Amido Baldé

Amido Baldé
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-05-16) 16 May 1991
Place of birth Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Centre forward
Club information
Current team
 Benfica Luanda
Youth career
Sporting Bissau
2008–2010 Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2010–2012 Sporting CP 0 (0)
2010 → Santa Clara (loan) 5 (0)
2011 → Badajoz (loan) 13 (4)
2011–2012 → Cercle Brugge (loan) 22 (6)
2012–2013 Vitória Guimarães 27 (9)
2013–2015 Celtic 20 (3)
2014–2015 → Waasland-Beveren (loan) 14 (1)
2015 → Hapoel Tel Aviv (loan) 9 (0)
2015–2016 Metz 8 (0)
2016– Benfica Luanda 8 (5)
National team‡
2009–2010 Portugal U19 16 (2)
2011 Portugal U20 10 (2)
2015– Guinea-Bissau 4 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 May 2016.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 December 2015

Amido Baldé (born 16 May 1991) is a Guinea-Bissauan professional footballer who plays for Angolan club S.L. Benfica (Luanda) as a centre forward.

Baldé started his career with Sporting, being loaned several times for the duration of his contract. In 2013, he signed with Celtic.

Internationally, Baldé represented Portugal at youth level, helping the under-20 team finish second at the 2011 World Cup. In 2014, he decided to revert to playing for the country of his birth, Guinea-Bissau.

Club career

Sporting

Born in Bissau, Baldé started his career with Sporting Clube de Portugal's farm team in Guinea-Bissau, Sporting Clube de Bissau. In 2008 he, alongside teammate Zezinho, moved to the Lisbon side to finish his formation, helping it to back-to-back junior championships – of the three in total in a row – by notably scoring 13 goals in 29 games in 2008–09.[1]

Baldé split the 2010–11 season, his first as a senior, between C.D. Santa Clara (second division)[2] and CD Badajoz (Spanish third level).[3] In the following campaign, still owned by the Lions, he joined several Sporting teammates at Cercle Brugge K.S.V. in Belgium.[4]

Vitória Guimarães

Baldé was released by Sporting in the 2012 summer. On 28 August he signed with fellow Primeira Liga team Vitória de Guimarães, for two years.[5] He made his debut on 21 September, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away win against Moreirense FC.[6][7] After a series of appearances from the bench,[8] he scored in only his second game as a starter on 23 November, netting an injury time equaliser in a 2–2 draw at S.C. Beira-Mar.[6][9]

Baldé appeared in 37 matches all competitions comprised in his first and only season, including seven Taça de Portugal games[10] to help the Minho club win the tournament for the first time first ever – he was replaced in the 90th minute of the final against S.L. Benfica, a 2–1 triumph.[11]

Celtic

On 13 June 2013, Baldé signed a four-year contract with Scottish Premier League champions Celtic. On arrival, he stated that his new team were "one of the best clubs in Europe and they are going to play in the Champions League."[12] He made his official debut on 23 July, replacing James Forrest for the last 15 minutes of the second leg Champions League qualifier tie against Cliftonville.[13]

Baldé scored his first competitive goal on 28 September 2013, coming in as a late substitute and netting the last goal in a 5–2 win at Kilmarnock.[14] On 27 October, at Partick Thistle, he took to the pitch in the 67th minute and scored the 2–1 winner eight minutes later.[15] However, he failed to establish himself as a regular in the team,[16] and although he made 20 league appearances over the season, most were as a substitute.[8] His only other goal came in a 4–0 league win over Kilmarnock, on 29 January 2014.[17]

On 1 September 2014, Baldé joined Waasland-Beveren in the Belgian Pro League on a season-long loan.[16] He made his debut twelve days later against S.V. Zulte Waregem, scoring his team's second goal in an eventual 4–1 away win, a spectacular half-volley from 40 yards out.[18][19] It was to be his only competitive goal for the club, and in January 2015 he moved on loan again, this time to Hapoel Tel Aviv.[20] He made 11 appearances for the Israeli, failing to score in any of them.[8]

In June 2015, Celtic agreed to terminate Baldé's contract despite there still being two years left to run.[21]

Metz

On 16 July 2015, Baldé signed a two-year contact with Ligue 2 club FC Metz.[22] He made his debut on 1 August, in a 0–0 draw against RC Lens.[23] He failed to score during his spell in France, in nine official games.[24]

Benfica Luanda

After terminating his contract with Metz,[25] Baldé moved teams and countries again on 14 January 2016 as he joined S.L. Benfica (Luanda) in Angola for one-and-a-half years.[26]

International career

Baldé chose to represent Portugal internationally. He was part of the under-20 squad that finished as runners-up at the 2011 FIFA World Cup in Colombia.[27][28]

In May 2014 Baldé switched nationalities to Guinea-Bissau, after being called up to the squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Central African Republic.[29][30] He gained his first cap over a year later on 13 June 2015, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw in Zambia for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying phase.[31]

Baldé scored his first goal for Guinea-Bissau on 8 October 2015 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Liberia, netting the equaliser in a 1–1 away draw.[32]

Club statistics

As of 4 May 2016[8][10][33][34]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Santa Clara (loan)
2010–11 501030--90
Badajoz (loan)
2010–11 13400----134
Cercle Brugge (loan)
2011–12 22610----236
Vitória Guimarães
2012–13 2797030--379
Celtic
2013–14 203100030243
Waasland-Beveren (loan)
2014–15 141100000151
Hapoel Tel Aviv (loan)
2014–15 90200000110
Metz
2015–16 800010--90
Benfica (Luanda)
2016 850000--85
Career Total 12628130703014928

Honours

Club

Vitória Guimarães
Celtic

International

Portugal

References

  1. ↑ "Regressos condicionados" [Conditioned returns]. Record (in Portuguese). 13 October 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Baldé emprestado ao Santa Clara" [Baldé loaned to Santa Clara]. Record (in Portuguese). 22 June 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "El Badajoz carga su artillería con Amido Baldé" [Badajoz charges artillery with Amido Baldé] (in Spanish). Hoy. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Amido Baldé: 'Mij nu bewijzen bij Cercle'" [Amido Baldé: 'Prove myself at Cercle']. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 31 August 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Amido Baldé é jogador do Vitória até 2014" [Amido Baldé a Vitória player until 2014] (in Portuguese). Vitória S.C. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Games played by Amido Balde in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Moreirense vs. Vitória Guimarães 0–1". Soccerway. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Amido Baldé". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Beira-Mar vs. Vitória Guimarães 2–2". Soccerway. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Amido Baldé". ForaDeJogo. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Guimarães claim famous cup win". PortuGOAL. 26 May 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  12. ↑ "Celtic sign striker Amido Balde on four-year deal". BBC Sport. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Celtic 2–0 Cliftonville". BBC Sport. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  14. ↑ "Kilmarnock 2–5 Celtic". BBC Sport. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  15. ↑ Conaghan, Martin (27 October 2013). "Partick Thistle 1–2 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  16. 1 2 "Amido Balde leaves Celtic in loan move to Belgian side Waasland-Beveren". STV Sport. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "Games Involving Baldé, Amido in season 2013/2014". FitbaStats. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  18. ↑ Newman, Benjamin (13 September 2014). "Amido Baldé (Waasland-Beveren) scored a 40-yard half-volley golazo v Zulte-Waregem [Video]". 101 Great Goals. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  19. ↑ "Video: On-loan Celtic striker Amido Balde slams in wonder goal on his debut for new club Waasland-Beveren". Daily Record. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  20. ↑ "Celtic flop Amido Balde joins Hapoel Tel Aviv on loan". Evening Times. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  21. ↑ "Celtic flop Amido Balde heading to FC Metz". Scotzine. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "Celtic: Amido Balde released to join Metz". BBC Sport. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  23. ↑ "Ligue 2. Metz – Lens, cinquième 0–0 de la journée" [Ligue 2. Metz – Lens, fifth 0–0 of the matchday]. Ouest-France (in French). 1 August 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  24. ↑ "Football: le FC Metz n’est pas d’attaque" [Football: FC Metz is not on the attack]. Le Républicain Lorrain (in French). 9 December 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  25. ↑ "Mercato: Amido Baldé quitte déjà le FC Metz" [Transfer window: Amido Baldé leaves FC Metz already] (in French). France Football. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  26. ↑ "Amido Baldé deixou Metz e assinou pelo Benfica Luanda" [Amido Baldé left Metz and signed for Benfica Luanda] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  27. ↑ "Amido Baldé, um jogador com grande capacidade para fazer golos" [Amido Baldé, player with outstanding scoring ability] (in Portuguese). Bola na Bantaba. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  28. 1 2 "Oscar treble wins thrilling final for Brazil". FIFA.com. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  29. ↑ "Rumour mill: Gary Hooper – Celtic match day – Hibs play off". The Scotsman. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  30. ↑ "Amido Baldé convocado para a seleção nacional guineense" [Amido Baldé called to Guinean national team]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 6 May 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  31. ↑ "Barren start to Afcon 2017 race". Zambia Daily Mail. 14 June 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  32. ↑ "Mundial 2018 – GB joga com Libéria" [World Cup 2018 – GB plays with Liberia] (in Portuguese). RTP África. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  33. ↑ "Amido Baldé". Soccerbase. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  34. ↑ "Amido Baldé". zerozero.pt. Retrieved 4 May 2016.

External links

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