Sambégou Bangoura

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Personal information
Sambégou Bangoura
Full name	Sambégou Bangoura
Date of birth	April 3, 1982 (1982-04-03)
Place of birth	Conakry, Guinea
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Cádiz CF
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2004 2004–2005 2005–2007 2007 2007– 2008–	Lokeren Standard Liège Stoke City →FC Brussels (loan) Boavista F.C. →Cádiz CF (loan)	58 (40) 50 (21) 28 (9) ? (?) 6 (3) 0 (0)
National team²
2004-	Guinea	11 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:55, 14 August 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Sambégou Bangoura (born April 3, 1982 in Conakry) is a Guinean football player, currently a striker with Segunda División Cádiz CF.

Bangoura, who primarily played for clubs in Belgium, also had a stint in The Championship (second division) side Stoke City, transferred for 1.25 million euros in August 2005, a club record fee at that time. He was signed by then-Stoke manager Johan Boskamp. Sambégou played basketball in his native Guinea before becoming a professional football player.

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 2-1 in the quarter finals to Mali. Bangoura played again in the 2006 African Nations Cup, with a prominent role in the country's three group wins before the team was knocked out in the quarter finals by Senegal in a match which ended 3-2. He failed to turn up at Stoke City after the tournament, as he stayed in Guinea due to "family problems". He later returned, however he only managed to get on the score sheet once in the remainder of 2005-06 season. Bangoura was fined two weeks wage for this misconduct.

In June 2006, he did not return to pre-season training for Stoke and a club statement confirmed that Bangoura would be fined on his eventual return.^[1]

On 4 August 2006, one day before club's first game against Southend United, he returned to The Potters. He claimed the reason for his late arrival was that he could not get a passport for his young daughter, who had to remain in Guinea. Bangoura had to "work hard" in order to impress then-Stoke manager Tony Pulis and work his way back into favour at the club. Sammy played his first full 90 minutes of football in a reserve match against Shrewsbury Town. Bangoura was handed his first start of the season against Burnley FC, however he lasted only 43 minutes before limping off due to injury. He failed to cement a starting place, and speculations for a loan or permanent move arose.

Bangoura joined FC Brussels on a 6-month loan on 11 January 2007, in the hope to get first team action. The personal problems he had experienced in England continued in Belgium. After that, Bangoura once again failed to turn up for pre-season at Stoke City; his whereabouts were unknown.

In 13 August 2007, Bangoura was presented as a new Boavista F.C. player. The transfer cost the Portuguese side £270,000 up front with a further £100,000 after a scoring bonus. In addition, Stoke City will receive 20% of any future fee.^[2]He would not last long, as he joined Spain's Cádiz CF (second division) on loan, during the January transfer window.