Tibo Debaillie (born 10 September 1997) is a Belgian professional

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Towson Towson () is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is t ...

Early life

Debaillie was born in

Gistel Gistel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Following local government boundary reforms in 1971 and 1977, the municipality has comprised not only Gistel, but also the towns of Moere, Snaaskerke and Z ...

, Belgium on 10 September 1997. His father, Yvan, played

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

in the 1980s, as did three of his uncles. Tibo gave up

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and dreamed of playing

in the United States. When he was 13 he joined the

Ostend Pirates The Ostend Pirates are an American football team based in Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversij ...

of the

Belgian Football League The Belgian American Football League (BAFL) is a sports league for American football in Belgium founded in 1987. The league currently consists of 11 teams from Belgian cities and regions. The league used to be divided into two conferences—the ...

, a league of players already in their 20s, because there was nobody in his age category. Over the next few years he earned two player of the year awards and helped his team win the Belgian Bowl XXIX. He also earned four caps with the Belgium national American football team, including a game against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

two days after his 16th birthday. In 2016, Debaillie was discovered by Europe’s Elite, an organization co-founded by former pro player Brandon Collier that connects talented European prospects with American college coaches. He took a trip to America that summer, visiting

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, Albany and

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, a medical school in Worcester and a law school in Dartmouth ...

as Europe's Elite's first ever representative. Debaillie later took an official visit to Towson with his family in early September, committing to the school in

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

shortly afterwards.

College career

Debaillie played

for the

Towson Tigers The Towson Tigers, formerly the ''Towson College Knights'', are the athletics teams of Towson University. All of the major athletic teams compete in the Coastal Athletic Association with 19 Division I athletic teams (13 in women's sports, 6 in me ...

from

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, logging 29 tackles, three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks over 22 career games. He cited the tempo of the game as the biggest adjustment he had to make to play in America. Debaillie played in all 11 games as a freshman, notably recording a sack against in-state rivals

, but only appeared in two games as a sophomore due to injury. In 2019, he started nine games on the defensive line, recording a career-high nine tackles against

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

as well as an assisted sack of

Kyle Trask Kyle Jacob Trask (born March 6, 1998) is an American professional football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators and was selected by the Buccaneers in th ...

against #9

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

; head coach

Rob Ambrose Rob Ambrose (born July 30, 1970) is an American college football coach. From 2009 to 2022, he was head coach of the Towson Tigers football team of Towson University. Ambrose was formerly the offensive coordinator of the UConn Huskies before bei ...

lamented Debaillie's lost year, saying "This is his killer year, the one he’s supposed to get to talk about for the rest of his life and one that we get to brag about for the rest of his life." He was able to secure a flight to Belgium before the country went on lockdown, and had to finish his classes online while staying conditioned.

Professional career

Edmonton Elks

After recording 31 bench press reps at the CFL Global Combine, Debaillie was drafted by the

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division (CFL), West Division and plays their home games at Commonw ...

with the 20th overall pick in the 2021 CFL Global Draft. He signed with the team two weeks later, and officially made the roster in August after final cuts. Debaillie appeared in the first two games of the season in a special teams role before being relegated to the practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster again for their week 13 loss to the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

, where he recorded his first career defensive tackle, before being reverted back to the practice squad. He re-signed with the Elks on December 15, 2021. However, he was released later in the off season on February 28, 2022.

BC Lions

On May 3, 2022, Debaillie signed with the

. He played in all 18 regular season games in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

where he had a career-high 20 defensive tackles, three sacks, and one fumble recovery. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, he played in 18 regular season games, starting in two, and recorded 14 defensive tackles and one sack. As a pending free agent, Debaillie re-signed with the Lions on January 30, 2024, to a one-year contract extension. In the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

season opener, on June 9, 2024, against the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

, Debaillie scored his first career touchdown when he recovered a fumble by Cameron Dukes and returned the ball 20 yards for the score. He became the first global player in CFL history to have scored a touchdown. On January 9, 2025, Debaillie signed a two-year contract extension with BC. On July 13, 2025, Debaillie was placed one the Lions' 1-game injured list after suffering an injury during the previous week's game against the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

References

External links

BC Lions bio

Towson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Debaillie, Tibo Living people 1997 births Belgian players of American football Belgian players of Canadian football American football defensive linemen Canadian football defensive linemen Towson Tigers football players Edmonton Elks players BC Lions players People from Gistel Sportspeople from West Flanders Belgian Football League players