Dawda Leigh (born 27 June 1986) is a Norwegian 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 ...

who played as a winger for

Skeid Skeid is a Norwegian alliance sports club from Nordre Åsen, Oslo. It has sections for association football (one for elite and one for grassroots football), Nordic skiing and bandy. General history The club was founded as ''IK Skeid'' on 5 De ...

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

and

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

. He is of Gambian descent and represented Norway at youth international level.

Club career

Leigh was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and played for

Ellingsrud Ellingsrud is a neighbourhood in the borough of Alna in the north-east part of Oslo, Norway. Ellingsrud consists of Ellingsrudåsen, Bakås, Fjeldstad, Karihaugen, Munkebekken, and the small area of Kaiekroken, located in the far east close to ...

before he joined the First Division side

in 2003. He was invited on a trial with Rosenborg in January 2005, but rejected their offer as he was called up to play for Norway U19. After playing for Skeid for five seasons Leigh signed for the

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

side

together with his teammate

Mostafa Abdellaoue Mustafa "Mos" Abdellaoue (born 1 August 1988) is a Norwegian professional footballer who most recently played as a forward for Eliteserien side Sarpsborg 08. He is the younger brother of former Norway international Mohammed Abdellaoue. Club care ...

in September 2008. They were both

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

s and joined the club in January 2009. Leigh made his debut in Tippeligaen against Rosenborg on 15 March 2009. In his debut at

Ullevaal Stadion Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...

, he assisted

Bengt Sæternes Bengt Sæternes (born 1 January 1975) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward from 1991 until 2011. He began his playing career at local clubs Egersund and Eiger, whilst he had spells at Viking, Odd Grenlan ...

' goal in the 1–1 draw against Aalesund. Despite playing in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

with Skeid the previous season, Leigh instantly became a regular in Vålerenga's starting line-up and started nine of the ten first matches of the season, and played a total of 21 matches scoring one goal in 2009. Leigh struggled in his second season at Vålerenga and played only 152 minutes in Tippeligaen. After another season with limited playtime he wanted to go on loan to

Odd Grenland Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. Odd may also refer to: Acronym * ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...

in August 2011, but stayed at Vålerenga for one more year, and played 12 matches for the club until he left the club in August 2012. Leigh played a total of 57 matches and scored one goal for Vålerenga in Tippeligaen. Leigh signed a contract lasting to the end of the 2012 season with the First Division side

in August 2012 He played nine league-matches for Sandefjord, in addition to the promotion play-off match against Ullensaker/Kisa, which Sandefjord lost 4–3. After his contract expired, he was linked to English club

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. Leigh signed a contract for the 2015 season with the First Division side

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of ...

in March 2015.

International career

Leigh has represented Norway at youth international level, and played 11 matches and scored one goal for Norway U18 in 2004 before he played four matches for Norway U19 in 2005.

Personal life

Leigh is a supporter of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and stated in an interview in 2005 that he would reject

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

if they wanted to sign him one day.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Dawda 1986 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Norwegian people of Gambian descent Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Skeid Fotball players Vålerenga Fotball players Sandefjord Fotball players Kristiansund BK players