Samba joins the “Shamrock”

FC Panathinaikos announces the acquirement of Christopher Samba. The Congolese defender has signed an agreement with our team, till summer 2017 and we welcome him into the “family” of the “shamrock”.

Veijeany Christopher Samba, as this is his full name, was born on March 28, 1984 in Creteil, France. He is international with the National team of Congo since 2004, counting 26 matches and one goal since then, wearing the captain’s armband of this National team.

Samba began his career at a professional level in Sedan, initially in the second team, in 2002 and then he joined the first team. After just three matches played there, in summer of 2004, he “moved” to Hertha Berlin. During his three-year presence in the German team, this 32 year old stopper (today) participated 28 times in all competitions, including six in the UEFA Cup and two more in the Intertoto Cup.

On January 25, 2007, he was transferred to Blackburn, signing a contract for three and a half years, making his debut in a match against Luton, in the fourth round of the English Cup, substituting Ryan Nelsen in the 69th minute. In the Premier League he played for the first time against Chelsea in the 3-0 defeat, on January 31 of that same year. Samba scored his first goal in the “premier” league of the English football on March 17, 2007, by a head at the 47th minute, during Blackburn’s away defeat 2-1 by West Ham.

During the next season, he was considered a main start up player and on October 22 he signed a new contract, until summer 2012. A new five year agreement with the “rovers”, in November 2009, was to follow. In 2010-11 season he got the armband of the captain and on February 2, 2011 he signed the contract that was offered to him by Blackburn Rovers for the coming four and a half years. On February 24, 2012 he left for Anji Majachkalá, having played in 161 matches and scored 16 goals with the English team.

In Russia, Samba signed a four-year contract, though he stayed there only for a year. During this period he played in 32 games scoring four goals. Queens Park Rangers was the next chapter in his career, agreeing to wear its jersey till January 31, 2013.

After 10 games and just six months later QPR relegated and so Samba went back to Anji. After having played in five matches scoring one goal he moved, together with two more of his teammates, to Dynamo Moscow on August 29, 2013. During these three years spent in Russia he played in 51 matches and scored 8 goals in total.