Alieu Darbo (born 3 August 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 lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or winger. Born in Sweden to Gambian parents, he has represented Gambia at the international youth level. He appeared as an unused substitute for

Gambia national football team The Gambia national football team (recognized as The Gambia by FIFA) represents The Gambia in men's international football and is controlled by the Gambia Football Federation. Until 1965, the team and the country were known as British Gambia. ...

once in 2012.

Club career

Darbo started his career in Sweden, then moved to France with

Le Mans FC Le Mans Football Club (; commonly referred to as Le Mans FC) is a French professional football club based in Le Mans. The club set to compete in Ligue 2 from 2025–26, the second tier of French football after promotion from Championnat Nation ...

. He was the member of their under-19 team in 2010.

England, Croatia and Finland

Darbo went on trial with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

in 2012, and signed a three-year contract with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

in June 2012. This was later refuted by the club. Vital Football even reported the signing was made up by the footballer himself. In August 2013 Darbo signed for Croatian side

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional association football, football Football team, club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They ...

. Despite being injured, he was included in the club's 23 man squad for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and given a two-year contract extension in September. He was released in December 2013, having been at Dinamo for just four months, without making any debut for the club. In January 2014 he played once for

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded i ...

in the second leg derby against

TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...

in 2014 Finnish League Cup group stage.

Italy, Sweden, Norway

On 12 July 2014 Italian club

F.C. Crotone Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to as Crotone, is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. They play in the third division of Italian football, the Serie C. Founded on 20 September 1910, it holds its home games at St ...

announced the signing of Darbo. However, the contract was terminated on 19 July after the club announced there was some miscommunication with his agent. Later in July 2014 he was presented as a player of Swedish second-tier side

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap (, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Superettan, the second league tier of football in Sweden. The club was formed ...

. The deal soon collapsed. In January 2015 he was presented as a player for Norwegian club

Nybergsund Nybergsund is a village in Trysil Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located about south of the village of Innbygda which is the municipal centre of Trysil. The village is best known for serving as a hiding place for the Norwegian r ...

. However, this deal, too, soon collapsed.

Malta, Algeria, Egypt, Malta again & Tunisia

In February 2015, he signed a three-month contract with

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

side Mosta FC. Darbo made his debut for the club in a 3–1

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

loss against

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

, being replaced after 71 minutes. In June 2015, Darbo signed a two-year contract with Algerian club

MC Oran (), known as , commonly referred to as MC Oran for short, is an Algerian professional Association football, football club based in Oran. Founded on 1 January 1917, the club was known as Mouloudia Chaâbia Ouahrania from 1971 to 1977, Mouloudia P ...

. In January 2016 he moved to Egypt for

Ittihad Alexandria Al Ittihad Alexandria Club (), locally known as El Ittihad El Skandary, is an Egyptian sports club based in Alexandria. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the high ...

. He made his debut on 6 February against Wadi Degla (3–1 loss). He was released after four months, after he had featured only sporadically for the club in the 2015–16 season. In the summer of 2016 he moved back to Malta for

Maltese First Division The Maltese Challenge League (referred to as the BOV Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division in Maltese football, behind the Maltese Premier League. The First Division was the precursor of the present Premier ...

club

Naxxar Lions Naxxar Lions Football Club is a professional football club from the town of Naxxar in northern Malta. Their historical and arch-rivals are Mosta FC. A match between Naxxar Lions and Mosta FC, is known as the derby of the north, but because th ...

. He made his debut for the club on 11 September 2016 in a 2–0 loss against

Pietà Hotspurs The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary cradling the mortal body of Jesus Christ after his Descent from the Cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific ...

. He was released by Naxxar Lions in late 2016. Club president Pierre Sciberras said his contract had been terminated for disciplinary reasons, not for playing poorly. He signed a contract with

Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, formerly known as the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994, is the highest-level association football, football tournament in Tunisia and is organized by the Tunisian Football Federation and t ...

club

CA Bizertin Club Athlétique Bizertin (), known as CA Bizertin or simply CAB for short, is a Tunisian professional football club based in Bizerte. The club was founded 1928 and its colours are yellow and black. Their home stadium, 15 October Stadium, has a ...

on 23 August 2017. After a couple of weeks, he was released without featuring for the club.

International career

Darbo was part of the Gambia national under-17 football team that participated in the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. Switzerland national under-17 football team, Switzerland won the tournament, beating the host team and holde ...

in Nigeria, where he was assigned the number 10 jersey. He played in all three of his nation's games in the World Cup, losses against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

before a 2–2 draw with

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. In June 2012, at the age of 19, Darbo was included in the matchday squad for the senior national team's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. He was an unused substitute in that game.

References

External links