Dianbobo (Bobo) Balde (born 5 October 1975 in Marseille, France) is a professional footballer currently playing for Celtic. He is a central defender and sweeper. He is also a Guinea international. His last club before Celtic was Toulouse FC.
Early career
Balde started his career in 1995 with Marseille F.C. 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 whom he stayed at for only one season. When FC Mulhouse were relegated he joined AS Cannes in 1998 where he had little success, before 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.
2001-02
Balde made his Celtic debut on Saturday, September 8, 2001 in a 3-1 win at home to Dunfermline Athletic (Aged: 25).Then 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.
2002-03
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 of 2003. He played in 12 of Celtic’s 13 UEFA Cup games in that season’s UEFA Cup 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.
2003-04
In the 2004-04 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 7 yellow cards and 1 red card. He scored two goals that season both against Dundee.At the end of the 2003/04 season Balde added a League Championship and a Scottish Cup medal to his collection. and a Scottish Cup game at Parkhead in March of 2004.
2004-05
Balde started this 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 performing 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.
2005-06
His 5th season at Celtic and got off to a bad start. In the first game Celtic lost 5-0 to Artmedia Bratislava with balde getting booked. The second leg of the Artmedia Bratislava tie was better for Celtic winning 4-0 but sadly they lost the tie 5-4. Balde got booked in both legs of the tie. His league games got off to a good start with Celtic winning the first two games 2-0 and 3-1 but in the next game they lost 3-1 to Rangers. Balde got 7 yellow cards and scored 1 goal in that season and won the League Cup and the Scottish Premier League before taking time out to recover from his abdominal injury.
2006-07
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. According to Celtic, the injury will rule him out for “a number of months.”
National team
Born in Marseille, he was called up by Guinea for the 2002 African Cup of Nations. He was part of the Guinean 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. He has also helped Guinea to the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations for the last two Championships.
Clubs
1995 – 1997 Marseille F.C.
1997 – 1998 FC Mulhouse
1998 – 1999 AS Cannes
1999 – 2001 Toulouse FC
2001 – present Celtic F.C.
Honours
2001-02
Scottish League Champions
2002-03
Celtic player of the year Award
UEFA Cup Runners-Up medal
2003-04
Scottish League Champions
Scottish Cup
2004-05
Scottish Cup
2005-06
Scottish League Cup
Scottish League Champions
Total
Winners
o Scottish Premier League – 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06
o Scottish Cup – 2004, 2005
o Scottish League Cup – 2005-06
Runners-Up
o UEFA Cup – 2002-03
o Scottish League Cup – 2002-03
o Scottish Premier League – 2002-03 , 2005-06
Facts
He joined Celtic On September 8, 2001.
He currently wears the number 6 shirt for Celtic.
He plays in a central defensive position.
He has so far won in his time at Celtic three league championships, two Scottish Cups and one League Cup.
He is 1.90m (roughly 6’3″) and 83kg (roughly 183 pounds)