Mathis Gazoa Kippersund Bolly (born 14 November 1990) 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 lea ...

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) ** Smal ...

. Bolly made his professional debut for the Norwegian top flight side

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

. He represented

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

at youth international level, but chose to represent Ivory Coast national.

Club career

Born in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

to a Norwegian mother and an Ivorian father, Bolly grew up at Holmlia in Oslo and played youth football for

Lyn Lyn or LYN may refer to: People * Lyn (singer), South Korean singer * Lyn (gamer), South Korean ''Warcraft III'' player * Lyn (given name) * Lyn (surname) In science and technology * Lynx (constellation), standard abbreviation * Lyn (locomotive ...

, Oppsal IL and Holmlia before transferring to

in 2008. He made his debut for the first team in the

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

match against Stabæk and played two matches in his first season with the club. In the 2009 season, Bolly's second season with Lillestrøm, he played 10 matches in Tippeligaen. Bolly scored his first Tippeligaen goal in the 1–0 victory against

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

on 3 October 2010. During the 2012 season Bolly scored four goals and made four assists. His contract with Lillestrøm lasted till the end of the 2013 season, though he had told the club that he didn't want to renew his contract. Lillestrøm subsequently accepted an offer from

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

and on 2 January 2013, Bolly signed for a three-and-a-half-year contract with the German side. Bolly made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut in the match against

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

when he came on as a substitute. He started the next match against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

on 9 March 2013, where he also scored one of Fortuna Düsseldorf's goals in the 3–2 loss. The next week, Bolly scored another goal when Fortuna Düsseldorf drew 1–1 away against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

. Fortuna Düsseldorf was relegated after the 2012–13 season, but Bolly stayed with the team when they played in the 2. Bundesliga in the following season. On 19 February 2019, Bolly joined

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

on a one-year contract. He got his Molde debut on 18 July 2019 when he came on as a 62nd minute substitute in Molde's 0–0 draw away against KR in the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

first qualifying round. On 1 October 2019, Molde announced that they had agreed a contract extension with Bolly that will keep him at the club till the end of the 2022 season.

International career

Bolly played three matches for the Norwegian under-19 team in 2009, and was called up for the under-21 team in February and March 2013. He was also included in the Norwegian preliminary squad for the

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, or simply the 2013 Euro Under-21, was the 19th staging of UEFA's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Israel from 5–18 June 2013. The Is ...

, but withdrew from the squad when he in May 2013 was called up for the Ivory Coast national team for the World Cup qualifiers against

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. His former manager at Lillestrøm,

Henning Berg Henning Stille Berg (; born 1 September 1969) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Omonia. His career lasted from 1988 to 2004, most notably in the Premier League where he won titles with both Black ...

, stated that it was a big loss for Norway and that Bolly could have been an important player for the national team in the future. He played his first game for the Ivory Coast against

on 8 June 2013. He played his second match for Ivory Coast in the friendly match against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in August 2013, playing alongside

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...

. Bolly was an unused substitute in the decisive play-off match against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

when Ivory Coast qualified for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He was selected to represent the Ivory Coast at the

2014 Fifa World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

in Brazil, and got his World Cup debut as a second-half substitute in the Ivory Coast's second group game against Colombia.

Style of play

When he joined Lillestrøm in 2008, Bolly ran 40 meters in 4.77 seconds. After the 2009 season, he ran 40 meters in 4.61 seconds, which makes him the second fastest Tippeligaen player ever, only beaten by

Luton Shelton Luton George Kieshawn Shelton (11 November 1985 – 22 January 2021) was a Jamaican professional footballer who played as a striker or winger. At the time of his death, he was the top scorer for the Jamaica national team with 35 goals. He is ...

. When

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

released the video game

FIFA 14 ''FIFA 14'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStati ...

, Bolly was the fastest player in the game in terms of sprint speed. As of FIFA 17, he still holds this achievement. However, in the FIFA 18 edition,

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Pierre-Emerick Emiliano François Aubameyang (born 18 June 1989) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Saudi Pro League club Al Qadsiah FC, Al-Qadsiah and Captain (associat ...

replaces him as the fastest player in the game in terms of sprint speed and acceleration.

Career statistics

Honours

Molde *

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolly, Mathis 1990 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Ivorian men's footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers Norwegian men's footballers Ivorian people of Norwegian descent Norwegian people of Ivorian descent Men's association football midfielders Holmlia SK players Lillestrøm SK players Molde FK players Eliteserien players Fortuna Düsseldorf players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 2014 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen