Simon Bokoté Banza (born 13 August 1996) 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 ...

who plays as a forward for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

club S.C. Braga. Formed at Lens, where he played 98 games and scored 16 goals including in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

and

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, 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 Ligu ...

, he went on to play in Portugal's

for Famalicão and

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (i ...

Club career

Lens

Born in

Creil Creil is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. The Creil station is an important railway junction. History Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site as well as a late Iron Age necropolis, perhaps belongin ...

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 ...

, Banza began his senior career with

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'' ...

, first with its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

in the fourth tier. He scored his first

goal on 6 May 2016, as consolation at the end of a 2–1 loss at

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient province of Bresse ( frp, Brêsse, links=no). In 2018, th ...

. In January 2017, Banza was loaned to

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

club

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attra ...

until the end of the season. That August, he moved to UT Pétange of the Luxembourg National Division in the same manner. He was the season's sixth highest scorer with 13 goals, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

in a 4–1 home win over

US Esch Union Sportive Esch-Alzette is a football club, based in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=n ...

on 15 April 2018. On 24 May 2019, Banza scored the extra-time winner as Lens won 2–1 at

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

in the second leg of the play-off semi-finals. The following season, he scored seven times as Lens won promotion as runners-up, including two on 3 December 2019 in a 3–0 home win over his local side Chambly. He was sent off 18 days later in a 1–0 win over

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the ...

also at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Famalicão

On 31 August 2021, Banza joined Famalicão in Portugal on loan for the 2021–22 season. On his

debut 12 days later, he scored twice in a 2–2 draw at Moreirense; he added both goals of a win at Santa Clara on 23 October, though he was also sent off. He finished the season as joint seventh top scorer with 14 goals in 29 games, including two on the final day in a 3–2 home comeback win over neighbours

to ensure a top-half finish.

Braga

On 19 July 2022, Banza signed a five-year deal with Braga for a €3 million fee, complete with a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisat ...

of €30 million. He made his debut on 7 August in the season opener at home to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

, scoring his club's first goal of a 3–3 draw; five days later he added two more goals in a 3–0 win on his return to Famalicão.

Personal life

Banza was born in France to DR Congolese parents.

Honours

Individual *

Forward of the Month: August 2022 *Primeira Liga Player of the Month: August 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banza, Simon 1996 births People from Creil Sportspeople from Oise Footballers from Hauts-de-France Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Living people Association football forwards French footballers RC Lens players AS Béziers (2007) players Union Titus Pétange players F.C. Famalicão players S.C. Braga players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Luxembourg National Division players Primeira Liga players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Luxembourg Expatriate footballers in Portugal French expatriate sportspeople in Luxembourg French expatriate sportspeople in Portugal