Cheikh Sidy Bouya M'Bengue (born 23 July 1988) is a 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

left-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 ...

. He has played professional club football for

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

and Rennes. Born in France, he represented them at youth level before playing for the Senegal senior side.

Club career

Toulouse

M'Bengue started out with his hometown club Toulouse when he was seven joining the club's youth team. He played frequently with the club's underage teams slowly ascending the ranks. Following the 2006–07 season, M'Bengue graduated from the club's youth academy and was promoted to the club's Championnat de France amateur squad. During the 2007–08 season, he earned call ups to the first team and eventually made his debut on 15 September 2007 against

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 victory. Two weeks later, he appeared as a substitute again in a 1–0 win over

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...

. He made his first start the following week in a 2–0 defeat to Saint-Étienne. After just a few matches into the 2007–08 CFA season, M'Bengue was embroiled in controversy. While playing in a match against the second team of

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

, he committed a dangerous foul on an opposing player. He was swiftly given a

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

, however, after realizing the severity of the player's injury, the referee decided to send off M'Bengue. The French Football Federation responded by suspending him 13 matches, which effectively made him ineligible for play until March 2008. Though M'Bengue was suspended by the federation, he was still allowed participation in

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

-sanctioned matches. Since Toulouse were participating in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

that season, he made the bench several times and eventually made his first start in the team's 2–1 win over Russian club

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

. That winter, M'Bengue signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal. M'Bengue was one of the main bright spots during the club's successful play during the season. However, on 14 March 2009, he would be involved in another incident. Coincidentally, while playing against the Monaco senior team in a league match, M'Bengue committed another rough foul, this time on the Argentine

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 ...

Alejandro Alonso. He received a yellow card for the tackle and Alonso was eventually ruled out for the season. In response to the tackle, the FFF again suspended M'Bengue until 1 June, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

Rennes

In the summer of 2013 M'Bengue declined to extend his contract with Toulouse that was expiring in 2014. Clubs such as Sunderland and Beşiktaş showed interest. However, on 25 August M'Bengue transferred to Stade Rennais and signed a deal that was to last until 2016. The transfer fee was expected to be around €2 million.

Saint-Étienne

On 20 July 2016, M'Bengue joined Saint-Étienne on a free transfer.

Shenzhen

On 9 February 2019, M'Bengue transferred to Super League newcomers

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

International career

Cheikh made his French under-21 debut on 19 November 2008 against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in a 1–0 victory. He was a part of the 2009 Toulon Tournament squad that reached the finals; however, due to picking up an injury, he missed the match. In May 2011, he announced that he would represent the Senegal national team at senior international level after previously representing France at youth level. On 9 May 2011, the manager of the Senegal national team,

Amara Traoré Amara Traoré (born 25 September 1965) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who is the head coach of Horoya AC in the Guinée Championnat National. He managed the Senegal national team and ASC Linguère in Senegal. Playing career ...

, confirmed that M'Bengue would be representing Senegal at senior international level, and on 4 June 2011, M'Bengue was cleared to play for Senegal, making his international debut later that month. In January 2017 he was part of the team's successful performance at the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

References

External links

*
Player profile at Sky Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:M'bengue, Cheikh 1988 births Living people Footballers from Toulouse French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Citizens of Senegal through descent Men's association football defenders French men's footballers Senegalese men's footballers Senegal men's international footballers Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Toulouse FC players Stade Rennais F.C. players AS Saint-Étienne players Ligue 1 players Shenzhen F.C. players Chinese Super League players Expatriate men's footballers in China France men's under-21 international footballers 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Black French sportspeople