Guirane N'Daw 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

defensive 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. ...

. He played for

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, and

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

in France, for

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

in Spain, for

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 ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

in England, and for

Asteras Tripolis Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Asteras Tripolis ...

in Greece.

Club career

N'Daw began his career with

. He appeared in over 120 matches, which included the 2007 Coupe de France Final as Sochaux beat

Olympique Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Founded in 1899, OM has ...

on penalties, and scored five goals for the club before moving to

in 2008. After Nantes were relegated to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

at the end of his first season with the club, N'Daw joined

on loan for the

2009–10 Ligue 1 The 2009–10 Ligue 1 season was the 72nd since its establishment. Bordeaux were the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 5 June 2009, and play commenced on 8 August and ended on 15 May 2010. There were three promoted teams from L ...

season. The deal included a clause by which the move would be made permanent if Saint-Étienne retained their top-flight status. After a successful campaign, the loan was made permanent for a fee of €4 million. On 24 January 2011, N'Daw joined Spanish club

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

on loan until the end of the season. On 23 August 2011, N'Daw joined English

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 sys ...

(second-tier) club

on loan until January 2012, with an option to extend the contract until the end of the season. He made his debut for the club in a 3–1 defeat to

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

in the group stages of 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 ...

. After several Europa League appearances, N'Daw finally made his Football League debut as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 defeat at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in December. He established himself alongside

Keith Fahey Keith Declan Fahey (born 15 January 1983) is an Irish former footballer, who played most of his career with League of Ireland side St Patrick's Athletic, as well as English club Birmingham City. He played predominantly as a central midfielder, ...

in Birmingham's midfield, and shortly before he left for the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (C ...

, his loan was extended to the end of the season. Following Senegal's early elimination from the tournament, N'Daw's form and fitness levels dipped. He suffered recurrent hamstring injuries, including one sustained after 67 minutes of the visit to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in early April, in which he produced a strong performance protecting his defence. He returned for the play-off semi-final at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

alongside

Jordon Mutch Jordon James Edward Sydney Mutch (born 2 December 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Gold Coast Knights. Mutch joined Birmingham City in 2007 from Derby County's youth system. He made his competiti ...

, also coming back from injury, but was "rusty and lacked sharpness to impose", and the pairing gave the ball away too much. In the home leg, he came on for the injured

Jonathan Spector Jonathan Michael Paul Spector (born March 1, 1986) is an American former soccer player who played as a defender. In his 16-year career playing first-team soccer he played over 400 games for club and country, and helped the United States win the ...

, and helped his team stage a recovery from two goals behind to draw the match but lose the play-off on aggregate. Over the season, he made 29 appearances, of which 19 were in the league, without scoring. N'Daw joined English Championship club

on 24 August 2012 on loan for the 2012–13 season. After his Saint-Étienne contract expired, N'Daw signed a one-year deal with

Greek Superleague The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

on 4 September 2013. In summer 2014, N'Daw joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

on a two-year deal. He left in October 2016, having failed to make an appearance in the 2015–16 season and following the arrival of coach

Alain Casanova Alain Casanova (born 18 September 1961) is a French former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He most recently was manager of Swiss side Lausanne-Sport. Career Born in Clermont-Ferrand, Casanova played for Cournon, Vichy, Le Havre, Marseille ...

he left

side

International career

N'Daw first played for the

Senegal national football team The Senegal national football team (French language, French: ''Équipe de football du Senegal''), nicknamed ''Les Lions de la Teranga'' (meaning: ''The Lions of Teranga''), represents Senegal in men's international association football and is op ...

in 2004. He earned 41

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for his country scoring 4 goals. He represented the national team at the

2006 Africa Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split int ...

, where his team took fourth place for the third time in history. He was named in the 23-man squad for the

, and played in two of their three group match defeats as Senegal failed to qualify for the later stages of the tournament.

Age fabrication

In February 2020, in an interview with a Senegalese radio station, N'Daw admitted to

age fabrication Age fabrication occurs when people deliberately misrepresent their true age. This is usually done with intent to garner privileges or Social status, status that would not otherwise be available to that person (e.g. a minor misrepresenting their a ...

stating that he had lowered his age to turn professional and that it was common practise among Senegalese footballers.

Personal life

N'Daw holds French nationality. On 31 January 2019, N'Daw joined French amateur club

AS Algrange Association Sportive Algrange is a French association football team. They are based in Algrange, France and are currently playing in the La Division d'Honneur, Lorraine, the sixth tier in the French football league system. Algrange reached the 8 ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each N’Daw goal.''

Honours

Sochaux *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ndaw, Guirane Living people Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Senegalese men's footballers Senegal men's international footballers French men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players FC Nantes players AS Saint-Étienne players Real Zaragoza players Birmingham City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players FC Metz players RC Lens players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players La Liga players English Football League players Super League Greece players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in England AS Algrange players Year of birth missing (living people) Footballers from Rufisque