Souleymane Mamam (born 20 June 1985) is a
Togolese former 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 played as an
attacking midfielder or a
winger. He played for
Royal Antwerp,
K.R.C. Mechelen
K.R.C. Mechelen is a football in Belgium, Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp (province), Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the Belgian First Di ...
, and
Nejmeh SC. His brother
Chérif Touré Mamam was also a footballer.
Club career
Born in
Lomé,
Togo, Mamam played for local clubs in Lomé before signing for English club
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
in 2003. However,
work permit regulations meant that it was not possible for Mamam to play in the United Kingdom and he was sent on loan to play at Royal Antwerp until he was eligible for a Belgian passport. At the end of the 2006–07 season, after four seasons of playing on loan for Antwerp, Manchester United decided not to renew his contract.
Having become a free agent, Mamam then signed a new one-year permanent deal with Royal Antwerp in time for the start of the 2007–08 season. He went on trial at
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
– who declined to sign Mamam in favour of another defender – and
Birmingham City, but again failed to secure a deal due to work permit problems. He also went on trial with
Toronto FC in the MLS in January 2010, before joining
Belgian Third Division A team
K.R.C. Mechelen
K.R.C. Mechelen is a football in Belgium, Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp (province), Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the Belgian First Di ...
until the end of the 2009–10 season.
Mamam returned to Manchester United on trial in August 2011, and played in a friendly for the club's reserve team against
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
on 1 August; he was substituted in the 53rd minute for
Jesse Lingard, who scored the team's second goal in a 2–0 win. He then scored after 11 minutes of the reserves' next game against
Llanelli at
Parc y Scarlets on 8 August, but was substituted in the 58th minute.
He played for
Nejmeh SC, after having been released by K.R.C. Mechelen in July 2010.
International career
According to official
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
records, on 6 May 2001, Mamam became the youngest player to ever play a
World Cup qualifier when he played for the
Togo national team against
Zambia at the age of 13 years and 310 days.
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
records give Mamam's date of birth as 30 June 1987; however, various websites, including the official website of Royal Antwerp, give 20 June 1985, which would mean he was in fact almost 16 when he played his first match for Togo and even older than
American Samoan Ben Falaniko, who played his first international match aged 15 years and 217 days.
FIFA.com
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamam, Souleymane
1985 births
Living people
Footballers from Lomé
Togolese men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Togo men's international footballers
Belgian Pro League players
Challenger Pro League players
Lebanese Premier League players
CO Modèle de Lomé players
Manchester United F.C. players
Royal Antwerp F.C. players
K.R.C. Mechelen players
Nejmeh SC players
Togolese expatriate men's footballers
Togolese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium
Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium
Togolese expatriate sportspeople in England
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Togolese expatriate sportspeople in Lebanon
Expatriate men's footballers in Lebanon
21st-century Togolese people