Ferdinand Alexandre Coly (born 10 September 1973) is a Senegalese former 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 played as a full-back.

Career

Coly was 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 ...

. He moved to France when he was seven years old. He played in all of

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 ...

's matches in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. After impressing at the tournament, he moved from

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

on loan. But this proved to be a poor career move as he made his debut in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

against

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 ...

and then only managed a single Premiership appearance, against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Coly left Birmingham in summer 2003 and then moved on to

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. In his first season with the Italian club (2003–04), he made 11 appearances but never really impressed. He spent 2004–05 in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, making 29 appearances and scoring twice. In the summer of 2005 he made a move to Serie A side

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, where he was a regular.

References

External links

* Living people 1973 births Footballers from Dakar Men's association football fullbacks Ligue 1 players Premier League players Serie A players Serie B players Stade Poitevin FC players LB Châteauroux players RC Lens players Birmingham City F.C. players AC Perugia Calcio players Parma Calcio 1913 players Senegalese men's footballers French men's footballers Senegalese Christians French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Senegal men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen {{Senegal-footy-bio-stub