Umaru Bangura

Umaru Bangura (born 7 October 1987) is a Sierra Leonean former professional footballer who played for the Sierra Leone national team. He played as a central defender or in midfield.^[1]

Umaru Bangura

Bangura with Sierra Leone in 2022
Personal information
Date of birth	(1987-10-07) 7 October 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Freetown, Sierra Leone
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defender, Midfielder
Youth career
2004–2005	Mighty Blackpool
2005	Watford
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2010	Hønefoss	123	(7)
2010–2013	Haugesund	81	(1)
2014–2016	Dinamo Minsk	58	(0)
2016–2021	Zürich	80	(1)
2021–2022	Neuchâtel Xamax	29	(0)
International career‡
2006–2022	Sierra Leone	53	(4)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 21 May 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 21:42, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Career

Hønefoss

Bangura started his senior career with Hønefoss BK in Norway.

Haugesund

In January 2011, Bangura moved to Eliteserien club FK Haugesund. He made his league debut for the club on 20 March 2011 in a 2–0 away loss to Tromsø IL. He was subbed on in the 71st minute for Ugonna Anyora.^[2] He scored his first league goal for the club on 25 September 2011 in a 1–0 home victory over Aalesunds FK. His goal came in the 54th minute.^[3]

During the English 2013 summer transfer window, Bangura attracted interest from Premier League side Crystal Palace, but the move failed to materialise.^[4][5]

Dinamo Minsk

In December 2013 Bangura agreed to move to FC Dinamo Minsk in the Vysheyshaya Liga.^[6] He made his league debut for the club on 30 March 2014 in a 1–0 away victory over FC Dnepr Mogilev. He played all ninety minutes of the match.^[7]

Zürich

In August 2016 he signed a three years contract with Swiss club FC Zürich.^[8] He made his league debut for the club on 22 August 2016 in a 1–0 home victory over Neuchâtel Xamax. He was subbed on for Armando Sadiku in the 84th minute.^[9] He scored his first league goal for the club on 2 October 2016 in a 5–0 away victory over FC Wohlen. His goal, scored in the 61st minute, made the score 4–0 to Zürich.^[10]

Neuchâtel Xamax

On 8 January 2021, it was announced that Bangura had joined Swiss Challenge League club Neuchâtel Xamax on a contract until the end of the season, after being released by Zürich.^[11][12]

International career

Bangura is the captain of the Sierra Leone national team.^[13] In October 2019, he stated that he was considering quitting the national team after his team was attacked by angry fans, but retracted his decision soon after and represented Sierra Leone at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the country's first ever AFCON.^[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 17 December 2021^[15][16]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Play-offs		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hønefoss	2006	Adeccoligaen	15	0			—		—		15	1
	2007	Adeccoligaen	23	0			—		—		23	0
	2008	Adeccoligaen	27	2			—		—		27	2
	2009	Adeccoligaen	29	3	1	0	—		—		30	3
	2010	Tippeligaen	29	2	4	1	—		3	0	36	3
	Total		123	7	5	1	0	0	3	0	131	9
Haugesund	2011	Tippeligaen	24	1	4	0	—		—		28	1
	2012	Tippeligaen	29	0	1	0	—		—		30	0
	2013	Tippeligaen	28	0	4	0	—		—		32	0
	Total		81	1	9	0	0	0	0	0	90	1
Dinamo Minsk	2014	Vysheyshaya Liga	23	0	0	0	7	0	—		30	0
	2015	Vysheyshaya Liga	22	0	3	0	12	0	—		37	0
	2016	Vysheyshaya Liga	13	0	4	0	0	0	—		17	0
	Total		58	0	7	0	19	0	0	0	84	0
Zürich	2016–17	Swiss Challenge League	17	1	2	0	3	0	—		22	1
	2017–18	Swiss Super League	24	0	4	0	—		—		28	0
	2018–19	Swiss Super League	25	0	2	0	8	0	—		35	0
	2019–20	Swiss Super League	14	0	1	0	—		—		15	0
	2020–21	Swiss Super League	0	0	1	0	—		—		1	0
	Total		80	1	10	0	11	0	0	0	111	1
Neuchâtel Xamax	2020–21	Swiss Challenge League	18	0	0	0	—		—		18	0
	2021–22	Swiss Challenge League	3	0	1	0	—		—		4	0
	Total		21	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	22	0
Career total			363	9	32	1	30	0	3	0	428	10

International

As of match played 11 January 2022^[1]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Sierra Leone	2006	2	0
	2007	5	0
	2008	6	0
	2010	2	0
	2011	4	0
	2012	6	0
	2013	4	0
	2014	6	2
	2015	4	0
	2016	4	1
	2017	1	1
	2019	4	0
	2020	2	0
	2021	2	0
	2022	1	0
Total		53	4

Sierra Leone score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bangura goal^[1]

List of international goals scored by Umaru Bangura

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	31 May 2014	National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone	Swaziland	1–0	1–0	2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification	[17]
2	19 July 2014	National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone	Seychelles	2–0	2–0	2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification	[18]
3	28 March 2016	National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone	Gabon	1–0	1–0	Friendly	[19]
4	10 June 2017	National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone	Kenya	2–0	2–1	2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification	[20]

Honours

Order

• Sierra Leone Member of the Order of the Rokel: 2017^[21]