Ousman Manneh (born 10 March 1997) 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 lea ...

who last played as a striker for

SV Werder Bremen II SV Werder Bremen II is the reserve team of SV Werder Bremen. It plays in the Bremenliga, the fifth level of the German football league system, and has qualified for the first round of the DFB-Pokal on nineteen occasions. It also has won the Germ ...

Club career

Early career

In 2004 Manneh started training at the Rush Soccer Academy, a United States soccer franchise for children and youth in

Bakau Bakau is a town on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Gambia, Gambia, west of Gambia's capital city of Banjul. It is known for its botanical gardens, its crocodile pool ''Bakau Kachikally'' and for the beaches at Cape Point (Gambia), Cap ...

. At the age of 17 he fled the dictatorship in his home country Gambia reaching

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and living in the refugee camp of Lesum. Following a trial he joined the

Blumenthaler SV Blumenthaler SV is a Football in Germany, German association football club from Blumenthal, the northernmost district of the city of Bremen. The club was established 6 June 1919 as ''Blumenthaler Sportverein'' by former members of ''Blumenthaler F ...

U-18 team before playing for the U-19 side in the youth regional league, the second-tier youth league in Germany, where he scored 15 goals in 11 matches. These performances earned him trials with

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

and

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

Werder Bremen

Having chosen to stay in Bremen and play for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

, Manneh initially played for the club's youth team. On 10 March 2015, he signed a three-year contract with the club running until summer 2018. On 25 July 2015, he made his

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

debut for the reserves against

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

scoring the winning goal in a 1–2 away win. Four days later, he made his first appearance for the first team; having entered the pitch after 60 minutes he scored four goals in 15 minutes in a 7–0 friendly match win against

SV Wilhelmshaven SV Wilhelmshaven is a German association football club from Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony. SV Wilhelmshaven play in the Regionalliga Nord. SV Wilhelmshaven was founded in 1905. Since 1999, Wilhelmshaven's stadium is the Jadestadion. History Pre ...

. After scoring and assisting two goals each in his first seven appearances for the reserves in the 2016–17 season, Manneh made his full

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 21 September 2016 in a 1–2 home defeat to

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

before being replaced by

Lennart Thy Lennart Thy (born 25 February 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors. Club career On 18 January 2016, Werder Bremen announced Thy would return to the club for the ...

in the 55th minute. He also started in the following match three days later, a 2–1 win against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

, Werder Bremen's first victory of the season, being substituted off after 73 minutes. Manneh scored his first Bundesliga goal on 15 October, in Werder Bremen's 2–1 win against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. He made his return from a 21-month injury layoff 8 December 2019, coming on as a substitute for Werder Bremen II. Manneh was released by Werder Bremen when his contract expired in summer 2020.

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manneh, Ousman Living people 1997 births Gambian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players SV Werder Bremen II players SV Werder Bremen players Gambian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Gambian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Refugees in Germany