Simon Barjie (born 6 September 1978) 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 is the athletic trainer of club

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. Born in Italy, he played for the Gambia national team.

Club career

Born in Milan, Lombardy, Barjie started his career at the

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

club Solbiatese Arno, 40 km away from Milan. In 1997, he was signed by

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

club

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

and played twice for the first team in 1997–98 Serie C1 season. In 1999, he left for Serie C2 club Pro Sesto along with Gabriele Donghi, in temporary deal (Barjie) and co-ownership deal (for 1 million lire, a peppercorn fee) respectively. Como paid Pro Sesto 30 million lire as an incentive for the loan. The deal later converted to co-ownership deal. In 2003, Como was relegated from Serie A and tried to buy back Barjie and Donghi but were out-bid by Pro Sesto, who bought Barjie and Donghi by submitted a closed tender to

Lega Nazionale Professionisti The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for National Professionals League), commonly known as Lega Calcio (Football League), was the governing body that ran the two highest football divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to ...

Monza

In 2004, he left Pro Sesto for fellow Serie C2 team

; the team was promoted to Serie C1 in 2005. In 2008, he left for Pro Patria on a reported free transfer. But 1 season later he returned to Monza until his retire.

International career

Barjie

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

at least three times for

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 ...

. He played a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

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 ...

in 2007 and a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier in 2003.

Personal life

He graduated as a

Doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sports and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally i ...

in 2010 from

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, colloquially the Catholic University of Milan () or simply the Cattolica, is an Italian private research university founded in 1921. Its main campus is located in Milan, Italy, with satellite campuses in B ...

. Barjie has a Gambian father and Italian mother. He visited Gambia for the first time in more than 10 years in 2003 and saw his father again. At that time he had an international duty for Gambia and the match was scheduled at

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 ...

, suburb of

Banjul Banjul (, (US) and ), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital city of The Gambia. It is the centre of the eponymous administrative division which is home to an estimated 400,000 residents, making it The Gambia's largest and most densely ...

, the capital city.

References

External links

*
Football.it Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barjie, Simon 1978 births Living people Footballers from Milan Gambian men's footballers The Gambia men's international footballers Italian men's footballers Gambian people of Italian descent Italian people of Gambian descent Naturalized citizens of The Gambia 21st-century Gambian people Como 1907 players Pro Sesto 1913 players AC Monza players Aurora Pro Patria 1919 players Men's association football fullbacks Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore alumni AC Monza non-playing staff