Bobo Baldé

Bobo Baldé

Personal information
Full name	Dianbobo Baldé
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Centre Back
Team information
Current team	Celtic
Number	6
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 02:39, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Dianbobo (Bobo) Baldé (born 5 October 1975 in Marseille, France) is a professional footballer currently playing for Celtic of the Scottish Premier League.He is a central defender and sweeper. He is also a Guinea international.

Club career

Early career

Bobo Balde started his career in 1995 with Marseille, where he stayed until 1997 but could not make the first-team breakthrough, so he had to leave his hometown club from second division outfit FC Mulhouse for the 1997-98 season, staying only that year. When Mulhouse were relegated he joined AS Cannes on loan in 1998 where he had little success, in the leauge making 29 appearances and scoring 4 goals. He left Marseille, moving to Toulouse FC, whom he helped to promotion during the 1999-00 season.

Balde joined Celtic from French team Toulouse FC in 2001 and has become a regular player in Celtic's defence. So far Balde has made 220 appearances (1 as a sub) and has scored 16 goals for the club.

Balde made his Celtic debut on Saturday, September 8, 2001 in a 3-1 win at home to Dunfermline Athletic. 4 SPL games later he scored his first Celtic goal on October 20, 2001 against Dundee United at Celtic Park. In that entire season Balde scored a total of 6 goals including one in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers.

Balde scored his first goal of the 2002-03 season on September 1, 2002 against Livingston. He was booked in the first Old Firm game of the season which ended 3-3 but at the end of the season Balde was subsequently named the Celtic player of the year by the Celtic fans in April 2003 also winning the Player of The Month Award for April. He played in 12 of Celtic's 13 UEFA Cup games in that season, where Celtic got to the final. In the final they played against FC Porto at the Olympic Stadium in Seville. During the final, Balde was sent off in the 95th minute after picking up his second booking. Celtic lost that final 3-2 with Henrik Larsson getting both of Celtic's goals.

In the 2003-04 season, Balde achieved a moderate start, his first goal coming against Dundee in the fifth SPL game of the season. In the next game, Balde received a red card in the 70th minute. He played solid throughout that season only receiving seven yellow cards and one red card. He scored two goals that season, both against Dundee. At the end of the season, Balde added a League Championship and a Scottish Cup medal to his collection. He was subjected to chants of monkey noises from sections of the Rangers FC support during a League game in March 2002 and a Scottish Cup game at Parkhead in March 2004.

Balde started this 2004-05 season well with only one yellow card in the first six games of the season (all competitions) and a goal in the 8-1 thrashing of Falkirk in the first League Cup game of the season. Within his first ten games of the season, he had only received two yellow cards and performed well in the league but not well in Europe losing the first three games of the season. Bobo's next big thing that season was scoring 2 goals in the one match in a 3-0 win at home to Dundee on March 2 2005. By the end of the season Celtic were in the Scottish cup final playing Dundee United. They won that match with an 11 minute free kick goal from Alan Thompson. At the end of that season Balde added a Scottish Cup medal to his Celtic medal tally.

His fifth season got off to a bad start. In the first game Celtic lost 5-0 to Artmedia Bratislava with Balde getting booked. In the second leg Celtic won 4-0 but lost on aggregate. Balde got booked in both legs of the tie. He received seven yellow cards and scored one goal in that season and won the League Cup and the Scottish Premier League, before taking time out to recover from his abdominal injury.

Balde missed the start of the 2006-07 season after discovering he required surgery for a persistent stomach muscle problem. He returned to the first team in November, only to suffer a broken leg in a match on Boxing Day. The Guinea international was carried off in the first half during the 2-2 draw with Dundee United. He would be ruled out for several months.

In July before the start of the new season, Roy Keane, manager of Sunderland, showed interest in Balde. Keane was reported to have made a £1.5m offer for his former Celtic team-mate. "I love the club, I am very settled in Glasgow and I would be happy to fulfil my current contract", said Balde.

Balde made his first start of the 2007/08 season on the 26th December 2007 exactly a year after his last appearance, in a 2-0 away win to Dundee United. His presence also helped Celtic to their first away clean sheet in almost 15 months. He was also awarded Man Of The Match for his brilliant display.

International career

Born in Marseille, Balde was called up by Guinea for the 2002 African Cup of Nations. He was part of their 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished second in their group in the first round of competition, before losing in the quarter finals to Mali, and was a regular in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying. With Balde on board, Guinea also made it to the last eight in the 2004 and 2006 African Cup of Nations.

Career stats

(correct as of 30 December 2006)

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FC Mulhouse
	1997-98	33	1	?	0	0	0	0	33	1
AS Cannes
	1998-99	29	4	?	0	0	0	0	29	4
Toulouse
	1999-00	28	0	?	0	0	0	0	28	0
	2000-01	24	1	?	0	0	0	0	24	1
Celtic
	2001–02	21	2	?	8	4	8	0	38	6
	2002–03	36	2	?	3	2	14	0	53	4
	2003–04	31	2	?	5	0	14	0	49	2
	2004–05	34	2	?	7	1	5	0	46	3
	2005–06	28	1	?	3	0	2	0	33	1
	2006–07	6	0	?	2	0	2	0	10	0
	2007–08	2	0	?	0	0	0	0	2	0
Total		228(1 as sub)	15	?	28	7	45	0	345	22

Celtic Disciplinary Record

Season	Yellow	Red
2001-02	5	0
2002-03	4	1
2003-04	7	1
2004-05	8	0
2005-06	7	0
2006-07	2	0
2007-08	0	0
Total	33	2

Honours

• Toulouse F.C. 1999–2001
• Winners
  • Promotion to Ligue 1 - 1999-00

• Celtic F.C. 2001–
• Winners
  • Scottish Premier League (4) - 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07
  • Scottish Cup (3) - 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07
  • Scottish League Cup (1) - 2005-06

• Runners-Up
  • UEFA Cup - 2002-03
  • Scottish League Cup - 2002-03
  • Scottish Premier League - 2002-03, 2004-05

• Individual
  • Celtic player of the year - 2002-03
  • SPL Player of the Month - April 2003

• Guinea
• Winners
  • Amilcar Cabral Cup - 2005

• Quarter-finals
  • African Cup of Nations - 2004, 2006, 2008

External links

• Bobo Balde at Soccerbase
• Celticfc.net Profile
• Football Dateabase Profile
• Player Profile At Carling
• Interview with Goal.com