Mama Samba Baldé (born 6 November 1995) is a Bissau-Guinean 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 lea ...

who plays as a winger for club Brest and the Guinea-Bissau national team.

Club career

Sporting CP

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. it had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, its administr ...

, Baldé moved to Portugal before his tenth birthday. In 2013, he signed with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

for his last year as a junior, arriving

for free "For Free" is a song by American disc jockey DJ Khaled, featuring Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on June 3, 2016 by We the Best Music Group and Epic Records as the lead single from DJ Khaled's ninth studio album, ''Major Key''. The song ...

from Sintrense. Baldé made his professional debut with the reserves on 11 May 2014, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in a 1–0 away win against Braga B in the Segunda Liga. In January 2015, he was loaned to third division side

Benfica de Castelo Branco Sport Benfica e Castelo Branco, commonly referred to as Benfica e Castelo Branco, is a semi-professional football club based in Castelo Branco, and it is an affiliated club of Benfica. Founded on 24 March 1924, the club has traditionally worn ...

until June. Returned to Sporting B for 2015–16, Baldé scored his first league goal on 30 September 2015, but in a 1–3 home defeat to

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

. He totalled 38 appearances during the season, helping to a tenth-place finish in the second tier. Baldé went on loan to

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

in the summer of 2017. His first match in the competition occurred on 11 September, when he started as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

in the 2–1 home victory over

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

. In February 2019, Baldé became Aves' all-time scorer in the Portuguese top flight with nine goals.

Dijon

On 27 June 2019, Baldé joined

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

on a three-year contract. He made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

debut on 10 August, playing the first half of a 1–2 home loss against

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

. Baldé scored seven times during the 2020–21 campaign, but his team suffered relegation as last.

Troyes

On 31 July 2021, Baldé agreed to a four-year deal at

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

in the same country and league. He scored a career-best 12 goals in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, but his side also went down.

Lyon

On 30 August 2023, Baldé joined

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

on loan for one year for €2 million, with a €6 million buying option. In May 2024, as he had taken part in 55% of their matches, the clause was automatically activated.

Brest

On 30 August 2024, Baldé signed a three-year contract with fellow top-tier Brest for €4.5 million, not including bonuses potentially rising up to €2.4 million, with a 15% sell-on clause for Lyon. He was part of the squad that participated in European competitions for the first time in the club's history, the

2024–25 UEFA Champions League The 2024–25 UEFA Champions League was the 70th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 33rd season since it was rebranded from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. This was the ...

International career

Baldé won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

on 8 June 2019, in a friendly against

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

where he replaced Toni Silva (2–0 loss in

Penafiel Penafiel ( or ) is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) in the Norte Region, Portugal, northern Portugal, Portuguese Porto District, district of Porto. Capital of the Tâmega Subregion ...

). He was selected in the squad for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Aves *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2017–18 Lyon *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

runner-up: 2023–24

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balde, Mama 1995 births Living people 21st-century Bissau-Guinean sportsmen Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Footballers from Bissau Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Men's association football utility players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players S.U. Sintrense players Sporting CP B players Sport Benfica e Castelo Branco players C.D. Aves players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players Dijon FCO players ES Troyes AC players Olympique Lyonnais players Stade Brestois 29 players Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in France