Pa Dibba
Quick Facts
Biography
Pa Amat Dibba (born 15 October 1987) is a Gambian-Swedish footballer who plays for Hammarby IF as a forward.
Career
Dibba was born in Gambia but moved to Sweden with his family at age seven. The family settled in Brandbergen, near Stockholm. As a youth player he spent time with Hammarby IF, FOC Farsta and Enskede IK before eventually playing first team football with Brandbergens IF.
Brandbergens IF were playing in the ninth tier of Swedish football at the time but would make a quick rise to the fifth tier during Dibba's years with the club. At the start of 2011 Dibba trialed with Hammarby IF feeder club Hammarby Talang FF. They were interested in signing him but didn't have room in their squad at the time. Dibba instead remained at Brandbergen for the first half of the season and then trialed with Superettan side GIF Sundsvall during the summer, where he was eventually signed to a 3.5 year deal.
He soon established himself as a frequent starter in Sundsvall. Between 2011 and 2016 he would make 132 appearances for the yo-yo club in both Allsvenskan and Superettan, scoring 34 competitive goals. On the 19 November 2014 Pa signed a new contact with GIF Sundsvall lasting until 2016.
With only six months left of this contract, Dibba attracted the attention from fellow Allsvenskan team Hammarby IF during the 2016 midseason. He completed a transfer to the Stockholm-based club, where he previously had been on trial, on the 8th of August 2016.
He made his debut for Hammarby a week later in an away fixture against Sundsvall, the team he just had left. The appearance sparked some controversy as the Sundsvall staff claimed the two clubs had reached a spoken "gentlemen's agreement" that Dibba would not feature in this particular game. However, the deal was later denied by officials from Hammarby in a statement on their website. On the 26th of September 2016, Dibba scored his first goal in Allsvenskan for Hammarby against Falkenbergs FF on away turf in a 2-0 win.
Personal life
Dibba has a total of 14 siblings. Even though he has lived the majority of his life in Sweden, it was his dream to represent the Gambia national football team.
He is a supporter of Real Madrid and names the Brazilian striker Ronaldo as his football idol.
Career statistics
- As of 11 January 2017
Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
Sweden | League | Svenska Cupen | Europe | Total | ||||||
2010 | Brandbergens IF | Division 4 | 14 | 9 | — | — | 14 | 9 | ||
2011 | Division 3 | 14 | 11 | — | — | 14 | 11 | |||
GIF Sundsvall | Superettan | 10 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | |||
2012 | Allsvenskan | 22 | 2 | — | — | 22 | 2 | |||
2013 | Superettan | 26 | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | 29 | 8 | ||
2014 | 27 | 12 | 4 | 2 | — | 31 | 14 | |||
2015 | Allsvenskan | 30 | 8 | — | 30 | 8 | ||||
2016 | 17 | 5 | — | 17 | 5 | |||||
Hammarby IF | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | 11 | 3 | |||
Career total | 170 | 56 | 8 | 4 | — | 178 | 60 |