Sheikh Sibi (born 21 February 1998) is a Gambian 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Italian club

Virtus Verona Virtus Verona, founded as Unione Sportiva Virtus Borgo Venezia in 1921, sometimes referred to as Virtus Vecomp Verona for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian association football club located in Borgo Venezia, a district of Verona, Veneto. It c ...

and the Gambia national team.

Early life

Sibi was born in

Serekunda Serekunda (proper: Sayerr Kunda or Sere Kunda, ar, سيريكوندا, sometimes spelled Serrekunda) is the largest urban centre in The Gambia. It is situated close to the Atlantic coast, south-west of the capital, Banjul, and is formed of nine ...

to a Gambian mother and a Mauritanian father. He left Gambia at the age of 16 with the hope of migrating to Europe. During the journey, he crossed the Sahara desert and reached

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, where he worked as a painter for five months. In July 2015, he crossed the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

in a boat and reached the Italian island of

Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The ''comune'' of L ...

Club career

Following his arrival in Italy, Sibi was assigned to Costagrande Reception Center in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. He soon moved to Virtus Vita, a non-profit organization which welcomes migrants. Since Virtus Vita and

were owned by the same company Vencomp, it helped Sibi to continue his football career. Sibi made his club debut for Virtus Verona on 30 October 2016 in a 2–1

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

defeat to Union Feltre. He made his

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

and professional debut on 16 September 2018 in a 2–0 defeat to Fermana.

International career

Sibi has received several call-ups to the Gambia national team since June 2019. He made his international debut on 29 March 2021 in a 1–0 defeat to DR Congo. He played in the

2021 Africa cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

, his national team's first continental tournament, where they made a sensational quarter-final.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sibi, Sheikh 1998 births Living people People from Serekunda Gambian people of Mauritanian descent Gambian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Serie D players Serie C players Virtus Verona players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Gambian expatriate men's footballers Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy The Gambia men's international footballers