Wilfried Bony
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 08/2017Embed from Getty Images
Personal information
Full name:
Wilfried Guemiand Bony
Date of birth:
10 December 1988
Place of birth:
Bingerville, Côte d'Ivoire
Height:
1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position:
Striker
Club information
Current team
Swansea City
Number
2
YOUTH CAREER
Cyrille Domoraud Academy
SENIOR CAREER
Issia Wazi
2006-2008
→ Sparta Prague B (loan)
2007-2008
14x apps / 2x goals
Sparta Prague
2008-2011
59x apps / 22x goals
Vitesse
2011-2013
65x apps / 46x goals
Swansea City
2013-
54x apps / 25x goals
Manchester City
2015-
36x apps / 6x goals
→ Stoke City (loan)
2016-2017
10x apps / 2x goals
Swansea City
2017-
36x apps / 6x goals
National team
Côte d'Ivoire
2010-
32x apps / 11x goals
(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:00, 1 January 2015 (UTC) - National team caps and goals correct as of 20 November 2014)
Wilfried Guemiand Bony, born 10 December 1988, is an Ivorian footballer who plays for Swansea City in the Premier League and the Ivory Coast national football team, as a striker.
EARLY LIFE
Bony was born in Bingerville and was raised first in the city of Tebrau Plateau, and then in Abobo PK18.
He played street football from a young age, in the Brazilian style of "Maracana".
He also participated in many interschool and city cups, before spending three years at the Cyrille Domoraud Academy located in his birthplace of Bingerville.
CAREER
Issia Wazi
Bony started his professional career at Issia Wazi in the Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division.
Sparta Prague
Bony went on trial at Premier League club Liverpool in 2007 but was not offered a contract, and in October 2007, Bony joined Czech club Sparta Prague on a loan deal where he immediately started playing for the reserve team. Bony won the Bohemian Football League championship with Sparta Prague B.
Bony then joined the club on a permanent basis and broke into the first team in the 2008-09 season, scoring three goals in 16 appearances.
In 2009-10, he scored nine times as Sparta won the Gambrinus liga title.
After scoring 17 goals during the first half of the 2010-11 season, including five goals in six appearances in the UEFA Europa League, Bony was signed by Dutch Eredivisie club Vitesse of Arnhem in January 2011.
Vitesse
Bony signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Vitesse and scored on his debut in a 2:0 derby win over De Graafschap on 20 February.
In his first full season with Vitesse, Bony netted on twelve occasions in the Eredivisie, earning the top goalscoring honors for the club and was tied for tenth highest scorer in the league.
In February 2012, Bony signed a contract extension, keeping him until 2015, ending transfer speculation.
Bony made his first appearance of the 2012-13 Eredivisie campaign for Vitesse on 12 August 2012 in a 2:2 draw with ADO Den Haag at the GelreDome, equalizing for the hosts less than a minute after Tjaronn Chery had put ADO in front.
Bony scored a 90th minute winner over Rotterdam club Feyenoord on 2 September, to earn the club its third win from the first four league games.
On 6 October 2012, Bony scored a hat-trick as Vitesse came back from a goal down three times to draw 3:3 with Heerenveen.
In Vitesse's 0:2 upset of Ajax on 4 November, Bony scored both goals, helping Vitesse to six away wins in a row and the club's first win at the Amsterdam Arena since 2001.
Bony added two more goals to his account in Vitesse's 4:1 defeat of NEC Nijmegen on 18 November, earning Vitesse just their second home win of the season as NEC had three men sent off.
On 25 November, Vitesse travelled to Eindhoven to face league leaders PSV; Bony scored a late winner to put Vitesse on 31 points, level with second place FC Twente.
On 9 February 2013, Bony returned from his participation in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations to face PSV and once again scored twice, securing a 2:2 draw.
On 23 February, Bony scored a hat-trick to send Vitesse to a 5:3 victory over Heracles Almelo.
On 15 April, he scored for the ninth consecutive match in a 3:3 draw with Roda JC.
Bony ended the season as the Eredivisie's top scorer with 31 goals in 30 matches and was awarded the Golden Shoe for the best player in the Netherlands.
Swansea City
On 11 July 2013, Bony signed a four-year contract with Welsh side Swansea City, who paid a Welsh record fee of £12 million.
Bony made his Swansea City debut in a pre-season friendly match against ADO Den Haag, which Swansea won 1:0.
Bony's work permit was delayed briefly, but was granted three days later.
Bony was given the number 10 shirt with the name Wilfried on the back.
2013-14 season
Bony made his competitive debut for Swansea in the club's Europa League third qualifying round tie against Malmö FF, scoring two second-half goals in a 4:0 first leg victory on 1 August.
The BBC listed Bony as one of the Premier League signings to watch for the 2013-14 Premier League.
In the opening game of the 2013-14 season on 17 August, Bony scored his first goal for the club, in a 4:1 loss against Manchester United.
Shortly after, Bony scored again, in the first leg of the Europa League qualification round against Romanian side Petrolul Ploiești in a 5:1 win.
On 19 September, he scored the Swans' opening goal in a 3:0 Europa League win against Valencia CF at the Mestalla.
On 19 October, Bony scored his second league goal in a 4:0 win over Sunderland.
On 10 November, he scored a brace, as Swansea City drew 3:3 with Stoke City.
A few weeks later, Bony sustained a hamstring injury in the return fixture against Valencia in the Europa League.
He would make his return on 15 December 2013, in a 1:1 draw against Norwich City.
On 1 January 2014, Bony scored twice in a 3:2 loss against Manchester City; both goals were dedicated to his friend, who died of cancer.
Four days later, in the third round of the FA Cup against Manchester United, Bony scored a 90th minute header to send Swansea through to the next round.
The win also proved to be Swansea's first win at Old Trafford in club history.
On 25 March, Bony scored his 20th goal of the season in a 2:2 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
He ended the season with 25 goals after scoring in a 3:1 win at Sunderland on the final day of the Premier League season.
2014-15 season
Bony scored his first goal of the season on 4 October 2014 against Newcastle United, netting after neat build-up play between him and Gylfi Sigurðsson, in a game that finished 2:2.
On 25 October, Bony scored both goals as Swansea blanked Leicester City in the first ever Premier League matchup between the two clubs.
Bony's second goal was his twentieth in the Premier League with Swansea, drawing him level alongside former teammate Michu as the club's all-time leading Premier League goal-scorer.
With 20 goals, Bony was the Premier League's top scorer in the calendar year of 2014.
Manchester City
On 14 January 2015, Bony signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with fellow Premier League club Manchester City.
The two teams agreed an initial fee of £25 million, which can rise to £28 million, which would then make him the most expensive African footballer to date.
Bony was included in his new club's squad for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, at the expense of Stevan Jovetić.
After winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Bony made his Manchester City debut on 21 February, replacing Sergio Agüero for the last 60 minutes of a 5:0 win over Newcastle United at the City of Manchester Stadium.
On 21 March 2015, Bony registered his first league goal with City in a 3:0 home win over West Bromwich Albion, scoring the first of the team's three goals.
He scored his second goal for the club as a late substitute in a 4:2 win at his former employer Swansea City on 17 May.
Bony was selected to start in Manchester City's opening match of the 2015-16 Premier League season, away to West Brom.
He was on the pitch for 63 minutes before being substituted for Sergio Agüero as the team won 0:3 at the The Hawthorns.
On 17 October 2015, Bony scored his first two goals of the season as Manchester City defeated Bournemouth 5:1 at the City of Manchester Stadium.
He followed this up with his first Champions League goal in a 2:1 home defeat of Sevilla on 21 October. Bony scored again against the same opposition in the reverse fixture two weeks later, after also assisting a goal for Fernandinho.
On 8 December, Bony appeared as a 65th-minute substitute for Fabian Delph in City's final fixture of the Champions League group stage against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
He helped turn a 1:2 deficit into a 4:2 win, assisting two goals for Raheem Sterling before scoring the fourth goal, ensuring City overtook Juventus in the group standings.
Stoke City
On 31 August 2016, Bony signed for Stoke City on a season long loan deal.
INTERNATIONAL CAREER
In late 2010, Bony was called up by Côte d'Ivoire and made his debut in a 1:0 away victory against Burundi, where he came on as a substitute in the 80th minutes for Gervinho.
2012 Africa Cup of Nations
On 30 January 2012, Bony scored the second goal in the Ivory Coast's 2:0 win over Angola in the third game of the group stages of the African Cup of Nations.
2014 FIFA World Cup
Bony was included in Ivory Coast's 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
In their first group match against Japan, he scored the equalising goal with a header after a cross from Serge Aurier.
Ivory Coast eventually overcame their opponents with a 2:1 win.
Against Greece in the final game of the group stages, Bony came on as a substitute in the second half to get the equalising goal before the Ivory Coast lost to an injury time penalty.