Thievy Bifouma


Thievy Guivane Bifouma Koulossa is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chinese club Shenzhen F.C. and the Congo national team.
He spent most of his early career in Spain, totalling 68 La Liga games and eight goals for Espanyol, Almería and Granada in addition to a season on loan at Las Palmas in Segunda División. As well as brief spells in England with West Bromwich Albion and France with Reims and Bastia, he represented four clubs in Turkey's Süper Lig.
Formerly a youth international for France, Bifouma made his senior debut for the Congo in 2014. He competed at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, where he was joint top scorer.

Club career

Espanyol

Bifouma was born in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis. He joined RCD Espanyol in Spain in early 2010, not yet aged 18, signing from RC Strasbourg Alsace. On 13 March 2011, he made his debut with the Catalans' first team, after coming on as a substitute for Joan Verdú in the dying minutes of a 2–0 La Liga home win against Deportivo de La Coruña.
On 10 August 2011, in the Copa Catalunya final, Bifouma scored a hat-trick in a 3–0 victory over a FC Barcelona team that was filled with reserve and youth players. On 17 December, he netted his first goal with the main squad, scoring the opener in an eventual 2–1 win at Sporting de Gijón.
In September 2012, Bifouma was loaned to UD Las Palmas of Segunda División. After a successful spell, he extended his contract with Espanyol until 2017.
On 31 January 2014, Bifouma signed for West Bromwich Albion on a loan deal with a view to a permanent transfer, being awarded the number 50 shirt. He made his debut in the Premier League eight days later, playing the second half and scoring within 36 seconds of taking the pitch in a 1–3 away loss against Crystal Palace.
Bifouma moved to fellow top-division club UD Almería on 13 August 2014, in a season-long loan. On 19 March of the following year, he was suspended for one month due to allegations of breach of contract with his former agent; the ban was lifted days later, and he continued to appear regularly for the Andalusians, which suffered relegation.
On 19 August 2015, Bifouma was loaned to Granada CF of the same league for one year. He finished the season with Stade de Reims, also owned by Espanyol.

Later career

On 28 July 2016, Bifouma signed for fellow French Ligue 1 club SC Bastia. He was on the move again in the following transfer window, joining Süper Lig's Osmanlıspor on a three-and-a-half-year deal. He scored just one goal in 22 total games for the team from Ankara, in their 5–1 win at Adanaspor in the Süper Lig on 19 February 2017.
Remaining in the same league, Bifouma signed a one-year contract with Sivasspor on 9 September 2017. Only eight days later, he netted twice in a 4–2 victory on his return to the Osmanlı Stadium.
Bifouma went back to the Turkish capital in June 2018, agreeing to a three-year deal at MKE Ankaragücü. He scored once during his brief tenure, a late consolation in a 1–2 home loss to Kasımpaşa S.K. on 2 September, and moved on again on 22 January 2019 when he signed with third-placed Yeni Malatyaspor for an undisclosed fee.

International career

A French youth international, Bifouma opted to represent Congo at the senior level, receiving a FIFA clearance on 1 August 2014. He made his full debut a day later, replacing Julsy Boukama-Kaya in the 68th minute of a 0–2 away loss against Rwanda for the second leg of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations second qualification round.
On 6 September 2014, in the same competition, Bifouma scored a brace in a 3–2 win in Nigeria. At the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations finals, he netted Congo's first goal of the tournament in a 1–1 draw to hosts Equatorial Guinea. He also scored the opener in their 2–1 group phase victory over Burkina Faso, a result which qualified the nation to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1992, where he grabbed his final goal against the DR Congo, putting his team ahead 2–0 but in an eventual 2–4 defeat; with three goals, he was one of five joint top scorers.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.6 September 2014U. J. Esuene, Calabar, Nigeria
2–1
3–2
2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
2.6 September 2014U. J. Esuene, Calabar, Nigeria
3–1
3–2
2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
3.10 January 2015Léopold Sédar Senghor, Dakar, Senegal1–02–3Friendly
4.17 January 2015Estadio de Bata, Bata, Equatorial Guinea
1–1
1–1
2015 Africa Cup of Nations
5.25 January 2015Estadio de Bata, Bata, Equatorial Guinea
1–0
2–1
2015 Africa Cup of Nations
6.31 January 2015Estadio de Bata, Bata, Equatorial Guinea
2–0
2–4
2015 Africa Cup of Nations
7.13 October 2015Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville, Congo
1–0
2–1
Friendly
8.13 October 2015Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville, Congo
2–1
2–1
Friendly
9.14 November 2015Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis-Abeba, Ethiopia1–14–32018 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.17 November 2015Alphonse-Massamba-Débat, Brazzaville, Congo2–12–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.10 June 2017Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa, DR Congo1–11–32019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
12.1 September 2017Baba Yara, Kumasi, Ghana1–01–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
13.25 March 2018Aimé Bergéal, Mantes-la-Jolie, France
2–0
2–0
Friendly
14.9 September 2018Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville, Congo1–11–12019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
15.18 November 2018Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville, Congo1–11–12019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification