Ebrima Darboe

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Ebrima Darboe
Ebrima Darboe (cropped).jpg
Darboe with Gambia at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations
Personal information
Date of birth (2001-06-06) 6 June 2001 (age 24)
Place of birth Bakoteh, The Gambia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Bari
Number 5
Youth career
2016–2017 Young Rieti
2017–2021 Roma
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2021–2025 Roma 6 (0)
2023–2024 → LASK (loan) 5 (0)
2024 → Sampdoria (loan) 14 (2)
2024–2025 → Frosinone (loan) 26 (2)
2025– Bari 0 (0)
International career‡
2021– Gambia 15 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 13 May 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of 19 January 2024

Ebrima Darboe (born 6 June 2001) is a Gambian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Italian Serie B club Bari. He also plays for the Gambia national team. [2]

Contents

Early life

Ebrima Darboe was born in Bakoteh, a district of Serekunda in The Gambia. [3] [4] [5] He left his birth country aged 14, alone, arriving in Libya, [4] [6] before sailing to Sicily, Italy, where he arrived as a refugee after a six-month journey. [7] [8]

In Italy, Darboe was taken in charge by the SPRAR  [ it ] – a service from the Italian ministry of the Interior – as an unaccompanied underage migrant and ended in Rieti, where he started playing with amateur club Young Rieti. [7] [9]

Club career

Darboe joined Italian club Roma in summer 2017, making his primavera debut for the youth team in January 2019. [7] [10] [11] Darboe signed his first professional contract with Roma the following July, having just turned eighteen. [4] [7] [11] He first featured on as an unused substitute in Roma's 2–1 Serie A home victory against Milan on 27 October 2019. [6] [7] [11] Darboe scored his first goal for the under-19 side in October 2020, [3] and got an additional brace later that month in the Campionato Primavera. [12] [13]

Darboe made his professional debut for the club on 2 May 2021, coming off the bench for the final ten minutes of Roma's 2–0 defeat against Sampdoria. [14] On 6 May, Darboe made his UEFA Europa League debut against Manchester United, in the second leg of the semi-finals. [15] Darboe played in the Derby della Capitale against rivals Lazio on 15 May, becoming the first player born in the 2000s to do so. [16]

On 7 July 2023, Darboe was loaned to Austrian Bundesliga club LASK for the 2023–24 season. [17] On 1 February 2024, this loan was cut short, and Darboe was then loaned to Serie B club Sampdoria. [18]

On 1 September 2025, Darboe signed a three-year contract with Serie B club Bari. [19]

International career

On 26 October 2020, while still a youth team player for Roma, Darboe received his first senior call-up for the Gambia national team by head coach Tom Saintfiet. [20] He debuted for the Gambia in a 2–0 friendly win over Niger on 6 June 2021. [21]

Darboe was selected to the Gambia squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, his national team's first continental tournament, where they made a sensational quarter-final. [22] [23]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 23 August 2024 [2]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueNational Cup [a] EuropeOtherTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Roma 2020–21 Serie A 50001 [b] 0—60
2021–22 10004 [c] 0—50
Total600050—110
LASK (loan) 2023–24 Austrian Bundesliga 50102 [b] 0—80
Sampdoria (loan) 2023–24 Serie B 14200——142
Career total2521070—332
  1. ↑ Includes Austrian Cup
  2. 1 2 Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  3. ↑ Appearance(s) in UEFA Conference League

International

As of match played 19 January 2024. [24]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Gambia 202160
202270
202300
202420
Total150

Honours

Roma

References

  1. ↑ "Darboe, Ebrima Darboe - Footballer | BDFutbol". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 Ebrima Darboe at Soccerway . Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 Camara, Arfang M.S. (6 October 2020). "Ebrima Darboe scores first Roma goal". The Point . Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Pediglieri, Alessio (27 October 2019). "La favola di Ebrima Darboe: da rifugiato alla prima squadra in soli 4 anni". Sport Fanpage (in Italian). Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  5. ↑ Agresti, Stefano (27 October 2019). "E' arrivato col barcone, pesava 50 chili: l'incredibile favola di Darboe, pronto al debutto in Roma-Milan". Calciomercato.com (in Italian). Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  6. 1 2 Pinci, Matteo (28 October 2019). "La traversata di "Ibra" Darboe: da 15enne solo sul barcone a promessa romanista in Serie A". la Repubblica . Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Darboe, da rifugiato alla panchina in Roma-Milan". Sky Sport (in Italian). 27 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  8. ↑ "La favola del 18enne Ebrima Darboe, dall'arrivo in Italia su un barcone alla panchina con la Roma in Serie A". Castelli Notizie (in Italian). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  9. ↑ "Ebrima Darboe's story is a football fairytale". AS Roma. 27 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  10. ↑ Cavoli, Giacomo (24 January 2019). "Ebrima Darboe ha debuttato con la Primavera della Roma, la gioia dello Young Rieti: "Esempio positivo per tutti"". Il Messaggero (in Italian). Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 "AS Rome: la belle histoire de Darboe, arrivé comme migrant". RMC Sport (in French). 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  12. ↑ Camara, Arfang M.S. (20 October 2020). "Ebrima Darboe's brace guided Roma U-19 to comfortable win – The Point". The Point . Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  13. ↑ "Alberto De Rossi: "Soddisfatto per la vittoria". Darboe: "Ora sono più motivato"". Forzaroma.info (in Italian). Gazetta dello Sport. 17 October 2020. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  14. ↑ "Ebrima Darboe makes Serie A debut". AS Roma. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  15. ↑ "La gioia di Darboe: "E' un'emozione incredibile. Sono fuggito dall'Africa per inseguire il mio sogno"". Goal.com (in Italian). 6 May 2021. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  16. ↑ "Roma-Lazio, gara da record per Darboe: è il primo millennial a giocare il derby" (in Italian).
  17. ↑ "Welcome, Ebrima Darboe!". LASK. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  18. ↑ "Ebrima Darboe joins Sampdoria on loan". AS Roma. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  19. ↑ "Benvenuto Ebrima Darboe" [Welcome Ebrima Darboe] (in Italian). SSC Bari. 1 September 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  20. ↑ "Roma's Ebrima Darboe earn first Gambia call-up, as Ali Sowe and Yusupha Njie left out". The Point. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  21. ↑ "Match Report of Gambia vs Niger – 2021-06-05 – FIFA Friendlies". globalsportsarchive.com. Global Sports Archive. 5 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  22. ↑ https://www.cafonline.com/total-africa -cup-of-nations/matches/2021/2243295/lineups
  23. ↑ "The Gambia name squad for first Nations Cup finals". BBC Sport.
  24. ↑ "Ebrima Darboe profile". National Football Teams. 5 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
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