Salomon Sambia (born 7 September 1996), commonly known as Junior Sambia, is a French 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 for club Salernitana. He plays predominantly as a

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 ...

, but can also play as a defensive midfielder or winger.

Career

Chamois Niortais

Born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, Sambia joined the youth set-up at

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the u ...

from

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M� ...

in 2013. In the summer of 2014, he was awarded a first-team contract alongside fellow youth midfielder Antoine Batisse. Sambia made his senior debut for Niort on 12 September 2014 in the 1–0 defeat to

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

at the age of 18 years and 5 days, becoming the youngest player ever to start a professional match for the club. He went on to make five league appearances in total during the 2014–15 season.

Montpellier

In August 2017, Sambia joined

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

on a one-year loan with an option to buy. The option would eventually be exercised at the end of the 2017–18 season. In May 2022, his exit from Montpellier at the end of the 2021–22 season was confirmed.

Salernitana

On 19 July 2022, Sambia signed a four-year contract with Salernitana in Italy.

Personal life

Sambia's parents are from the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. In April 2020, Sambia was hospitalised after becoming ill and unconscious and was treated in intensive care. He tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and was placed into an

artificial coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as pe ...

. However, he eventually recovered.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sambia, Junior 1996 births Living people Footballers from Lyon French footballers French sportspeople of Central African Republic descent Association football midfielders Association football wingers Association football fullbacks Association football utility players Olympique Lyonnais players UF Mâconnais players Chamois Niortais F.C. players Montpellier HSC players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Serie A players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Italy