Mamadou Samassa (born 1 May 1986) is a

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 ...

and is currently a free agent. He primarily plays in the lead striker role. Born in France, he is a former French under-21 international, but switched allegiance to

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

, his country of origin.

Career

Early career

Born in

Montfermeil Montfermeil () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Montfermeil is famous as the location of Thénardiers' inn in ''Les Misérables''. It has made the headlines due to troubles in its soc ...

, Seine-Saint-Denis, Samassa began his career as a youth with local amateur outfit

Red Star Paris Red Star Football Club, also known simply as Red Star (), is a French association football club founded in Paris in 1897, and is the fourth oldest French football club, after Standard AC of Paris, Le Havre AC and Girondins de Bordeaux. In t ...

. After spending over seven years in the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, he joined

Le Mans Union Club 72 Le Mans Football Club (; commonly referred to as Le Mans FC, formerly referred as Le Muc) is a French association football club based in Le Mans. The club was founded in 1985 as a result of a merger under the name Le Mans Union Club 72. In 2010 ...

in the next region over initially as an under-18 player. While in the club's academy, he helped the Le Mans youth side win the 2004 edition of the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their sk ...

. Following the 2005–06 season, he signed his first professional contract and was promoted the senior team being assigned the number 19 shirt.

Le Mans

Samassa made his league debut on the opening match day of the 2006–07 season against

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

starting in a 1–0 victory. In the just the third match of the season, he scored his first career goal as a professional nailing the equaliser in the 53rd minute against

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

. Le Mans later won the match 3–2 with a late goal from another youngster Ismaël Bangoura. Samassa appeared as a starter regularly throughout the season, despite being only 20 years of age. He scored two goals in two matches against

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

and also scored against Sedan giving him a total tally of 5 goals for the season. Le Mans won all five matches he scored in. The next season was projected to be a breakout year for the player, however, in just the fourth match of the season, Samassa was severely injured. He miss four and a half months and returned to the squad on 19 January 2008 in a 1–2 defeat to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

appearing as a substitute. He made only 16 appearances that season scoring only one goal.

Marseille

On 25 August 2008, Le Mans president Henri Legarda announced that the club had reached an agreement with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

for the transfer of Samassa with Legarda stating the southern club had made a "suitable offer". Marseille, who viewed the player as a perfect replacement for

Djibril Cissé Djibril Cissé (; born 12 August 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He started his career at AC Arles in 1989, at the age of eight. After seven years at the club, he had a six-month spell at Nîmes Olym ...

, signed the player to a five-year deal. Mamadou made his debut for the club on 30 August 2008 in a league match against Sochaux appearing as a substitute in a 2–1 victory. It took him almost four months to score his first goal for the club, which he accomplished against

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

on 30 November in a 2–2 draw. Due to not living up to expectation by some, he was criticized by the local media and supporters alike for his low strike rate, appearing in a total of 32 matches, but scoring only 2 goals.

Valenciennes

On 4 August 2009, Marseille announced that Samassa would be loaned out to fellow Ligue 1 club Valenciennes for the entire 2009–10 season.

Persipura Jayapura

In May 2019, he joined

Persipura Jayapura Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura, or Persipura, is an Indonesian football club based in Jayapura, Papua. The club was founded in 1963 and currently competes in the Liga 2. Persipura used to always use the Mandala Stadium as their hom ...

Blue Boys Muhlenbach

In January 2020 it was confirmed, that Samassa had moved to FC Blue Boys Muhlenbach in the

Luxembourg National Division The National Division ( lb, Nationaldivisioun, french: Division Nationale, german: Nationaldivision) is the highest football league in Luxembourg. Until 2011, it was known as the BGL Ligue, after the Luxembourg Football Federation managed to sea ...

International career

Despite being born to Malian parents, Samassa chose originally to represent

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 ...

at international level. He made six appearances for the under-21 team scoring 3 goals. On 6 January 2009, he revealed that he will represent

at the senior level. He stating he made the decision after traveling to

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

to meet with national team coach

Stephen Keshi Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian football player and manager. During his playing career, Keshi played as a defender and earned 60 caps for the Nigeria national team, making him the nation's second-most ...

. He also stated that the encouragement from fellow Malian Mohammed Sissoko also influenced his decision. Samassa waited until May before earning his first call up for joint World Cup-Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

that was played on 7 and 21 June. Samassa appeared in neither match and also did not make the substitutes' bench for either. Samassa made his debut for Mali in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against

, where he scored his side's only goal in a 1–1 draw. He scored twice during the 2013 African Cup of Nations, with his first goal coming against

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

in a crucial 1-1 draw during the group stage. He then opened the scoreline in the 3-1 third place play-off win against

, which brought Mali bronze medals from the tournament.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mali's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Samassa goal''.

Honours

Club

Marseille *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

International

Mali *

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 ...

: Bronze medal (

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

)

References

External links