Sulayman Marreh (born 15 January 1996) 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

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 ...

and

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch language, Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghen ...

and the Gambia national team.

Club career

Born in

Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

, Marreh made his senior debuts with Abuko United FC. In 2011, he was spotted by Gambia U-17's staff ahead of

2011 African U-17 Championship The 2011 African U-17 Championship was a football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament took place in Rwanda. The top four teams qualified for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Qualification Qualifie ...

, and despite being left out of the final cut, he joined

Samger FC Samger Football Club is a Gambian football club based in Kanifing near Serrekunda. They play in the top division in Gambian football, the Gambian Championnat National D1. Stadium Currently the team plays at the 5,000 capacity Serrekunda East ...

. In March 2014 he moved to

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

in Spain, being assigned to the reserves in

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, for a reported fee of one million

dalasi The dalasi is the currency of the Gambia that was adopted in 1971. It is subdivided into 100 bututs. It replaced the Gambian pound at a rate of 1 pound = 5 dalasis, i.e. 1 dalasi = 0.2 pound = 4 shillings. The derivative of ''dala'' is unknown. ...

. Marreh made his senior debut with the side on 15 March 2014, starting in a 0–0 draw against

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 spe ...

; roughly a month later he netted his first goal abroad, scoring the first of a 6–1 home win over

Écija Balompié Écija Balompié, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Écija, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1939, it plays in División de Honor Andaluza, the fifth tier of Spanish football. History In 2007–08 season, the club b ...

. On 21 March, Marreh was called up to the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns' main squad ahead of the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

match against

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

; he remained on the bench in the 1–0 win at the

Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

, however. He made his first-team debut on 17 October, starting in a 0–1 home loss against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

. On 10 July 2017, after having his federative rights assigned to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, Marreh was loaned to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

club

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

for one year. The following January, his loan with Valladolid was cancelled and he joined

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

on a loan deal for the remainder of the campaign. In March 2019

club

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...

announced they had taken up the option to sign Marreh on a contract until June 2021, having initially signed him on loan for the 2018–19 season.

International career

After being left out of the under-17 squad, Marreh made his debut with the main squad on 9 February 2011, coming on as a substitute in a 1–3 loss against

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal. He played his first official match on 15 June of the following year, starting in a 1–4 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification loss against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. He played in the 2021 Africa cup of Nations, his national team's first continental tournament, where they made a sensational quarter-final.

Career statistics

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marreh, Sulayman 1996 births Living people People from Banjul Gambian footballers Association football midfielders The Gambia international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players La Liga players Segunda División B players Belgian Pro League players Club Recreativo Granada players Granada CF footballers Watford F.C. players Real Valladolid players UD Almería players K.A.S. Eupen players K.A.A. Gent players Gambian expatriate footballers Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Gambian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England