Mamady Sidibé  Mamady Sidibé (born 18 December 1979) is a Malian former footballer who played as a forward. Sidibé moved from his native Mali to France when he was two years old. After playing football for a number of lower French league sides he joined Swansea City in 2001. He spent a single season at the Welsh club before signing for Gillingham. After three and a half years in Kent Sidibé rejected an offer of a new contract and joined Stoke City in July 2005 on a free transfer. He went on to become a key member of Tony Pulis's first team and helped the club gain promotion to the Premier League in 2008. His career at Stoke was disrupted from 2010 by a serious Achilles tendon injury, which recurred after his return and was then compounded by a knee dislocation, in total keeping him out of first-team football for more than two years. After his return, Sidibé spent time out on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and Tranmere Rovers before his contract at Stoke ended in May 2013. He then briefly joined Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia, before retiring from professional football in 2015. Sidibé was born in Kremis, Kayes Region in Mali before his family migrated to France when he was two years old. He lived in Pantin before moving to Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine where he joined the local under thirteen football team. At the age of 15 he joined Massy Palaiseau, a youth team in the 91st district where he played for a whole season as a defender. He impressed watching scouts and was signed by local team Red Star 93 where he played along with Fousseni Diawara, Samba Diawara, Diomansy Kamara and Abdoulaye Méïté. On the last day of the 1999–2000 season, the coach decided to play him as a striker and he scored his first goal of the season while playing what was his last game for Red Star. The following season, he joined CA Paris-Charenton as a result of Red Star's financial demise which led to the club almost filing for bankruptcy. He left for the United Kingdom when he was 21 years old to join Swansea City. Sidibé was signed by Swansea City on 25 August 2001 after a successful trial. He scored on his League debut for "The Swans" in a 3–1 win over Macclesfield Town on the opening day of the 2001–02 season.