Seydou Doumbia (; born 31 December 1987) is an Ivorian professional association footballer who last played as a forward for

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

club Ħamrun Spartans. After beginning his career in the Ivory Coast and Japan, he arrived in Europe in 2008 to play for Swiss club Young Boys, where he was the top scorer and player of the year in the Swiss Super League in both of his seasons. In 2010, he signed for

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

for a reported fee of €15 million, where he won six domestic honours and was twice the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

's top scorer. He was transferred to Roma in 2015, and spent much of his tenure out on loan, including the 2016–17 season at

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, where he won the league, Swiss Cup and was top scorer for a third time. Doumbia made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in 2008. He was part of their squads at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and the Africa Cup of Nations in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and 2015, winning the latter tournament.

Club career

Early career

Doumbia started his career at the Inter FC youth academy and started playing at second division partner club AS Athlétic Adjamé in 2003. He joined second division team

Toumodi Toumodi is a town in south-central Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Toumodi Department in Bélier Region, Lacs District. Toumodi is also a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or co ...

on loan for the 2004–05 season, and was on loan in 2005 at

AS Denguélé The Association Sportive Denguélé is an Ivorian football club based in Odienné. Being a member of the Ivorian Football Federation The Ivorian Football Federation (french: Fédération Ivoirienne de Football, FIF) is the governing body ...

, where he became Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division top scorer with 15 goals. In 2006, he moved to Japan, where he played for

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium ...

and then

Tokushima Vortis is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J2 League. The team is located in Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture. Their home stadium is Naruto Otsuka Sports Park Pocari Sweat Stadium, in Naruto, Tokushima. The name, "Vorti ...

. He left Asia on a free transfer and signed for BSC Young Boys in Europe in the summer of 2008, before failing a trial in

Rapid Bucharest Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

BSC Young Boys

In the Swiss Super League, he scored 20 goals in his maiden season and 30 in the 2009–10 season, making him twice top goalscorer in the Swiss Championship. On 30 July 2009, Doumbia scored the only goal of the game as he slotted the ball past goalkeeper

Gorka Iraizoz Gorka Iraizoz Moreno (born 6 March 1981) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 392 official games. In La Liga he also represented Espanyol and Gir ...

to defeat Athletic Bilbao 1–0 in the first leg of their

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifying round tie at the San Mamés. Young Boys crashed out as they lost the second leg at home 2–1 on 6 August, thanks to goals from

Fernando Llorente Fernando Javier Llorente Torres (; born 26 February 1985), nicknamed ''El Rey León'' ("The Lion King" in Spanish), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker. He started his career with Athletic Bilbao, working his way throu ...

and

Iker Muniain Iker Muniain Goñi (, ; born 19 December 1992) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao, where he is captain, mainly as a left winger. Due to his style of play and stature, he was dubbed "the Spanish Messi" by the media. He has spe ...

. In the club's run in to their appearance in the 2009 Swiss Cup Final, Doumbia netted five goals, including a brace against FC Ibach and the only goal in their Round of 16 victory over

FC Gossau FC Gossau is a Swiss football club from the city of Gossau in the canton of St. Gallen. It currently plays in the Challenge League, the second-highest level of Swiss football. History After its foundation in 1906, FC Gossau spent the first 65 ...

. Doumbia scored his first hat-trick for the club against Aarau on 4 October 2009, a 4–0 win, and netted another remarkable first-half hat-trick three weeks later in a 7–1 thrashing of

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

on 29 October. On 13 February 2010, Doumbia proved vital in his club's 2–1 win against Lucerne as he netted two times in the first 17 minutes of the game. The Ivorian's final hat-trick in Swiss football came in a 4–0 thumping of Grasshopper on 20 March 2010.

CSKA Moscow

On 5 January 2010, Russian club

completed the transfer of Doumbia on a five-year deal, for a reported fee of €15 million. Under the terms of the contract, he would stay at Young Boys until the end of the season, before moving to Russia. He made his debut in a 2–1 win over

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 ...

on 1 August 2010, thereby becoming the 200th CSKA player to appear in the Russian league. On 19 August 2010, he scored his first goal for CSKA Moscow in the first leg of a Europa League playoff tie against

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

and added another goal seven minutes later. In the second leg, Doumbia leveled the score with 5 minutes to go and CSKA Moscow went on to win 2–1 (6–1 in aggregate). On 30 September, Doumbia scored goals either side of a

Mark González Mark Dennis González Hoffmann (born 10 July 1984) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played top flight football in Chile, Russia, Spain, Brazil and England. He was described by José Mari Bakero, the s ...

penalty to earn his side a 3–0 victory over

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

to maintain the Russian's 100% record in Europa League Group F play. In the next matchday, the Army Men travelled to the Stadio Renzo Barbera, where Doumbia netted another brace in a 3–0 win over Palermo on 21 October. Doumbia's first goal of the new league campaign came on 17 April 2011, in their third

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 Fo ...

fixture when he latched on to a

Tomáš Necid Tomáš Necid (; born 13 August 1989) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bohemians 1905. He is the older brother of Simona Necidová, who is also an international footballer. Club career Early years Necid played h ...

cross and pushed it by

Rubin Rubin is both a surname and a given name. Rubins is a Latvian-language form of the name. As a Jewish name, it derives from the biblical name Reuben. The choice is also influenced by the word ''rubin'' meaning "ruby" is some languages.

goalkeeper Sergey Ryzhikov; the away win pushed the Army Men up into first place in the table. In their Moscow derby against Dinamo on 8 May, Doumbia seemingly won the game with a strike in the 81st minute, until a defensive error let Marko Lomic equalize the game at 2–2 in the 90th minute. In the final of the Russian Cup on 22 May 2011, Doumbia netted two times as CSKA defeated second-tier side Alania Vladikavkaz 2–1. ЦСКА-Уфа (1)

In CSKA's match against

Tom Tomsk FC Tom Tomsk (russian: Футбольный клуб Томь Томск) is a Russian professional football club, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk. The team plays in Trud Stadium (Tomsk). History The team was previously named ''Burevestnik'' ...

on 20 August 2011, Doumbia scored a second-half brace as the capital club eased to a 3–0 victory. On 14 September, he scored twice in the Champions League against Ligue 1 champions

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, helping his side secure a 2–2 draw after falling behind 2–0. The Ivorian striker added two more goals as CSKA defeated Turkish side

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

3–0 on 18 October, to record the Russians first victory in Group B play. Five days later, Doumbia scored two goals to power CSKA to victory in their enthralling 5–3 game against side

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

. In their following league game against Spartak Nalchik on 28 October, Doumbia scored a seven-minute hat-trick to earn his side a 4–0 win, after his teammate, Vagner Love, had put the hosts up 1–0 in the 34th minute. Doumbia opened the scoring against

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

on 7 December, guiding his side to a 2–1 away victory, which secured a berth in the Round of 16 against Spanish club Real Madrid. On 29 December, Doumbia was voted the Russian Premier League Player of the Year after netting 24 goals in 30 league games during the calendar year as well as five Champions League goals in as many games. On 19 March 2012, Doumbia scored a goal against city rivals Spartak, earning his side a 2–1 victory. He scored his final goal of the league season from the penalty spot, as CSKA defeated local rivals Lokomotiv 3–0 on 2 May. Doumbia won the Golden Boot as he netted 23 goals in the initial league campaign, seven more than closest rival Alexandr Kerzhakov, and added five more goals in the Championship Group as well as providing 11 assists throughout the season. Doumbia scored two first-half goals, the first of which was within two minutes of kick-off, as CSKA won 2–1 at Manchester City in the Champions League group stage on 5 November 2014.

Roma

On 31 January 2015, Doumbia joined Italian club Roma on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an initial fee of €14.4 million, rising to a potential €15.9 million. Doumbia scored twice in his thirteen appearances, in back-to-back games against

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label= Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known f ...

and

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Loans to CSKA Moscow and Newcastle United

On 10 August 2015, Doumbia returned to CSKA Moscow on a season-long loan deal, following an unsuccessful spell with Roma. On 1 February 2016, it was confirmed that Newcastle United had signed Doumbia on loan for the remainder of the 2015–16 season, with an option to make the deal permanent in the summer. The loan was unsuccessful, with Doumbia only making three appearances, all from the bench, and failing to score. Newcastle finished the season eighteenth and were relegated to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Loan to Basel

On 28 June 2016,

announced that they had signed Doumbia on a one-year loan deal from A.S. Roma, with the option of a permanent deal at the end of the season. He joined Basel's first team for their 2016–17 season under head coach

Urs Fischer Urs Fischer (born 2 May 1973) is a Swiss-born contemporary visual artist living in New York City. Fischer’s practice includes sculpture, installation and photography. Education and early career Born to two doctors as the second of two children ...

. He made his domestic league debut on 24 July 2016, in a 3–0 home win at the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

against

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pl ...

. He scored his first goal for his new club in the same game and just one week later on 31 July, during the away game against

Vaduz Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...

, he scored his second. It was the last goal of the game and Basel won 5–1. Doumbia played in all six games that Basel had in the 2016–17 Champions League group stage scoring one goal. This was in the home in the

on 6 December 2016 in front of a sold out capacity groud of 36,000 spectators. But it could not help the team as they lost 4–1 against Arsenal. Under trainer

, Doumbia won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season. This was the eighth title for the club in a row and their 20th championship title in total. They also won the Swiss Cup for the twelfth time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in the club's history. Basel did not pull the option of a perminant transfer saying that the price was too high. During his time with the club Doumbia played a total of 41 games for Basel scoring a total of 21 goals. 25 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, three in the Swiss Cup six in the Champions League and seven were friendly games. He scored 20 goals in the domestic league and the other was scored in the Champions League.

Loan to Sporting

On 30 June 2017, Doumbia went on his fourth consecutive loan since joining AS Roma, this time to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. He made his debut for the Lisbon club on 11 August, replacing Daniel Podence for the final 25 minutes of a 1–0 home win over Vitória F.C. in the first game of the season. Doumbia played rarely for Sporting, as manager

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 1 ...

considered him incapable of partnering the prolific Dutchman Bas Dost up front. Doumbia scored his first goal for the club on 23 August, opening a 5–1 win away to

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministr ...

in the Champions League play-off second leg (also aggregate score). On 13 December, in the last 16 of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of 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 Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

, he scored a hat-trick as the Lions won 4–0 against third-tier

Vilaverdense F.C. Länk FC Vilaverdense (formerly known as Vilaverdense F.C.) is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Vila Verde Municipality, Vila Verde in the district of Braga. Länk FC Vilaverdense FC currently plays in the Liga 3 (Portu ...

at the

Estádio José Alvalade Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club ...

Later career

On 28 August 2018, Doumbia signed with

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' ...

side Girona FC for three years. On 13 August of the following year, after suffering relegation, he terminated his contract. Doumbia returned to Switzerland's top flight on 2 September 2019, on a one-year deal with

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

. He and eight teammates were sacked on 20 March 2020 for refusing a pay cut during the

coronavirus 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 identifie ...

. On 27 January 2021, Doumbia joined Maltese

side Ħamrun Spartans on a six-month contract.

International career

Doumbia earned his first international cap for Ivory Coast in a friendly against Japan during the

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

on 24 May 2008. He scored his first international goal in a friendly against Germany on 18 November 2009, in a 2–2 draw. He was selected for Ivory Coast in the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, but only made one appearance, as a 79th-minute substitute for

Romaric Saint Romaric (died 653) was a Frankish nobleman who lived in Austrasia from the late 6th century until the middle of the 7th century. He and Amatus of Grenoble founded Remiremont Abbey. Biography He was a former Count Palatine in the court of ...

, in the 3–0 win against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. Doumbia was selected for the Ivory Coast national team for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Doumbia announced his retirement from international competition after failing to make the Ivory Coast's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but was later called back by new coach

Hervé Renard Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard (born 30 September 1968) is a French professional football coach and former player who is the manager of the Saudi Arabia national team. Renard has previously been the manager of Zambia national team, with whom ...

for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and he returned to the national team. 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 ...

finals, Doumbia scored ''les Éléphants first goal of the tournament during their opening 1–1 draw with Guinea. He became 2015 Africa Cup of Nations champion with the

Ivory Coast national football team The Ivory Coast national football team (French: ''Équipe de football de Côte d'Ivoire'', recognized as the Côte d'Ivoire by FIFA) represents Ivory Coast in men's international football. Nicknamed ''the Elephants'', the team is managed by th ...

Personal life

Doumbia is the brother of the footballer Ousmane Doumbia.

Career statistics

Club

International

:Source: :''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first.''

Honours

CSKA Moscow *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14 * Russian Cup:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

FC Basel * Swiss Super League: 2016–17 * Swiss Cup: 2016–17 Sporting CP * Taça da Liga: 2017–18 Ħamrun Spartans *

: 2020–21 Ivory Coast * Africa Cup of Nations: 2015; runner-up:

Individual * Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division Top scorer: 2005 * Swiss Footballer of the Year: 2009, 2010 * Swiss Super League Top scorer: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2016–2017 * ''Futbol'' Footballer of the Year in Russia: 2011, 2014Думбия признан лучшим футболистом России 2014 года
/ref> * ''Sport-Express'' Footballer of the Year in Russia: 2011 *

Top scorer: 2011–12, 2013–14

References

External links