Serge-Junior Martinsson Ngouali (born 23 January 1992), commonly known simply as Junior, 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

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 ...

for Norwegian club

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

. Born in Sweden, he represents the Gabon national team.

Early life

Martinsson Ngouali was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden, to a Central African father of

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

ese descent. His mother is Swedish and Serge-Junior grew up in the city of

. Living in the suburb of

Hammarkullen Angered ( ) is a borough of Gothenburg Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. Angered is the biggest Million Programme area in Gothenburg, and one of the biggest in the country, with 60,000 inhabitants. Transportation Angered is s ...

, he started to play football at local clubs

Gunnilse IS Gunnilse IS is a Swedish football club located in Angered, a suburb of Gothenburg. Background Since their foundation on 16 September 1950 Gunnilse IS has participated mainly in the middle and lower divisions of the Swedish football league syste ...

and

Västra Frölunda IF Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening (English: Västra Frölunda Sports Association) is a Swedish football club located in Gothenburg. It was formed on 2 January 1930 and has played ten seasons in the Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish league. In t ...

. Together with his mother and twin brother Tom Martinsson Ngouali, also a former professional footballer, he moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 2003. At age 11, he joined the academy at

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club located in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is t ...

Career

Brommapojkarna

In 2010, he made his debut for Brommapojkarna in

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

– the Swedish top tier – at age 18. He played 12 games in the league during his debut season, as Brommapojkarna got relegated to

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

. He established himself as a regular starter in the central midfield position for Brommapojkarna in 2012 and 2013, only missing a few competitive games. Martinsson Ngouali soon got known for his technical gift and strong passing game. Before the start of the 2014 season, he attracted interest from then reigning Swedish champions

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

. Martinsson Ngouali opted to stay at Brommapojkarna and signed a new three-year deal with the club. He made 28 appearances for the side the same year, marking his first full season in Allsvenskan. Martinsson Ngouali also featured in both legs against the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

as Brommapojkarna got knocked out from the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

third qualifying round. In the first leg on home ground, he got fouled inside the penalty area by defender

Giuseppe Vives Giuseppe Vives (born 14 July 1980) is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Early career Vives grew up playing football in Naples for local club Napoli Club Afragola until the age of 17, before transf ...

who received a red card from the referee. Striker

Dardan Rexhepi Dardan Rexhepi (born 16 January 1992) is a professional footballer who plays for Norrby IF as a striker. He was raised in Sweden and played for their youth football teams before playing for the senior Kosovo national team. Club career Malmö ...

however missed the penalty and Brommapojkarna eventually lost with 0–7 on aggregate. Brommapojkarna eventually declined and got relegated to Superettan before the start the 2015 season, where they would finish in last place. In 2016, Martinsson Ngouali scored 7 goals – a new career best – as Brommapojkarna won Division 1, the Swedish third tier.

Hammarby

2017

On 16 March 2017, he moved to the fellow Stockholm-based team

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

. Martinsson Ngouali signed a three-year deal with the Allsvenskan club. He rejoined his former manager

Stefan Billborn Stefan Bo Anders Billborn (born 15 November 1972) is a Swedish football manager who is the head coach of Sarpsborg 08 in the Norwegian Eliteserien. Coaching career Early career Billborn started his managerial career in 1989, at age 17, by coac ...

and former teammate

Pablo Piñones Arce Pablo Piñones Arce (born 27 August 1981) is a Swedish former footballer. He played as a forward throughout his career and won 7 caps for the Swedish national under-21 team. He is the manager of Hammarby IF's women's team, competing in the Swed ...

at Hammarby, now both working as assistant managers at said club. He made his competitive debut for the club on 3 April, on the first match day of Allsvenskan 2017. Martinsson Ngouali got sent off late in the second half as Hammarby lost 1–2 against IFK Norrköping. He scored his first goal for Hammarby on 7 May in an away fixture against

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

, netting in a 2–1 loss. Midway through his first season at Hammarby, Junior received much praise from the club's director of football

Jesper Jansson Jesper Urban Jansson (born 8 January 1971) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He currently serves as the director of football at Hammarby IF. As a player, he represented Östers IF, AIK, Dju ...

, who complimented him as a "real class player" with a strong defensive game and great ability to cover big surfaces on the pitch. On 21 August, in a 3–0 away win against

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn A ...

, Martinsson Ngouali attracted a serious thigh injury that kept him out of play for almost two months. He returned to the pitch on 16 October, in a 0–2 away loss against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the clu ...

2018

On 12 February 2018, Junior extended his contract for another half year, with the new deal running until June 2020. He played 26 league games for Hammarby, scoring once, as the club finished 4th in the table. He suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury in October, in a 2–1 loss against Malmö FF, with an expected return in the summer of 2019. At the end of 2018, Martinsson Ngouali was voted Hammarby Player of the Year by the fans of the club and also featured in the official Allsvenskan Team of the Year.

2019

Martinsson Ngouali spent the first half of the 2019 season nursing his serious knee injury. He made his comeback on 15 September in a 6–2 home win against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

. He eventually played 8 games, scoring once, as Hammarby finished 3rd in the table.

2020

He had difficulties breaking into the side as a regular in 2020, as the club disappointedly finished 8th in the table. On 9 December, it was announced that Martinsson Ngouali would leave the club at the end of the year, as his contract expired.

HNK Gorica

On 15 February 2021, Martinsson Ngouali signed a one and a half-year contract with

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

club

HNK Gorica Hrvatski nogometni klub Gorica ( en, Croatian Football Club Gorica), commonly referred to as HNK Gorica or simply Gorica, is a Croatian football club based in the town of Velika Gorica, located just south of the Croatian capital Zagreb. They pl ...

, linking up with

Jiloan Hamad Jiloan Mohammed Hamad Amin Alla Werdi (born 6 November 1990), known as Jiloan Hamad ( ar, جيلوان حمد), is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Allsvenskan club Örebro SK. Born in Azerbaijan and of Iraqi descent, Hamad m ...

, his former teammate from Hammarby.

International career

Martinsson Ngouali won 12 caps for the Swedish under-19 national team between 2009 and 2011. On March 24, 2011, he also made a single appearance for the Swedish under-21s in a 1–3 loss against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In the summer of 2016, he was approached by the Gabonese national football team when manager

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, i ...

invited him to a training camp. He was eventually called up to the final squad ahead of the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

. Martinsson Ngouali made his debut for Gabon in a 1–1 draw against

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

on 18 January 2017 in said tournament.

Honours

Individual

Player of the Year: 2018

References

External links

*
Serge-Junior Martinsson Ngouali
at

Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club located in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is t ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinsson Ngouali, Serge-Junior 1992 births Living people Association football midfielders Allsvenskan players IF Brommapojkarna players Hammarby Fotboll players Gabonese footballers Gabon international footballers Swedish footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Sweden youth international footballers Gabonese people of Swedish descent Gabonese people of Central African Republic descent Sportspeople of Central African Republic descent People with acquired Gabonese citizenship Swedish people of Gabonese descent Swedish people of Central African Republic descent 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers from Gothenburg