Meet Ousman Manneh, Bundesliga’s Refugee Football Star

Poor lad leaves his poor country only to take up a new hobby and become a refugee football star in the Bundesliga. Meet the real story of Ousman Manneh.

The latest sensation at online betting news in Germany is without a doubt the ost famous Gambian Bundesliga player, Ousman Manneh. Having been born in 1997, the kid is only 19 years old. Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger once said that if a kid of 13-14 years old still has not shown marks of talent, he will never grow up to become an important football player.

The French football expert has once again been proved wrong by facts: here we are, looking at a 19-year-old kid who started playing football two (2!) years ago at the age of 17. How does one show traits of talent when he never even tried to play the game? However, Manneh, the refugee football star decided to take up this sport and he went pretty far with it.

Escaping from Gambia

Ousman Manneh is a Gambian football player whose country is led by a dictator. Life must not be so nice over there so he decided he deserves a better life. Spain is the most popular destination for Gambian migrants, but Manneh stands out of the crowd: he chose Germany and ended up in Bremen.

He applied for refugee status and was granted permission in the German city. The still underage kid started playing for a youth team near Bremen and in the league he scored 15 goals in 11 games. Many Bundesliga clubs tried to purchase him and Werder Bremen succeeded eventually. He started in the youth team and has been offered a 3-year contract.

That’s how dreams come true

In July, the refugee football star debuted in the reserve team and scored the winning goal against Hansa Rostock, a club that used to live better days. Shortly after that he was called up to the first team and debuted there as well. The first “Bundesligaspieler aus Gambia” needed only 4 matches to play for scoring his first Bundesliga goal. Online sportsbooks in Germany hardly even knew his name yet he scored the winner against Bayer Leverkusen.

Now Ousman Manneh is the most famous Bundesliga star as his story gives hope to thousands of others out there. The refugee football star was also quite touched by al that he has gone through. “I’m standing here and I don’t even know what has happened. I don’t really know if I really did score a goal or if that was just a dream. It’s an indescribable feeling, I just can’t believe it.”

The first Bundesliga star from Gambia

He was also asked what he thinks about becoming the very first Gambian Bundesliga player to score in the German league. Manneh said it made him really proud and happy. He is also the only Gambian footballer so far to have participated in at least 4 Bundesliga matches. Now the next step ahead of Manneh is quite obvious.

His only goal from now on can be to reach as high as possible and become as good of a football player as possible. First, to keep his Gambian football records for as long as he can, and second, to prove that refugee football stars can become just as good as other Bundesliga players.

Despite the fact that Manner is a great sensation nowadays, Werder Bremen is still not regarded as a major candidate to reach a respectable place in this season’s Bundesliga. Next time they will host Freiburg where online sportsbooks like Betway and Bet365 have set Werder’s winning odds at 2.40 (7/5).