Ibrahima Sonko

Brentford

Sonko was born in Bignona, Senegal but moved to France when he was young. He played with Olympique Noisy-le-Sec and was in the youth team at AS Saint-Étienne before he joined Grenoble in 1999. Sonko helped Grenoble gain promotion from the Championnat National in 2000–01 and in 2002 he left to join English side Brentford. He played 45 times for Brentford in 2002–03, scoring six goals at the Bees finished in 16th position. He played 46 times in 2003–04 as Brentford again finished in a mid-table position this time 17th. His performances for Brentford attracted interest from high placed sides.

Reading

Sonko joined Reading on a bosman in the summer of 2004. He made 42 appearances in 2004–05 as Reading finished in 7th place missing out on a play-off place by three points. In 2005–06 Sonko was ever-present as the Royals gained promotion to the Premier League in emphatic fashion after winning the league with a record 106 points. During the season, he won the player of the month award for October and was also named in the PFA Team of the Year. Sonko's first season in the Premier League was eventful. He received a straight red card against Aston Villa for tripping Luke Moore in the penalty area, meaning Reading lost 2–1. He was the subject of further controversy in a match against Chelsea on 14 October 2006, when his challenge left goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini unconscious. Cudicini was carried off the field wearing a neck brace. Sonko stated that he was scared…

Sonko was born in Senegal, but moved to France when he was six months and 14 days old. Despite this, Sonko initially elected to play for the Senegal national team. He represented Senegal at U23 level, but declined his call-up to their African Cup of Nations squad of 2006, opting instead to help Reading's ultimately successful bid for promotion to the Premier League. He then announced that he would play for France if selected, but if called up to the Senegal squad before a French call-up, he would play for the African team. Sonko was named in Senegal's provisional 38-man squad for the African Cup of Nations, which runs from 20 January to 10 February 2008. Senegal coach Henryk Kasperczak also included Sonko in his final 23-man squad making him the only uncapped player in the squad. He finally made his debut for Senegal on 12 January 2008 in their 3–1 win over Namibia in Dakar; he played the entire game in the centre of defence.

Club

International

Source:

International goals

Senegal score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sonko goal.

His cousin Bacary Sagna is also a professional footballer.