Omar Colley (born 24 October 1992) is a Gambian 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 ...

who plays as a defender for Turkish club

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

and the Gambia national team.

Club career

Gambian clubs

Colley started out playing youth football with

Wallidan FC Wallidan Football Club is a Gambian football club based in Banjul and Bakau. They play in the top division in Gambian football, the GFA League First Division, and are the most decorated team in the country's football history. They play at the ...

who are a part of his home country's top flight

GFA League First Division The GFA League First Division is the highest division of football in The Gambia. The league began play in 1965. 2021—22 season clubs Previous champions *1965–66 : Augustinians (Bathurst) *1966–67 : Augustinians (Bathurst) *1967–68 : ...

. After he started playing for the first team he trialed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

club

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse an ...

on two occasions in 2010 and 2011. The Americans wanted to sign Colley but refused to pay any form of transfer fee or training compensation to his Gambian club. Wallidans founder called their offer "out of touch with modern football" and "an insult to the local clubs" so Colley instead moved to

Real de Banjul Real de Banjul Football Club is a Gambian professional association football club based in Banjul. The team compete in the GFA League First Division, the top flight of Gambian football league system. Real de Banjul is the most successful club in ...

where he helped the team become Gambian champions in 2012.

KuPS

In January 2013, he signed a two-year contract with KuPS. During the time between his two seasons in Finland he trialed with a couple of

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

clubs and

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

made an offer to buy Colley. An agreement was not reached however as they could not agree on the transfer fee. As his contract with the Finnish club was nearing the end Colley was described as "perhaps our best foreign signing ever" by the KuPS club president.

Djurgårdens IF and Genk

In August 2014, Colley signed a three-year contract with Swedish side

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

, starting the first of January 2015. He played his debut game for the club on 22 February 2015 against

Ängelholms FF Ängelholms FF is a football club based in Ängelholm, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Skånes Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Ängelholms IP. The club was formed in 1976 as a merger between Ängelholms IF and Skörpinge GIF. T ...

in the Swedish Cup. On 12 August 2016, Colley travelled to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

to complete a medical with top-tier club K.R.C. Genk and by doing that Colley missed the training session ahead of the match versus

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spe ...

which was against the will of Djurgården. Later that day the Director of Sport of Djurgården Bo Andersson told the football site Fotbollskanalen.se that Djurgården were prepared to take the case to FIFA due to the fact that Genk without the permission and knowledge of Djurgården booked a flight and hotel for Colley which violated the contract between Colley and Djurgården. Andersson stated that Djurgården would refuse to sell Colley to Genk after that incident. On 14 August, Colley started the match against IF Elfsborg on the bench due to the recent event. The following day Colley was sold to Genk despite the promise not to sell Colley to Genk. The transfer sum was reported by the Swedish newspaper

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

to be €2 million and a resale clause which would make Colley the third most expensive defender ever sold by an

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

team after former Djurgården player Daniel Amartey and IF Elfsborg player

Jon Jönsson Jon Martin Olof Jönsson (born 8 July 1983) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a defender. Career Jönsson made his first team debut in IFK Hässleholm aged 15, and his talent was recognised by Tottenham Hotspur who brought him to ...

Sampdoria

On 19 June 2018, he signed for Italian club

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

Beşiktaş

On 9 February 2023, Turkish club

announced the signing of Colley to a contract until the end of the 2024–25 season, with a conditional one-year extension option based on performance. The transfer fee announced was 2.3 million euros.

International career

Colley was part of the

Gambia national under-17 football team The Gambia national under-17 football team is the U-17 football team of the Gambia and is controlled by the Gambia Football Federation. History The team won the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations The U-17 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEner ...

that won the

2009 African U-17 Championship The 2009 African U-17 Championship was a football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament took place in Algeria. The top four teams qualified for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Nigeria, automatically qua ...

as well as the

Gambia national under-20 football team Gambia national under-20 football team is the U-20 football team of the Gambia and is controlled by the Gambia Football Federation. It serves as the youth team and feeder team of the Gambia national football team. The are nicknamed ''The Young Scor ...

that played in the

2011 African Youth Championship The 2011 African Youth Championship was a football tournament for the Under-20 level national teams in Africa. It was due to be held in Libya from 18 March to 1 April. Following political unrest in the region, CAF decided to postpone the tourna ...

. In 2012, he made his debut for the senior Gambia national team in a friendly game against

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. He played in the

2021 Africa cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's fo ...

, his national team's first continental tournament, where they made a sensational quarter-final.

Personal life

Colley is a Muslim. He made the

umrah The ʿUmrah ( ar, عُمْرَة, lit=to visit a populated place) is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (the holiest city for Muslims, located in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia) that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

in 2018 with then-Genk teammate Mbwana Samatta.

Honours

Gambia U17 * African U-17 Championship:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colley, Omar 1992 births Sportspeople from Banjul Gambian Muslims Living people Gambian footballers The Gambia youth international footballers The Gambia international footballers Association football defenders Wallidan FC players Real de Banjul FC players Kuopion Palloseura players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players K.R.C. Genk players U.C. Sampdoria players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Belgian Pro League players Serie A players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Gambian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Finland Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate footballers in Sweden Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Belgium Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Italy Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Turkey Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey