(ANSA) – ROME, 01 SEPTEMBER – Former Ivorian defender Souleymane ‘Sol’ Bamba has died at the age of 39. The news was announced by the football clubs where he played, including Palermo (2014-2015). The pink club “with president Dario Mirri and the entire City Football Group family express their condolences for the premature passing” of the player, according to the X account of the Sicilian team.
The former international had beaten cancer to resume his playing career. Bamba was working with the coaching staff of Turkish club Adanaspor when he fell ill on Friday. “Our technical director fell ill before the game against Manisa and was taken” to hospital and “unfortunately lost his battle for life there,” the Adana club said in a statement on social media. The former footballer was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2021 while at Cardiff City; he was declared cancer-free after a course of chemotherapy and returned to play for the Welsh club and then Middlesbrough.
Born in France, Bamba began his playing career at Paris St Germain, before moving to Scotland.
He helped Dunfermline reach the Scottish Cup final, before moving to Hibernian and then Leicester in 2011.
After spells in Turkey and Italy he joined Leeds, where he was club captain. Bamba represented Ivory Coast at the 2008 Olympics and played in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, with a total of 46 international appearances. (ANSA).