Calvin Chinedu Bassey (, born 31 December 1999) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

or 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 club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Born in Italy, he plays for the Nigeria national team. Bassey was a product of

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

's youth system but did not make a senior appearance for the club before joining

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

on a free transfer in July 2020. He made 65 appearances over two seasons for Rangers and won the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

and the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, with Rangers receiving the highest transfer fee in their history. The following July, he signed for English club Fulham.

Club career

Leicester City

Bassey joined

at the age of 15 after a successful trial and progressed through the club's youth ranks, with regular appearances for the clubs' under-18 and under-23 sides.

Rangers

On 6 June 2020, Bassey signed a pre-contract with

, officially joining the club with the opening of the summer transfer window in July. On 9 August 2020, he made his professional debut for Rangers in a

match versus St Mirren as a substitute in a 3–0 win. He scored his first and only goal for the club in a 4–0 win against

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

. Bassey was a key figure for Rangers during their run to the 2022 UEFA Europa League Final, which they lost on penalties to

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

Ajax

In July 2022, it was confirmed by Rangers that Bassey had been sold to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

for a club record fee of around £20 million. On his debut for the club in the

2022 Johan Cruyff Shield The 2022 Johan Cruyff Shield was the 26th edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield ( Dutch: ''Johan Cruijff Schaal''), an annual Dutch football match played between the winners of the previous season's Eredivisie and KNVB Cup. The match was contested ...

(Dutch Super Cup) on 31 July 2022, he received a direct red card 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Fulham

On 28 July 2023, Bassey joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

on a four-year deal. Fulham paid Ajax a transfer fee of €21 million. On 24 February 2024, Bassey scored his first goal for

, the first of his two goals for the club, in a

game against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in a 2–1 away win. That being his 20th appearance for the club. Bassey finished the Premier League season with 29 appearances.

International career

Born in Italy, Bassey was eligible to play for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at international level. In 2021, Bassey committed his international future to Nigeria when he accepted a call-up for their 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. He debuted with Nigeria in a 0–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

tie with

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

on 25 March 2022.

Personal life

Bassey was born in Italy to Nigerian parents, but moved to England as a child. He grew up in

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

. His brother is a UK famous rapper/driller named Y.CB

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Rangers *

2020–21 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 ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 *

UEFA 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 ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Ajax *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Nigeria *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 2021–22 Orders * Order_of_the_Niger_civil_division_ribbon

Member of the

Order of the Niger The Order of the Niger (OON) is the second highest Award, national award in Nigeria. It was instituted in 1963 and is junior to the Order of the Federal Republic, the highest order of merit in the country. Award The two highest honours, the Gr ...

References

External links

Calvin Bassey
at the Fulham F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassey, Calvin 1999 births Living people Footballers from Aosta Valley Sportspeople from Aosta Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Italian men's footballers Italian people of Nigerian descent Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football central defenders Scottish Professional Football League players Eredivisie players Premier League players Rangers F.C. players AFC Ajax players Fulham F.C. players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Italian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Members of the Order of the Niger 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen