Yoann Folly (born 6 June 1985) is a retired

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 ...

. His previous clubs include St. Étienne in France,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and Plymouth Argyle in England and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in Scotland. Born in France, he represented

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

at international level. A series of poor health and injuries eventually lead to Folly's premature retirement in 2012, aged 27.

Club career

Southampton

Folly was brought to England in 2003 by then

manager

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

who paid St. Étienne £250,000 to secure his signature. After numerous managerial changes at Southampton, Folly struggled to get in the team and loan spells at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

(where he scored his first goal in English football against

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

) and Preston North End followed. Folly was signed on loan by

in January 2006 to ease injury problems as the then manager

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

had been impressed by him after taking over as Saints manager from Strachan in 2004. He made his debut on 31 January at Hillsborough, suffering a 2–0 defeat against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Sheffield Wednesday

Folly's promising displays meant that he joined Wednesday on a permanent basis at the end of the 2005–06 season, rejecting the offer of a new contract at St. Mary's. However, Southampton did receive an undisclosed compensation fee, under FA rules due to him being under the age of 24. He climbed off the substitutes' bench at Hillsborough to score an extra-time winner for Wednesday in the League Cup second round versus

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in August 2007.

Plymouth Argyle

Folly handed in a transfer request to the club in January 2008, citing concerns about his lack of first team football, and he joined Championship rivals Plymouth Argyle that month for a fee believed to be around £200,000, joining manager

for the third time in his career. Despite this, Folly failed to make a serious impact in the club's first-team, being out for a sustained period of time due to a number of injuries and illnesses. He made a surprise return to the starting line-up in October 2009 against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, having only appeared once before that in 2009, producing a composed performance in a 1–0 victory for the Pilgrims in which he was the Man of the Match. Folly retained his place in the team for three of the club's next four games, but soon fell out of favour under new manager

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English football player and coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley. He became a professional player in 1973 with Plymouth Argyle, where he scored ...

. He joined

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 ...

club Dagenham & Redbridge on an initial one-month loan at the end of February 2010. On 29 March 2010, Folly returned to parent club Plymouth Argyle from his loan spell at Dagenham because of a midfield crisis at the club, but, on 2 May 2010, it was announced that Folly, alongside defender David McNamee and goalkeeper Lloyd Saxton, would be released.

Aberdeen

After a trial at Scottish Premier League side

, he signed for the club on 26 July 2010. Folly became an instant hit with the local supporters playing a crucial part in the team's midfield alongside fellow summer signing, Scottish internationalist

Paul Hartley Paul Hartley (born 19 October 1976) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Scottish Championship side Cove Rangers. As a player, Hartley won trophies with both Hearts and ...

. Folly scored his first goal for Aberdeen on 26 December 2010 in a 2–1 win at Hibernian. However, just a week later, while up against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

, Folly broke his ankle after a 65th minute tackle by Paul Dixon. Manager Craig Brown, later that day, confirmed Folly would not play again during the 2010–11 season. Near the end of the 2011–12 season, Folly was advised that his contract with Aberdeen would not be extended. On 25 August 2012, Folly had to retire from professional football after being diagnosed with chronic pulmonary embolism.

International career

Folly represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at under-21 level, but later switched his allegiance to

. He was included in Togo's provisional squad for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, but pulled out to pursue his International Career in France. However, Folly did make his senior international debut for Togo in August 2008 against DR Congo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Folly, Yoann 1985 births Living people French sportspeople of Togolese descent Citizens of Togo through descent Footballers from Paris Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers Togolese men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers INF Clairefontaine players AS Saint-Étienne players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland France men's youth international footballers Togo men's international footballers