Tributes have flooded in for former Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba, who passed away at the age of 39.
His current club, Adanaspor, where he served as technical director, announced his death on Saturday, revealing that he had fallen ill before a match the previous day.
Bamba earned 46 caps for his country, representing Ivory Coast at the 2008 Olympics and the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Throughout his career, he played for several clubs, including Cardiff City, Leeds United, Leicester City, Palermo, Dunfermline Athletic, Hibernian, and Trabzonspor.
Cardiff City, where Bamba played a key role in securing promotion to the Premier League, described him in a post on X as “a true gentleman” with an “immeasurable” impact on the club.
In 2021, Bamba was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma while at Cardiff, but he was declared cancer-free after undergoing chemotherapy.
He resumed playing for two English clubs before retiring in January 2023, later transitioning to coaching, first as an assistant at Cardiff, then as technical director at Adanaspor.
His wife, Chloe, also paid tribute to him on Instagram, expressing how, despite his courageous battle with cancer, it was never a fair fight. She shared that, despite the hardships, they still found moments of joy and laughter, calling it an “honor to have loved and been loved by Sol.”