The wife of former footballer Sol Bamba has paid a heartfelt tribute to her husband, recalling his extraordinary mental and physical strength in his courageous fight against cancer. Bamba, a former defender for Cardiff City, Leeds, Leicester, and the Ivory Coast, tragically passed away yesterday at the age of 39.

Turkish side Adanaspor broke the news in a statement, saying: “Our Technical Director Souleymane Bamba, who fell ill before the Manisa Football Club match played yesterday, was taken to Manisa Celal Bayar University Hospital and unfortunately lost his battle for life there. Our condolences to his family and our community.”

Bamba’s wife has now released a poignant statement, detailing her husband’s arduous battle with cancer. She wrote on Instagram: “For the last few years, I have watched Sol fight his cancer head-on with an astounding mental and physical strength and stoicism. Unfortunately, it was never a fair fight, and just when things were looking up, he took a downturn and finally succumbed on 31st August.”

She continued: “These years have been indescribably difficult, but we still managed to find joy and laughter in it. I’ve experienced my worst days but also some of my best. Sol accepted his fate as God’s will and left this earth knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was loved wholeheartedly. I made sure of that.”

The post was accompanied by a picture of Bamba on holiday and another of the couple together. Bamba was previously diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, on Christmas Eve in 2020 but was believed to be in the clear. However, Turkish outlet hurriyet reported that he “fell ill before the Manisa FK match due to a relapse of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.”