Lars Joseph Ceesay (born 3 June 1998) 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 a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

, on loan from

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

side

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

. Born in Sweden, he represents

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

at international level.

Club career

Ceesay began to play football in

Hässelby SK Hässelby Sportklubb ( English: "Hässelby Sports Club"), commonly referred to as Hässelby SK, or HSK is a professional sports club in Hässelby, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1913, the club offers a range of sports, including football, athleti ...

. In 2008 he moved to

Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club based in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is th ...

, well known for their youth academy. In the summer of 2013, Ceesay moved to another club in the Stockholm region,

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, , is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small resident ...

. In November 2016 he signed his first A-team deal with Djurgården; a 3.5-years contract. During spring 2017, he was loaned out to Vasalund and scored a goal in May 2017 against Enskede. In July 2017, Ceesay was loaned out to Frej for the rest of the 2017 season. In December, the loan was extended until the end of 2018. He was called back to Djurgården in July 2018, only to be sent on loan to Brage a month later. In January 2019 he was again loaned, this time to Dalkurd, for the 2019 season. On 29 November 2019, he signed with

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

on a two-year deal. On 11 July 2022, Ceesay signed with

. On 23 March 2024, it was decided that Ceesay would join

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

on loan until the summer transfer window. He returned to

after declining a loan extension, despite interest from both

and

for him to remain. On 24 July 2024,

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 ...

newcomers

Cesena FC Cesena Football Club is an Italian professional football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. It currently plays in the Serie B, after promotion from the Serie C in 2023–24. It has claimed to be the phoenix club of AC Cesena since 2018, the ...

announced that Ceesay had joined on loan with an option to buy.

International career

Born in Sweden, Ceesay is of Gambian descent. On 5 October 2020, he was called up to the Sweden U21 national team training camp in Olympia,

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

. He did not appear in scheduled UEFA Euro U-21 qualifying games against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. Ceesay made his debut for the Gambia national team on 4 September 2024 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros at the

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium is a multi-use stadium in El Jadida, Morocco. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and hosts the home games of Difaa El Jadida. The stadium holds 15,000 people. It was named in honor of B ...

, Morocco. He played the full game as it ended in a 1–1 draw.

Personal life

His younger brother Jesper Ceesay plays for

Honours

Malmö FF *

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 ...

References

1998 births Footballers from Stockholm Living people Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Swedish people of Gambian descent Gambian men's footballers 21st-century Gambian sportsmen The Gambia men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Vasalunds IF players IK Frej players IK Brage players Dalkurd FF players Helsingborgs IF players Lechia Gdańsk players Malmö FF players IFK Norrköping players Ettan Fotboll players Superettan players Allsvenskan players Ekstraklasa players Serie B players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century Swedish sportsmen {{Sweden-footy-midfielder-stub