Gilles Donald Yapi Yapo (born 30 January 1982) is an Ivorian 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

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

, Yapi Yapo started his career at

ASEC Mimosas The Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, literally Mimosas Commerce Employees' Sporting Association, is an Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian Association football, football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ''ASEC Mimosas A ...

and then moved to Europe with

Beveren Beveren () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') is in Beveren ...

. He joined

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

on a loan contract in January 2004, and on 17 May, he signed a three-year contract, because his contract with Beveren was due to expire in the summer. At this stage of his career, he played as an attacking midfielder. He was on the fringe at Nantes in the 2005–06 season, prompting a loan move to Young Boys. He then joined Young Boys on a permanent basis, where he played as a defensive midfielder and playmaker. On 15 February 2010

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

announced that they had signed Yapi Yapo as from 1 July on a three-year contract. He joined Basel's first team during their 2010–11 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, currently works as manager of Riga FC. Career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he hel ...

. After playing in eight test games Yapi Yapo played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 20 July 2010 as Basel won 3–2 against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

. He scored his first goal for his new club in the home game on 1 August 2010 as Basel won 3–0 against

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

. Basel started in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position. Therefore they dropped to the 2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated by

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

due to a last minute goal against them. Yapi Yapo played in 11 of the 12 European matches. With Basel, Yapi Yapo won the Swiss Championship at the end of the 2010–11 season topping the table just one point clear of rivals

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. To the beginning of their 2011–12 season season Yapi Yapo was member of the Basel team that won the 2011 Uhrencup, beating both

Hertha Berlin Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend (Berlin), Westend of the ...

3–0 and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

2–1 to lead the table on goal difference above Young Boys. During just the second league game of the 2011–12 Super League season, Yapi Yapo suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligament, and this kept him out of the game for six months. He returned to the team the away draw in the Stade de Suisse against Young Boys on 16 February 2012 as he was substituted in during the 65th minute. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

with his new club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

Championship title with 20 points advantage. The team won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

, winning the final 4–3 in a penalty shootout against

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

. Basel had started in the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League in the qualifying rounds. But were knocked out of the competition by

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

in the play-off round. They then continued in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stage. Ending the group in second position, Basel continued in the knockout phase and advanced as far as the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

holders

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Chelsea won both games advancing 5–2 on aggregate, eventually winning the competition. In the early stages of the season Yapi Yapo came to regular playing time, but following an injury in August, his appearance time diminished. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 he won the Championship title with the team. In the 2012–13 Swiss Cup Basel reached the final, but were runners up behind Grasshopper Club, being defeated 4–3 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. Yapi Yapo appeared in just four games in the second half of the season. But because head coach

Murat Yakin Murat Yakin ( tr, Yakın; born 15 September 1974) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national football team. Playing career Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown c ...

no longer considered Yapi Yapo within his plans, the contract between club and player was not prolonged and he departed as free agent. During his time with the club, Yapi Yapo played a total of 119 games for Basel scoring a total of nine goals. 58 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, seven in the

, 15 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 39 were friendly games. He scored three goals in the domestic league and the other nine were scored during the test games. In August 2013 Yapi Yapo signed for

Dubai CSC Dubai Cultural Sports Club () was a football (soccer), football club based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In 2017 merged with Al Shabab (Dubai), Al Shabab to join Al-Ahli to rebrand the club into Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC. History The clu ...

. On 22 June 2014 it was announced that Yapi Yapo had signed with

on a one-year contract. On 9 November 2014,

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

player and former Basel teammate Sandro Wieser committed a knee-high challenge on Yapi Yapo in a league match, leaving the latter's career in serious doubt. He suffered torn anterior and cruciate ligaments, a torn meniscus, a torn kneecap tendon, serious cartilage damage and deep bruising to his thigh. Wieser was shown a straight red card for the tackle, and was later suspended for six matches by the Swiss league. With Yapi Yapo highly unlikely to ever play again, Zürich president Ancillo Canepa launched legal proceedings against Wieser. Yapi Yapo did eventually return to action as a first-half substitute, in a 3–3 draw against FC Thun at the Letzigrund on 13 September 2015, scoring the third Zürich goal in the process. On 26 August 2017

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local ...

announced that they had signed Yapi Yapo on a loan period for one season. On 20 July 2018 it was announced that Yapi Yapo would return to FC Basel. Preparing for a course as trainer, he was to help with the Basel U-21 team in the Promotion League, the third tier of Swiss football. In the announcement it was also suggested that he could help with the coaching team.

International career

Yapi Yapo was part of the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

team at the

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 ...

in Germany. He was also selected in the preliminary Ivory Coast squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, but was eventually dropped along with

Bakari Koné Bakari Koné (born 17 September 1981) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a winger. Club career Early career Koné was born in Abidjan. Like many other Ivorian stars, he began his career at the famed youth academy at A ...

and Emerse Faé, who played with him in the 2006 World Cup. He retired from the Ivory Coast national team after this.

Honours

ASEC Mimosas *

Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division The Ivory Coast MTN Ligue 1 is the top division of the Ivorian Football Federation. It was created in 1960. 2021−22 Ligue 1 clubs * AF Amadou Diallo * AS Indenié Abengourou * ASEC Mimosas * Bouaké FC * CO Korhogo * ES Bafing * FC San Pedro * ...

: 1999-2000, 2000–01 Basel *

: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 *

: 2011–12 *

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local industry on the cultural lives of the areas residents. The tou ...

: 2011 FC Zürich *

: 2015–16 Ivory Coast *

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 ...

runner-up:

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yapi Yapo, Gilles Living people 1982 births Footballers from Abidjan Men's association football midfielders 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2006 FIFA World Cup players FC Basel players BSC Young Boys players FC Nantes players FC Zürich players FC Aarau players Ivorian men's footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers K.S.K. Beveren players Ligue 1 players Swiss Super League players Belgian Pro League players Dubai CSC players ASEC Mimosas players Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium UAE Pro League players