Marseille, moving to

, whom he helped to promotion during the 1999–00 season. In total he made 52 league appearances for Toulouse, scoring one goal.

Celtic

Baldé signed for

on 21 July 2001 and became a regular player in Celtic's team. Baldé made 232 appearances (51 as a sub) during his spell as a Hoops' player. He made his debut on 8 September in a 3–1 win at home to

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

. Four SPL games later he scored his first Celtic goal on 20 October 2001 against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. In that entire season Baldé scored a total of 6 goals including one in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers when he rose above

Lorenzo Amoruso Lorenzo Pier Paolo Amoruso (born 28 June 1971) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender for seven teams in Italy, Scotland, England, and San Marino during his footballing career, but is perhaps best known for his six ...

to score from a

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he ...

free kick from six yards, on the 50th minute. Celtic lost that game 3–2. Baldé also scored in the League Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers. Baldé scored his first goal of the 2002–03 season on 1 September 2002 against

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

. He was booked in the first

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

game of the season which ended 3–3 but at the end of the season Baldé was subsequently voted the

Celtic Player of The Year Celtic Player of the Year award is an annual awards ceremony held by Celtic F.C., Celtic. It has been held every year since 2003 when Bobo Baldé was awarded the first ever Celtic Player of the Year award. Winners 2002–03 *Celtic Player of the ...

for 2003 by the Celtic fans in which 40,000 Celtic fans voted. He was the inaugural winner of that award. In his acceptance speech he paid tribute to his teammates and manager

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

. Speaking just after winning the award, Baldé said "It means a lot to win this award. Its good to know the fans are behind you and they are happy with what you do for them". He also won the Player of The Month Award for April. He played in 12 of Celtic's 13

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

games in that season, where Celtic got to the final. In the final they played against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

at the Olympic Stadium in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. During the final, Baldé was sent off in the 95th minute after picking up his second booking. Celtic lost that final 3–2 with

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Hels ...

getting both of Celtic's goals. In the 2003–04 season, Baldé's first goal came against

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in the fifth SPL game of the season. In the next game, he received a red card in the 70th minute. Throughout that season received seven yellow cards and one red card. He scored two goals that season, both against Dundee. At the end of the season, Baldé added a League Championship and a Scottish Cup medal to his collection. A Dundee fan was convicted of racially abusing Baldé during a match at

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

in March 2004. Business man, Russell Smith, was banned for life from Kilmarnock's home ground

Rugby Park Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. It was first used in 1899 and is the home of Kilmarnock F.C. Rugby Park has also been used for con ...

after shouting racial abuse at Baldé from the directors box in October 2004, while

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

supporters had targeted Baldé in October 2001. Baldé started the 2004–05 season one yellow card in the first six games of the season (all competitions) and a goal in the 38th minute in the 8–1 defeat of

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

in the first League Cup game of the season. Within his first ten games of the season, he had received two yellow cards. In Europe, Celtic lost the first three games of the season. His next achievement that season was scoring 2 goals in a 3–0 win at home to Dundee on 2 March 2005. At the end of that season he added a Scottish Cup medal to his tally after Celtic beat Dundee United 1–0 in the final. His fifth season and first season under new manager

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

started with criticism in a pre-season match against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, for a challenge on 17-year-old James Wesolowski described as "..disgraceful, it was disgusting, it was malicious and it was intentional" by then Leicester manager

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing career ...

. In the first competitive game, Celtic lost 5–0 to Artmedia Bratislava in the first leg of a Champions League qualifier, with Baldé getting booked. He was heavily criticised for his performance and dropped for Celtic's next game, a league match away at

. He returned for the second leg of the Champions League qualifier; Celtic won 4–0 but went out on aggregate. Baldé kept his place in the side and scored a header from a

Shunsuke Nakamura is a Japanese former professional footballer. He is the only person to have been named J.League Most Valuable Player more than once, receiving the award in 2000 and 2013. Steve Perryman once remarked that Nakamura "could open a tin of beans wi ...

cross in Celtic's 3–0 win over Rangers in November 2005. He finished the season with two further honours; the League Cup and the Scottish Premier League. Over the course of the season he scored one goal and received seven yellow cards. Baldé missed the start of the 2006–07 season after discovering he required surgery for a persistent stomach muscle problem. He returned to the first team in November, only to suffer a broken leg in a match on

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

. The Guinea international was carried off in the first half during the 2–2 draw with Dundee United. He was ruled out for several months. In July 2007, before the start of the new season,

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...

, manager of Sunderland, showed interest in Baldé. Keane was reported to have made a £1.5m offer for his former Celtic teammate. "I love the club, I am very settled in Glasgow with my girlfriend and I would be happy to fulfil my current contract", said Baldé. In October 2007, Baldé expressed a desire to leave Celtic stating "I don't want to be at a club where I am not wanted, but I want to make clear it is rubbish to say I am just taking the money... I have been told that I am not in the top two defenders and that I am down to sixth on the list. The manager and Peter (Lawwell, Chief Executive) told me this" Baldé was now completely out of contention for a first team place and only made his first start of the 2007–08 season on 26 December 2007, exactly a year after his last appearance, in a 2–0 away win to Dundee United. His presence also helped Celtic to their first away clean sheet in almost 15 months and he was awarded Man Of The Match. Baldé dropped out of the first team again after that, then got injured in early when playing for Guinea at the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

. Baldé was on the bench against Rangers on 29 March 2008, the first time since Christmas he had been selected after recovering from the injury he sustained at the

. He then started a few days later replacing the suspended

Gary Caldwell Gary Caldwell (born 12 April 1982) is a Scottish former professional footballer and coach who is the current manager of Exeter City. Caldwell played for Newcastle United, Darlington, Coventry City, Derby County, Hibernian, Celtic, Wigan Ath ...

to make his first appearance since December 2007, with a man of the match performance in the 1–0 win over

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

Georgios Samaras Georgios Samaras ( el, Γεώργιος Σαμαράς, ; born 21 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. Samaras started his career at OFI Crete, before moving on to Eredivisie side Heerenveen in 200 ...

scored the only goal of the game. At the start of the 2008–09 season it was announced that Baldé would be allowed to leave Celtic on a free transfer provided that he could find a club that would meet his salary demands. In the pre-season matches before the 2008–09 season Baldé played in the matches playing the last 13 minutes against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, the last 30 minutes against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in the Algarve Challenge Cup. He made his first full appearance in Celtic's second Algarve Challenge Cup match against Cardiff City which was the first meeting of the two teams in 81 years. He also took part in Celtic's 1–0 pre-season friendly win over

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in which he played the last 22 minutes. Baldé remained at Celtic until the summer of 2009, seeing out his contract in full, but did not play in any competitive games. During his time at Celtic he won five League Titles, three Scottish Cups and two

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

s and was part of the Celtic squad which reached the

2003 UEFA Cup Final The 2003 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 2003 between Celtic of Scotland and Porto of Portugal. Porto won the match 3–2 in extra time thanks to a goal from Derlei. This was also the first game to use the silver goal rule, although it did no ...

. Looking back on his Celtic career he said, "Celtic was a great adventure for me in my career. We reached the UEFA Cup Final, were league champions five times and won several Scottish and League Cups, There were a lot of great matches in the Champions League and I'm very happy with the experience I had at such a fantastic club and stadium." On 8 September 2013, Baldé returned to Celtic to play for the "Celtic XI" during their

Stiliyan Petrov Stiliyan Alyoshev Petrov ( Bulgarian: Стилиян Альошев Петров, born 5 July 1979) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Petrov joined Celtic from CSKA Sofia in 1999, and won ten trophies in ...

charity match.

Valenciennes

In October 2009, Baldé signed up with French Ligue 1 club,

Arles

On 11 January 2011, it was announced that the remainder of Baldé's contract with Valenciennes was to be cancelled to allow him to join AC Arles-Avignon, playing in Ligue 2.

International career

Born in Marseille, Baldé was called up to the Guinea national team for the

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000 African Cup of Nations, 2000, th ...

. He was also part of their 2004 Cup of nations team, who finished second in their group in the first round of competition, before losing in the quarter-finals to

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 ...

, and was a regular in

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

qualifying. With Baldé on board, Guinea have also made it to the last eight in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederat ...

Coaching and later career

His first job off the pitch started in April 2013, where Baldé was hired as a sports coordinator for the national team of

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

. In July 2014, Baldé returned to football, signing with his former youth club CA Gombertois as a playing assistant manager. He left the position in September 2019, where he was appointed manager of Guinea's national U20 team.

Personal life

Baldé younger half-brother,

Yasser Yasser (also spelled Yaser, Yasir, or Yassir; ar, ياسر, ''Yāsir'') is an Arabic male name. Notable people with this given name * Yasir ibn Amir (died 615 C.E.) is known in the Islamic traditions as the second person in history to be martyr ...

, is also a professional footballer in France.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Score and result list Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Baldé goal.''

Honours

Celtic *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

: 2005–06, 2008–09 *

runner-up: 2002–03 Guinea *

Amílcar Cabral Cup The Amílcar Cabral Cup was an international association football tournament for Western African nations. The competition originally was played on an annual basis until 1989, since then it was played on a biennial basis. The tournament is named a ...

: 2005 Individual *

Celtic Player of the Year Celtic Player of the Year award is an annual awards ceremony held by Celtic F.C., Celtic. It has been held every year since 2003 when Bobo Baldé was awarded the first ever Celtic Player of the Year award. Winners 2002–03 *Celtic Player of the ...

: 2002–03 * SPL Player of the Month: April 2003

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balde, Bobo 1975 births Living people Footballers from Marseille Guinean footballers Guinea international footballers Guinean football managers French footballers French football managers French sportspeople of Guinean descent Citizens of Guinea through descent Association football central defenders 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Scottish Premier League players Olympique de Marseille players FC Mulhouse players AS Cannes players Toulouse FC players AC Arlésien players Celtic F.C. players Guinean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Scotland Black French sportspeople