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  General

• Sunday September 1st, 2024 @ 12:10

Sol Bamba RIP

St Patrick's Athletic Manager Stephen Kenny has paid tribute to Sol Bamba, who sadly died yesterday aged just 39.

Bamba was Technical Director of Turkish club Adanaspor, and played under Kenny at Dunfermline Athletic in 2006 and 2007.

"I had the pleasure of managing Sol, he was a young centre-half at Dunfermline Athletic. He was a big presence for us on and off the pitch, lighting quick and a really top class defender.

He was from Paris, but Paul Le Guen picked him in the Ivory Coast squad and he played in World Cups, AFCON and the Olympics for Ivory Coast.

As a young player, he played in our 2007 cup run and in the 2 semi finals against Hibernian and the Scottish Cup final of 2007 against Celtic, all at Hampden Park.

Sol was a very passionate young man, who brought a lot of laughter around the club.

It spoke volumes for his character that during an injury crises at the club, he played through the pain. He was breath of fresh air around the club but moved on to Hibernian having attracted a lot of interest.

I subsequently met him afterwards over the years, he was an absolute gentleman. Sol was Captain at a few clubs and had moved onto the coaching ladder.

It's hard to be believe at 39 that he's passed say. He was brilliant to work with, and it's a very sad loss."