Ibrahim Amadou (born 6 April 1993) is a French 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 for

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

. Primarily 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 also plays as 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 ...

Club career

Nancy

Born in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

, Cameroon, Amadou moved to France at age 4 and lived in

Colombes Colombes () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 53rd largest city in France. ...

, where he played at local club AS Cheminots de l'Ouest. He then spent four years at

Racing Club de France Racing Club de France, also known as RCF, is a French multi-sport club that was founded on 20 April 1882 under the name Racing Club. Racing Club changed its name to Racing Club de France (RCF) on 21 November 1885. The club is located at the Bois ...

, before joining the Nancy academy in 2008. Amadou made his professional debut on 26 May 2013, playing one minute in the last matchday of the Ligue 1 season against

Stade Brestois Stade Brestois 29, commonly known as Stade Brestois or simply Brest,''Stade Brest'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a French professional Association football, f ...

. On 8 August 2014, he scored his first goal against

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and 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 ...

Lille

On 16 July 2015, Amadou signed a four-year contract with

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

for a reported fee of €2 million. He started in the first match of the 2015–16 Ligue 1 season against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

on 7 August 2015, playing in the heart of defense alongside

Renato Civelli Renato Civelli (born 14 October 1983) is an Argentine retired professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Career Civelli was born in Pehuajó. He started his career at Banfield in the Primera Division Argentina. After two years with t ...

as Lille suffered a 1–0 defeat. He scored his first goal for the club in the 2–1 win over

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

on 12 March 2016. At the start of the 2017–18 season, manager

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning 'The Madman Bielsa'; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional Association football, football manager who is the current manager of the Uruguay national football team ...

appointed Amadou as club captain. On 13 August 2017, he took over the goalkeeping role in the 3–0 loss to

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, following the sending off of

Mike Maignan Mike Peterson Maignan (; born 3 July 1995) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Serie A club AC Milan, which he captains, and the France national football team, ...

Sevilla

On 2 July 2018, Amadou joined Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

on a four-year deal. On 7 August 2019, Amadou joined

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

on a season-long loan, with an option to buy the following summer. On 31 January 2020, Amadou's loan to Norwich was terminated, and he joined

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popu ...

until the end of the season. On 5 October 2020, Amadou joined French club

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

on loan. On 12 January 2022, he mutually terminated his contract with Sevilla.

Metz

On 13 January 2022, Amadou signed for French club

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

on a contract until the end of the 2021–22 season. An option for a further two seasons was included in the deal.

Return to Angers

On 1 September 2022, Amadou returned to Angers on a one-year contract. On 18 March 2023, he mutually terminated his contract with Angers.

Shanghai Shenhua

On 30 March 2023, Amadou joined

club

International career

Amadou was born in Cameroon and raised in France. He is a French youth international, and was called up to the senior Cameroon national team, whom he rejected.

Career statistics

Honours

Lille *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Shanghai Shenhua *

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

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 ...

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a Chinese football super cup competition that takes place every year before the start of the new season. It is contested between the champions of the previous Chinese Su ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amadou, Ibrahim Living people 1993 births Footballers from Douala Cameroonian men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders AS Nancy Lorraine players Lille OSC players Sevilla FC players Norwich City F.C. players CD Leganés players Angers SCO players FC Metz players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players La Liga players Premier League players Chinese Super League players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in China Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in England Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in China Cameroonian emigrants to France 21st-century French sportsmen