Ousmane Ndong (born 20 September 1999) is a Senegalese 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

centre-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 ...

for Russian club

Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat (; ), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, and formerly as Terek Grozny from 1958 to 2017, is a Russian professional football club based in Grozny that plays in the Russian Premier League. History The club was foun ...

. Besides Senegal, he has played in Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador, Iran and Russia.

Career

Ndong started out as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, spending his early youth years in Senegal with Angelo Africa, Teungueth FC and Cayor Foot FC. In 2018, Ndong moved to Argentina to join Primera División team

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

. He played in their academy for two years, latterly as captain, whilst transforming into a

. He made the breakthrough into

Luis Zubeldía Luis Francisco Zubeldía (born 13 January 1981) is an Argentine Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A former midfielder, Zubeldía's career was mainly associated to Club Atlético Lanús, wh ...

's first-team in mid-2020. He scored in a friendly against

Arsenal de Sarandí Arsenal Fútbol Club (), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí , or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The football team currently plays in Primera Nacional, t ...

on 29 September, before making his senior debut in the

Copa de la Liga Profesional The Copa de la Liga Profesional (English: ''Professional League Cup''; officially named "Copa Diego Armando Maradona" in its first edition) was an official Argentine football cup competition. The cup was planned and organised by the "Liga Profes ...

against

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

on 14 November; becoming the first Senegalese player to play in the Argentine top-flight. On 3 January 2022 it was confirmed, that Ndong's contract with Lanús had been terminated. At the end of February 2022, Ndong moved to

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

side

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

. On 21 July 2025, Ndong signed a three-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Personal life

Born in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, Ndong was born with two brothers and one sister. His father is a retired policeman, while his mother (d. 2019) was a doctor. He was childhood friends with

Sadio Mané Sadio Mané (born 10 April 1992) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Senegal national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest African players o ...

. In 2019, in Argentina, Ndong was robbed at gunpoint. He also suffered racist abuse while in the South American country. It took him nine months to learn Spanish, having only previously spoken French and partial English. Ndong states his love of Argentina came from watching

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

and the Argentina national team; revealing he cried when the nation was eliminated from the

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario (, , ; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's soccer tournament that was hosted by the United States in 2016. The competition was a celebration of the centennial of CONMEBOL and the Copa Am� ...

Career statistics

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndong, Ousmane 1999 births Footballers from Dakar Living people 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen Men's association football defenders Senegalese men's footballers Club Atlético Lanús footballers Albion F.C. players Esteghlal Khuzestan F.C. players Gol Gohar Sirjan F.C. players FC Akhmat Grozny players Argentine Primera División players Uruguayan Primera División players Ecuadorian Serie A players Persian Gulf Pro League players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Russia