Willy Braciano Ta Bi (5 December 1999 – 23 February 2021) was an Ivorian 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 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 ...

. He made one senior appearance for the Ivory Coast national team in 2017.

Club career

Born in Divo, Ta Bi played club football for

Moossou Grand-Bassam () is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefectures of Ivory Coast, sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a Communes of Ivory Coast, commune. During the late 19th ...

ASEC Mimosas The Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, literally Mimosas Commerce Employees' Sporting Association, is an Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian Association football, football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ''ASEC Mimosas A ...

and

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

International career

Ta Bi made one appearance for the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

senior team in 2017, and also represented them at under-17 and under-20 levels. He captained the national youth team and appeared at the 2017 Francophone Games.

Death

Ta Bi died on 23 February 2021, aged 21, from

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

References

1999 births 2021 deaths Ivorian men's footballers Moossou FC players ASEC Mimosas players Atalanta BC players Men's association football midfielders Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Place of death missing Ivorian expatriates in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Ivory Coast men's under-20 international footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from cancer in Italy People from Divo, Ivory Coast {{IvoryCoast-footy-bio-stub