Biri Biri
Personal information
Full name Alhaji Momodo Njie
Date of birth (1948-03-30)30 March 1948
Place of birth Banjul, Gambia
Date of death 19 July 2020(2020-07-19) (aged 72)
Place of death Dakar, Senegal
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Right winger
Youth career
Black Star Football Club
Black Diamonds
White Phantoms
Arrance FC
1963–1965 Mighty Blackpool
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1970 Augustinians
1970 Derby County 0 (0)
1970–1972 Wallidan Banjul
1972–1973 B 1901
1973–1978 Sevilla 99 (32)
1978–1981 Herfølge Boldklub
1981–1986 Wallidan Banjul
International career
1963–1987 Gambia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alhaji Momodo Njie (30 March 1948 – 19 July 2020), also known as Biri Biri, was a Gambian footballer who played as a right winger. He most notably played for Sevilla FC in Spain and Herfølge Boldklub in Denmark. He was also a Gambian international footballer, and is regarded by several as the best Gambian footballer of all time.

Club career

Before his time in Europe, Biri Biri played for Black Diamonds, Phontoms and Augustines in Gambia as well as Mighty Blackpool of Sierra Leone.[1]

Biri Biri was spotted by Danish club B 1901 during a training camp in Gambia in 1972. He left them in 1973 for Spanish team Sevilla FC. He was the first black player to play for Sevilla, and was considered one of their best players. Biri Biri returned to Denmark to play for Herfølge Boldklub in 1980, and in 1981 he signed for Wallidan F.C. back in Gambia, for whom he played until retirement in 1987.[1]

International career

Biri Biri played on multiple occasions for The Gambia's national men's football team, starting as a youth in 1963.

Retirement

Biri Biri was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Banjul after Yahya Jammeh came to power in 1994, a post he had relinquished by 2005. He also worked as the manager of Royal Albert market in the city. In 2000, Jammeh awarded him the Order of Merit, and he was described as The Gambia's "greatest footballer of the last millennium and of all time."[1]

Biri Biri died on 19 July 2020, aged 72, in Dakar, Senegal.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Barrie, Mohamed Fajah (23 May 2005). "Biri Biri: Gambia's 'greatest'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Fallece Biri Biri, leyenda del Sevilla FC" (in Spanish). El Desmarque. 19 July 2020.
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