Giovanni-Guy Yann Sio (born 31 March 1989) is a 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
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
for
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 ...
club
FC Sion
Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...
. Born in France, he represented 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 ...
at international level.
Career
Born in
Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire
Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire (, literally ''Saint-Sébastien on Loire''; br, Sant-Sebastian-an-Enk) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France.
It is the third-largest suburb of the ...
, Sio began his career with
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 ...
and joined
Real Sociedad B
Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación ...
in the summer of 2007, after Nantes released him. In the summer of 2008, he was promoted to the
Segunda División
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...
team. Sio signed a two-year deal with an option for a third year.
On 2 September 2009, Swiss club
Sion
Sion may refer to
* an alternative transliteration of Zion
People
* Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name
Pl ...
signed the French
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
from
Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...
. On 29 May 2011 Sio scored the first goal as Sion defeated
Neuchâtel Xamax FCS
Neuchâtel Xamax Football Club Serrières or Neuchâtel Xamax FCS () is a Swiss football club based in Neuchâtel. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal, founded in 1906 and Swiss champions of 1916, and FC Xamax fou ...
2-0 in the Swiss Cup Final.
In January 2012, he joined
VfL Wolfsburg
Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...
for a fee reported as €5 million, signing a four-year deal, keeping him until 2016. He was sent to
FC Augsburg
Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...
on 10 July 2012 on loan, until the end of the 2012–13 campaign. The loan was ended prematurely on 31 January 2013.
On 16 August 2013, it was announced that Sio had joined
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
on a four-year contract. Basel joined the
2013–14 Champions League in the qualifying rounds and Sio played his debut for his new club as they played an away game in the play-off round on 21 August. He scored his first goal with the team in the same game as Basel won 4–2 against
Ludogorets Razgrad.
Sio played his
domestic league debut three days later in the away game in the
Swissporarena. He scored his first league goal in the same game as Basel played a 1–1 draw with
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 ...
.
At the end of the
2013–14 Super League season Sio won the league championship with Basel. The team also reached the final of the
2013–14 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by
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 ...
after extra time. Basel advanced to the Champions League group stage and finished in third place in the group table. Thus they qualified qualified for
Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. But here they were eventually beaten by
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
5-3 on aggregate, after extra time.
For
Basel's 2014–15 season Paulo Sousa
Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder.
Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...
was appointed as new head coach and it was a very successful season for the team. However, it was difficult season for Sio under the new head coach. Despite the fact that Basel won the championship later
that season for the sixth time in a row
and that Basel had entered the
Champions League in the
group stage
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...
reaching the
knockout phase
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 ...
on 9 December 2014, as they managed a 1–1 draw at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
against
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 ...
, Sio totaled just 16 appearances during the first half of the season, 7 (of 18) League, 2 (of 3) in the Cup and just 1 (of 6) in the Champions League, as well 6 further appearances in test games.
Because Sousa did not rely upon Sio as a regular player, during February 2015, the club loaned Sio out to
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
team
SC Bastia
Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football ...
until the end of the season.
After his loan period Sio did not return to Basel. During his time with the club, Sio played a total of 59 games for Basel scoring a total of 16 goals. 30 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 ...
, five in 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 ...
, 13 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 11 were friendly games. He scored 10 goals in the domestic league, two in the cup, two in the European games and the other two were scored during the test games.
On 29 June 2015 the Basel announced that Sio was moving on to
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
.
On 29 September 2018, Sio was loaned to
Al-Ittihad Kalba SC
Ittihad Kalba Football Club ( ar, نادي إتحاد كلباء لكرة القدم) is a football club in Kalba, United Arab Emirates.
History
Ittihad Kalba was established in 1972 when two clubs ''(Al Shabab)'' and ''(Al Rooba)'' merged wi ...
with an €1.6m option to buy.
In November 2021 it was announced that Sio had signed for
Sion
Sion may refer to
* an alternative transliteration of Zion
People
* Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name
Pl ...
.
International career
Sio was born and raised in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
to
Ivorian parents. He is also a former member of the
France national youth football team
The France national youth football team are the national under-21, under-20, under-19, under-18, under-17 and under-16 football teams of France and are controlled by the French Football Federation. The youth teams of France participate in tourna ...
, representing his country at U-15, U-16 and U-17. He was also called up to the Ivory Coast U-20 squad for the
2010 Toulon Tournament. He had his first call-up to the
Ivory Coast national team in 2013, in a
2014 World Cup qualifying match against the
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
. He represented the team at the
2014 World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
.
Career statistics
Club
International goals
:''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first.''
Honours
Sion
*
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 ...
:
2010–11
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sio, Giovanni
1989 births
Living people
Footballers from Loire-Atlantique
Ivorian footballers
Ivory Coast international footballers
French footballers
France youth international footballers
French sportspeople of Ivorian descent
Association football forwards
2014 FIFA World Cup players
2017 Africa Cup of Nations players
Black French sportspeople
Segunda División players
Ligue 2 players
Swiss Super League players
Bundesliga players
Ligue 1 players
UAE Pro League players
Süper Lig players
FC Basel players
FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players
FC Nantes players
Real Sociedad footballers
FC Sion players
VfL Wolfsburg players
FC Augsburg players
SC Bastia players
Stade Rennais F.C. players
Montpellier HSC players
Al-Ittihad Kalba SC players
Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers
French expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Switzerland
Expatriate footballers in Germany
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates
French expatriate sportspeople in Spain
French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
French expatriate sportspeople in Germany
French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
French expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates