Guy Roland Demel (born 13 June 1981) 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 defender. He could play in several positions including

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

. Demel started his career in France with

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 10 April 1937 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football. Until November 2022, ...

before joining English club Arsenal in 2000. He then played in Germany for ten years, signing for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

in 2001 and then

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

in 2005. He returned to England with

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 ...

in 2011, leaving the club in 2015 and subsequently joining

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 ...

. Demel was born in France but represented the Ivory Coast national team from 2004 until his international retirement in 2012, making 35 appearances. He was in the Ivorian squad for the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations.

Club career

Born in

Orsay Orsay () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. A fortified location of the Chevreuse valley since the 8th centur ...

, France, Demel started his professional career in the French Ligue 2 with

. He was signed by Arsenal in August 2000 spending one season in London without making a first team appearance before being transferred to

. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut in 2003 winning the Bundesliga and making UEFA Cup Final in his first season. Demel left Dortmund to join Hamburg in 2005, after struggling to hold down a first team place. With Hamburg, Demel played regularly as both a

and 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 ...

. In May 2006, he signed a new contract with Hamburg, tying him to the club until 2010. Demel was released by Hamburg at the expiry of his contract in 2011. He made 199 appearances for Hamburg including 52 in European football in the

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

and the

2006–07 UEFA Champions League The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...

, scoring four goals.

West Ham United

He signed a two-year deal, with the option of a third, with West Ham on 31 August 2011. Due to injuries it was not until 29 November 2011, in a 2–0 away win 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 ...

, that Demel made his West Ham United debut. With West Ham playing in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, Demel played 10 games in the 2011–12 season, eight of them after coming on as substitute. On 19 May 2012, he was a member of the team which won promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

after beating Blackpool in the 2012 Football League Championship play-off Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. He played the first 57 minutes before being replaced by

Julien Faubert Julien Alex Thomas Faubert (born 1 August 1983) is a professional footballer who represented both France and Martinique internationally. He plays as a right winger or midfielder. Faubert started his footballing career in France with Cannes befo ...

. On 23 January 2013, Demel extended his contract with West Ham until 2015. Demel scored his only West Ham goal in a 2–1 home defeat by

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 populat ...

on 6 April 2014. After West Ham striker,

Andy Carroll Andrew Thomas Carroll (born 6 January 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship side Reading. He has played in the Premier League and English Football League for Newcastle United, Preston North End, Liv ...

challenged Liverpool goalkeeper,

Simon Mignolet Simon Luc Hildebert Mignolet (, ; born 6 March 1988) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Belgian Pro League club Club Brugge and the Belgium national team. Mignolet started his career with Belgian Second Divisi ...

, the goalkeeper dropped the ball and Demel scored from out. Demel was first-choice

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and 2013–14 seasons playing 31 and 32 games respectively. By the 2014–15 season,

Carl Jenkinson Carl Daniel Jenkinson (born 8 February 1992) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a right-back for Newcastle Jets FC, Newcastle Jets in the Australian A-League Men, A-League. Jenkinson began his career with C ...

was first-choice and Demel managed only six games all season. He was released at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Dundee United

In November 2015, Demel signed for

until the end of the 2015–16 season. He scored his first goal for Dundee United in a 2–1 win over Hearts on 20 February 2016. Following confirmation of the club's relegation from the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

, Demel was allowed to leave the club and return to France before the end of the season, despite still being under contract.

International career

In 2004, Demel, a French citizen, acquired an Ivorian passport. He has since been selected for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, playing at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, and being named to the squad for the 2006 and

2010 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 ...

finals. Demel announced his retirement from international football on 6 December 2012 confirming his wish to focus on his club career with West Ham United.

Career statistics

International

:Source:

Honours

Club

Borussia Dortmund *

: 2001–02 Hamburger SV * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005, 2007 West Ham United * Football League Championship

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

: 2011–12

International

Ivory Coast * Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2006

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Demel, Guy 1981 births Living people Footballers from Essonne Association football defenders French footballers Citizens of Ivory Coast through descent Ivorian footballers Ivory Coast international footballers Ivorian expatriate footballers Nîmes Olympique players Arsenal F.C. players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players Hamburger SV players Hamburger SV II players West Ham United F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Athlético Marseille players Red Star F.C. players Bundesliga players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany French sportspeople of Ivorian descent 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland