Sessi Octave Emile D'Almeida (born 20 November 1995) 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

defensive 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

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

. Born in France, he represents

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 ...

at international level

Club career

D'Almeida made his debut for

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 ...

on 12 December 2013 in the

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. It ...

group stage against

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

, playing the first 75 minutes in the 1–0 away defeat before being substituted for Théo Pellenard. On 23 August 2014, he made his

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 ...

debut for Bordeaux, replacing

André Biyogo Poko André Ivan Biyogo Poko (born 7 March 1993) is a Gabonese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Saudi Arabian club Al-Khaleej and the Gabon national team. He was part of the Gabon national team in the 2021 AFCON tournament in ...

for the last 9 minutes of a 3–1 away win at

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

. After a successful trial with

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in the summer of 2016, D'Almeida signed a two-year deal with the Championship club. He was released by Blackpool at the end of the 2017–18 season. On 13 July 2018, D'Almeida signed for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

on a one-year deal with an option of extending for a second year. At the end of the 2018–19 season, D'Almeida was released by Yeovil following the club's relegation from the Football League. On 24 July 2019, D'Almeida returned to France to sign for

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

side

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 ...

on a two-year contract.

International career

D'Almeida was called up to the Benin national team squad in 2014 for their matches

2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches determined the participating teams for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. A total of 16 teams competed in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. Prior to November 2014, it was expected that Morocco woul ...

against Sao Tome. He made his debut for Benin in a 1–1 tie against

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

in 2015.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Benin's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each D'Almeida goal.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Almeida, Sessi 1995 births Living people Footballers from Bordeaux Men's association football midfielders Beninese men's footballers Benin men's international footballers French men's footballers French sportspeople of Beninese descent Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players English Football League players Primeira Liga players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Barnsley F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Valenciennes FC players C.D. Tondela players Pau FC players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players French expatriate men's footballers Beninese expatriate men's footballers Beninese expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England Beninese expatriate sportspeople in Portugal French expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Black French sportspeople