Moussa Sow (born 19 January 1986) is a 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 forward. Born in France, he represented

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 ...

at international level, scoring 18 goals in 50 appearances. He was known for his

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

goals and emotional reactions such as crying when he failed to score, or when the team has lost.

Club career

Rennes

He started his professional career at

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

in 2004 as an 18-year-old. In his first couple of seasons, Sow made his mark mostly in cup competitions, scoring a brace for

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

against Corte on 6 January 2006 in the

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 ...

and one in an away game against

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 ...

in the

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 ...

Sedan (loan)

He was loaned out to Sedan in 2007, scoring six goals in 30 appearances for the club. Upon his return to Rennes, he was the club's first-choice striker for two seasons before joining

on a free transfer In June 2010.

Lille

After his contract with

came to an end, the 24-year–old forward signed a three-year deal with

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...

on 28 June 2010. Sow scored on his debut for Lille in a 1–1 draw away to his former club Rennes. But Moussa Sow did not score again in the league until a 90th-minute goal on 19 September gave Lille all three points in a tough home contest against

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

. Sow scored his first hat-trick for Lille on 13 November 2010, the goals came in a 5–2 away victory to

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, with both

Gervinho Gervais Yao Kouassi (born 27 May 1987), known as Gervinho, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward. Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumodi, before moving to Belgium in 2004 to play for Beveren. Between 2007 ...

and Franck Beria grabbing 90th-minute goals to seal the win. Less than a month later on 5 December 2010, Sow netted another hat-trick this time against

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. His goals helped Lille to a 6–3 win and firmly placed his side into contention for the

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 ...

crown. Lille went into the winter break in sole position of first place, as Sow fired in their only goal in a 1–1 draw with Saint Étienne on 22 December 2010. Sow scored his 22nd goal of the Ligue 1 campaign in a 2–2 draw with

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 21 May 2011. The result ensured that Lille would secure their first Ligue 1 title since 1954. Sow scored his third hat-trick, on the final day of the season, as Lille tied the knot on their championship season with an emphatic 3–2 victory over former club Rennes. Sow was the top scorer 2010–11 season with 25 league goals and also contributed with three assists and been in the Team of the Year.

Fenerbahçe

On 27 January 2012, Fenerbahçe acquired Sow for €10 million. He signed a 4.5-year contract which would have kept him at the club until the end of 2015–16 season. Sow made his debut against local rivals

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

on 5 February 2012, scoring a goal in the second minute of

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

. On 18 March he scored the first goal of the derby match with a

against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

. He continued his good run of form by scoring a late equaliser against

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...

to earn a draw for his team in

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

on 12 April 2012, helping his team to reach the semi-finals through a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Sow also scored the second goal for his team against rivals

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

on 15 April 2012. Over the course of the 2011–12 season Sow played 12 league matches and scored 7 goals. Sow earned his first trophy with Fener in the

final on 16 May as the club ripped apart

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

by a score of 4–0. In the 2012–13 season Sow scored 13 goals in 22 league matches and three goals in European matches. On 3 March 2013, he scored twice against Beşiktaş followed by a goal each in the following league matches, a 4–1 victory against Bursaspor and a 2–1 win against.

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

. On 22 May 2013, he scored the solitary goal as Fenerbahçe defeated Trabzonspor to secure the club's second straight

2012–13 Turkish Cup The 2012–13 Turkish Cup () was the 51st season of the Turkish Cup. Ziraat Bankası is the sponsor of the tournament, thus the sponsored name is Ziraat Turkish Cup. The winners earned a berth in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League#Play-off round, pla ...

, consolation for falling short to city rivals Galatasaray in the league campaign. On 21 September 2013, Fenerbahçe were victorious in a 4–0 win against

Elazığspor Elazığspor is a Turkish professional football club located in Elazığ and currently competes in the TFF Second League. They play their home games at Elazığ Atatürk Stadium in Elazığ, which has a maximum capacity of 18,423. The club was ...

while Sow completed his first hat-trick for the club during this match. Sow cried after leaving Fenerbahçe and stated that he will forever be only a Fenerbahçe fan.

Al Ahli

On 29 August 2015, Al Ahli acquired Sow for €16 million.

Return to Fenerbahçe on loan

On 31 August 2016, Sow wanted to return to Fenerbahçe and returned to Fenerbahçe on a season long loan deal from Al Ahli. In November 2016, Fenerbahçe began selling shirts with Sow's name and number turned upside as tribute to his repeated times of his amazing bicycle kick goals, the latter of whom he scored a hat-trick against. On 8 December 2016, Sow scored another bicycle kick, this time in the

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 ...

in a 1–0 away victory against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

Bursaspor (loan)

In January 2018, Sow joined

on loan from Al Ahli until the end of 2017–18 season.

Gazişehir Gaziantep

On 28 January 2019, Sow signed for Gazişehir Gaziantep on a one-and-a-half-year contract.

International career

On 5 September 2010, Sow scored his first goal for

in a 4–0 defeat of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

during

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

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 ...

. He scored three more times in the qualifying phase as well as once in a 2–1 defeat to

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

at the tournament finals. At the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was org ...

, Sow scored Senegal's winning goal as they defeated

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 ...

2–1 in the team's opening match. In May 2018 he was named in Senegal's 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. He retired from international football in August 2018.

Personal life

instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, Sow follows only one account; Fenerbahçe.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sow goal. (includes two unofficial goals)''

Honours

Rennes *

runner-up: 2008–09 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Lille *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

runner-up:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Fenerbahce *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

: 2013–14 *

: 2012–13 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Al-Ahli Dubai *

UAE Pro-League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

: 2015–16 France U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual Association football, football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-19 foot ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Individual * CAF Team of the Year:

top goalscorer:

Team of the Season:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sow, Moussa 1986 births Living people Footballers from Mantes-la-Jolie Senegalese men's footballers Senegal men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Stade Rennais FC players CS Sedan Ardennes players Amiens SC players Lille OSC players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Shabab Al Ahli Club players Bursaspor footballers Ümraniyespor footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Süper Lig players UAE Pro League players INF Clairefontaine players Men's association football forwards 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen