Thievy Guivane Bifouma Koulossa (born 13 May 1992) 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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club OFI. He spent most of his early career in Spain, totalling 68

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 ...

games and eight goals for

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

and

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

in addition to a season on loan at

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

in the

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 ...

. As well as brief spells in England with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and France with

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

and

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

, he represented four clubs in Turkey's

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

. Formerly a youth international for France, where he was born, Bifouma made his senior debut for the Congo in 2014. He competed at the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

, where he was joint top scorer.

Club career

Espanyol

Bifouma was born in

Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis Saint-Denis (, ) is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis had a population of 112,091 as of 2018. It is a subprefecture (french: sous-préfecture) of the department of Seine-S ...

. He joined

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

in Spain in early 2010, not yet aged 18, signing from

RC Strasbourg Alsace Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

. On 13 March 2011, he made his debut with the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

' first team, after coming on as a substitute for

Joan Verdú Joan Verdú Fernández (; born 5 May 1983) is a Spanish professional footballer. A versatile midfielder, adept as both central or attacking midfielder, he started professionally at Barcelona, but played mainly for local rivals Espanyol during ...

in the dying minutes of a 2–0

home win against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

. On 10 August 2011, in the

Copa Catalunya The Copa Catalunya (''Catalonia Cup'') is a knockout competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. History Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the '' Championship ...

final, Bifouma scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 3–0 victory over a

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

team that was filled with reserve and youth players. On 17 December, he netted his first goal with the main squad, scoring the opener in an eventual 2–1 away defeat of

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

. In September 2012, Bifouma was loaned to

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. After a successful spell, he extended his contract with Espanyol until 2017. On 31 January 2014, Bifouma signed for

on a loan deal with a view to a permanent transfer, being awarded the number 50 shirt. He made his debut in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

eight days later, playing the second half and scoring within 36 seconds of taking the pitch in a 3–1 away loss against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. Bifouma moved to fellow top-division club

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 13 August 2014, in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan. On 19 March of the following year, he was suspended for one month due to allegations of breach of contract with his former agent; the ban was lifted days later, and he continued to appear regularly for 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, which suffered relegation. On 19 August 2015, Bifouma was loaned 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� ...

of the same league for one year. He finished the season with

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

, also owned by Espanyol.

Turkey

On 28 July 2016, Bifouma signed for fellow French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football ...

. He was on the move again in the following

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, joining

Osmanlıspor Ankaraspor Kulübü (), formerly known as Osmanlıspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. History Ankaraspor was founded as "Ankara Bele ...

on a three-and-a-half-year deal. He scored just one goal in 22 total games for the team from

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, in their 5–1 win at

Adanaspor Adanaspor is a Turkish professional football club based in Adana, currently performing at the TFF First League. The club is founded in 1954 by the middle-class merchants and artisans in response to the alienation within city's then most popular c ...

in the

on 19 February 2017. Remaining in the same league, Bifouma signed a one-year contract with

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

on 9 September 2017. Only eight days later, he netted twice in a 4–2 victory on his return to the

Osmanlı Stadium Osmanlı Stadium ( tr, Osmanlı Stadyumu) is a football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is ...

. Bifouma went back to the Turkish capital in June 2018, agreeing to a three-year deal at

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Ankara. The football team wears a yellow and navy kit and plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium following the closure of th ...

. He scored once during his brief tenure, a late consolation in a 2–1 home defeat to

Kasımpaşa S.K. Kasımpaşa Spor Kulübü. (, Kasımpaşa Sports Club), commercially registered as Kasımpaşa Sportif Faaliyetleri A.Ş., colloquially known Kasımpaşa, is a Turkish professional football club located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. The c ...

on 2 September, and moved on again on 22 January 2019 when he signed with third-placed

Yeni Malatyaspor Yeni Malatyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Malatya, Turkey. The club plays in the TFF First League, which is the second tier of football in the country. History Founded in 1986 as Malatya Belediyespor. Its prima ...

for an undisclosed fee. On 15 December that year, he scored in a 2–0 win at

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (), also known simply as Beşiktaş (), is a Turkish sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

which broke the

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

club's six-match winning streak. On 17 July 2020, Bifouma moved to the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

Shenzhen F.C. Shenzhen Football Club () is a Chinese professional association football, football club that competes in the Chinese Super League. The team is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong and their home stadium is the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre that has ...

on an undisclosed contract for a fee of around €3 million. The following 19 April, he was released by mutual accord and signed for

Heilongjiang Ice City F.C. Heilongjiang Ice City Football Club (), previously known as Heilongjiang Lava Spring Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CF ...

in the country's second tier. Ten months after leaving China with no goals and one

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

to his name from nine appearances, Bifouma returned to Turkey in February 2022, signing for a

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

side fighting to remain in the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

. He was one of 17 players to leave following their relegation.

International career

A French youth international, Bifouma opted to represent Congo at the senior level, receiving a

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 ...

clearance on 1 August 2014. He made his full debut a day later, replacing Julsy Boukama-Kaya in the 68th minute of a 2–0 away loss against

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

in the second leg of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations second qualification round. On 6 September 2014, in the same competition, Bifouma scored a brace in a 3–2 win in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. At the

finals, he netted Congo's first goal of the tournament in a 1–1 draw with hosts

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

. He also scored the opener in their 2–1 group phase victory over

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

, a result which qualified the nation to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1992, where he grabbed his final goal against the

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, putting his team ahead 2–0 but in an eventual 4–2 defeat; with three goals, he was one of five joint top scorers. Having missed over two years of games for reasons including travel restrictions in China during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Bifouma was recalled to the Congolese squad in September 2020. He finally played again the following 26 March, in a goalless draw at home to

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links