 Dembélé withLevski Sofia | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Garra Dembélé | ||
| Date of birth | (1986-02-21)21 February 1986 (age 39) | ||
| Place of birth | Gennevilliers, France | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–1999 | CSM Puteaux | ||
| 1999–2002 | INF Clairefontaine | ||
| 2002–2006 | Auxerre | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2006 | Auxerre B | 40 | (13) |
| 2007 | Istres | 12 | (3) |
| 2007–2008 | AGF | 3 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | Pierikos | 32 | (6) |
| 2010 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 14 | (5) |
| 2010–2011 | Levski Sofia | 25 | (26) |
| 2011–2013 | SC Freiburg | 19 | (1) |
| 2013 | →Wuhan Zall (loan) | 20 | (3) |
| 2014–2016 | Dubai CSC | 0 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | Solothurn | 17 | (6) |
| Total | 182 | (63) | |
| International career | |||
| 2003–2004 | France U18 | ? | (1) |
| 2004 | France U19 | 2 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Mali | 7 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Garra Dembélé (born 21 February 1986) is a former professionalfootballer who played as aforward. Born in France, he representedMali at international level.
Born inGennevilliers, Dembélé began his career inINF Clairefontaine, before being transferred toAuxerre. On 1 June 2006, he was released from the club for disciplinary reasons.[1] In January 2007, he joinedIstres. After six months there, Dembélé moved toAGF Århus. In July 2008, he signed withPierikos in Greece.
After a year and a half, in which he played 32 games and scored six goals, Dembélé leftPierikos to sign with Bulgarian clubLokomotiv Plovdiv in January 2010. He appeared in 14 games for the Smurfs and scored five goals.
On 5 June 2010, it was announced that Dembélé had signed forLevski Sofia.[2] On 9 June 2010, Dembélé was officially presented as a Levski Sofia player. The transfer fee was around €200,000 on a three-year contract. He made his unofficial debut againstMetalist Kharkiv on 1 July 2010 and scored in a 3–2 win.
His official debut for Levski was in a match againstDundalk, in the second qualifying round forEuropa League. Levski had won the first match 6–0, with Dembélé scoring once. In the return match Levski won 0–2, with Dembele scoring both goals. In the first round of theA PFG Dembélé scored the winning goal for Levski in theEternal Derby againstCSKA Sofia.
He scored a further two goals in the nextEuropa League qualification round against SwedishKalmar FF. The play-off againstAIK Fotboll saw Dembélé scoring another decisive goal for his new club, ensuring Levski's qualification to the Group stages of the Europa League. They were drawn inGroup C alongsideGent,Lille and Sporting CP. With his six goals in six games Dembélé was the leading goalscorer in the Europa League qualification matches.[3][4] On 9 August 2010, Dembélé scored his firsthat-trick for Levski againstLokomotiv Sofia. The result of the match was 3–1 with a home win for Levski Sofia. He further added to his tally in the competition by scoring in the 3–2 home win against Gent inUEFA Europa League, scoring his seventh goal in the competition. With this win Levski recorded an eight-match unbeaten run in European competitions, a run which was ended after Levski suffered a heavy 5–0 defeat against Sporting CP, followed by another loss against Lille. In Sofia, Levski played very well against Lille, with Dembélé scoring the opening goal in the match. The Blues were leading 2–1 untilIvo Ivanov scored an own goal to make it 2–2. In the last match of Group C, already eliminated Levski won against Sporting CP 1–0 - the winning goal was scored byDaniel Mladenov, who was assisted by Dembélé.
However, Dembélé continued his goal-scoring spree in theBulgarian A Professional Football Group. By 17 September 2010 he had already scored twohat-tricks in the competition against Lokomotiv Sofia andMinyor Pernik respectively.[5] He also scored the winning penalties in the victories againstVidima-Rakovski andCherno More. He continued his good games after scoring the first goal againstBeroe in a 2–1 win forLevski.
He scored his third hat-trick in the A PFG againstPirin Blagoevgrad in Levski's 4–1 win atGeorgi Asparuhov, helping his team come back from being 1–0 down. After this, he scored a goal againstLitex Lovech, but Levski lost the game by a score of 1–2 and suffered a run of three straight defeats. In February 2011, during the preparation for the second part of the season, it was announced that Dembélé would wear the number nine jersey, following his decision to stay during the2010–11 winter transfer window.
He was rated among the most efficient attacking players of the 2010–11 season in Europe, with a goal at every 76.89 minutes.[6]
Dembélé expressed his satisfaction with the way he was received by Levski supporters, but was less magnanimous in his assessments regarding the quality of the training sessions during his time in Bulgaria.[7]
On 3 June 2011, it was officially announced that Dembélé had been bought bySC Freiburg for 2.5 million euros. It was the first time in the club's history that it paid over two million Euro for a transfer, making it the largest transfer fee Freiburg had ever paid.[8] On 28 June 2011, Dembélé made his unofficial debut for the team and netted a goal in the 4–1 win overTSG Balingen in afriendly match.[9] On 6 August 2011, he made his first official appearance, coming on as a late substitute in the 2–2 away draw withFC Augsburg in aBundesliga match.[10] Dembélé's first Bundesliga start came on 28 October 2011, in the 0–1 home loss againstBayer Leverkusen.[11] After making nine appearances for the club without a goal, Dembélé netted for the first time in the Bundesliga on 26 November 2011, scoring alast-minute goal to secure a 1–1 away draw withTSG 1899 Hoffenheim.[12]
In February 2013, after finding it difficult to secure a starting spot with the German side, Dembélé was loaned out toChinese Super League clubWuhan Zall until the end of the year.[13] He made his official debut on 16 March 2013, playing the full 90 minutes in the 0–1 home loss againstBeijing Guoan.[14] Dembélé netted his first goal on 27 April, opening the scoring in the 2–3 away defeat againstTianjin Teda.[15] On 3 August 2013, he wassent off for the first time in the 0–3 away loss againstDalian Aerbin.[16]
He was between 2014 and 2016 on the books of theDubai CSC team in theUnited Arab Emirates, but due to a mix-up was not registered to play for the team.[17]
In July 2016, Dembélé joinedSwiss clubSolothurn,[17] where he played for one full season.[18]
He was part of the France under-18 team from 2003 to 2004. Dembélé was eligible to represent eitherFrance orMali at senior international level, but in November 2010, he chose to play forMali. Dembélé earned his first call-up to thenational side of Mali, the country of his parents, for thefriendly match againstCongo DR, but did not feature in the game.[19]On 8 February 2011, he finally made his debut for Mali, playing the first 45 minutes of the 0–1 loss againstIvory Coast in afriendly match. Dembélé earned his second cap for Mali in the 1:1 draw withBurkina Faso on 11 November 2011.[20] In January 2012, he was included in the Mali squad for the2012 African Cup of Nations.[21] On 24 January 2012, Dembélé made his first appearance in an official tournament for Mali, entering the fray as a 64th minute replacement forCheick Diabaté in the 1–0 win overGuinea.[22] A week later, he scored his first goal for the team during the same tournament, againstBotswana.[23] Mali eventually finished in third place, with Dembélé participating in five of their six matches.[24]
While playing in Auxerre he had been convicted of driving while intoxicated resulting in suspension of his driving licence. Later he was again punished for driving without a license.[1]
In October 2006, he was accused of rape by a 22-year-old American student while in Rome,[25] but was later released and allowed to return to France.
On 2 December 2010, he was arrested in Sofia for drunk driving and producing a fake driving license.[26] On 2 February 2011, Dembélé was handed an eight-month suspended sentence for drink-driving offence. He was handed the suspended sentence with a three-year probation period after being caught drink-driving in December and presenting police with a forged driving licence.[27]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Auxerre B | 2003–04[28] | CFA | 2 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05[28] | 18 | 8 | – | – | 18 | 8 | ||||
| 2005–06[28] | 20 | 5 | – | – | 20 | 5 | ||||
| Total | 40 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 13 | ||
| Istres | 2006–07[29] | Ligue 2 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | 12 | 3 | |
| AGF | 2007–08[29] | Superliga | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |
| Pierikos | 2008–09 | Beta Ethniki | 23 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | 24 | 4 | |
| 2009–10 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 11 | 2 | |||
| Total | 32 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 6 | ||
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 2009–10 | A PFG | 14 | 5 | 0 | 0 | – | 14 | 5 | |
| Levski Sofia | 2010–11 | A PFG | 24 | 26 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 39 | 36 |
| SC Freiburg | 2011–12[29] | Bundesliga | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 2012–13[29] | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Total | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | ||
| SC Freiburg II | 2011–12[29] | Regionalliga Süd | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | ||
| Wuhan Zall | 2013[citation needed] | CSL | 20 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 21 | 3 | |
| FC Solothurn | 2016–17 | Swiss 1. Liga | – | |||||||
| Career total | 165 | 58 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 185 | 68 | ||
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 February 2012 | Stade d'Angondjé,Libreville, Gabon |  Botswana | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2012 African Cup of Nations | [30] |
Mali
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