Cardiff reveal Bamba tribute plans for Leeds game

Sol Bamba studied his coaching badges with the Football Association of Wales, and had been touted as a potential Cardiff City manager

Cardiff City say family and friends of Sol Bamba will be present as they and Leeds United pay tribute to their former player at the Cardiff City Stadium this Saturday.

Bamba died last month aged just 39 having been taken ill while working as technical director for Turkish club Adanaspor.

The former centre-back captained both Cardiff and Leeds during his playing career, and was a popular figure at both clubs.

Cardiff are supporting a fan-led campaign to “wear blue for Bamba” at the Leeds game.

The Welsh club asking supporters to be in their seats by 14:45 BST – 15 minutes before kick-off – to “allow fans from both clubs, staff and players to pay their respects to Sol”.

Cardiff say a tribute to Bamba “will be played” before the match, while his family and friends will join the Bluebirds and Leeds – who will be represented by chief executive Angus Kinnear and club ambassador Eddie Gray – to place flowers in memory of the former Ivory Coast international.

There will be a minute of applause for Bamba before kick-off, and another in the 14th minute as he wore the number 14 shirt during his five-year spell as a Cardiff player.

A banner honouring Bamba will be raised in the stadium’s Canton Stand and will then be housed permanently in the Ninian Stand.

Sol Bamba originally joined Leeds on loan from Palermo, before signing a permanent deal with the Yorkshire club

The match programme will also pay tribute to Bamba, while Sean Morrison, Lee Peltier and Anthony Pilkington will be part of question and answer evening in memory of their former team-mate being hosted by Cardiff on Friday night.

Proceeds from that event will go to the Lymphoma Action charity, at the request of Bamba's family.

Bamba overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2021, when he was playing for Cardiff, returning to training after four months out having had chemotherapy treatment.

Having started his career at Paris Saint-Germain, Bamba played for Dunfermline Athletic, Hibernian, Leicester City, Trabzsonspor and Palermo before moving to Leeds in 2015.

He played 56 games for the Elland Road club, scoring four times, before joining Cardiff in 2016.

Bamba scored 10 goals in 118 appearances for Cardiff, and was part of the side who won promotion to the Premier League in 2018.

After being released in 2021, he finished his playing career at Middlesbrough before returning to Cardiff as assistant manager to Sabri Lamouchi, helping the club retain their Championship status in 2022-23.

Bamba left his role when Lamouchi's departed in the summer of 2023 before taking up his position at Adanaspor.