Simon Barjie

Simon Barjie (born 6 September 1978) is a former professional footballer who is the athletic trainer of club Monza. Born in Italy, he played for the Gambia national team.

Club career Born in Milan, Lombardy, Barjie started his career at the Serie C2 club Solbiatese Arno, 40 km away from Milan. In 1997, he was signed by Serie C1 club Como and played twice for the first team in 1997–98 Serie C1 season. In 1999, he left for Serie C2 club Pro Sesto along with Gabriele Donghi, in temporary deal (Barjie) and co-ownership deal (for 1 million lire, a peppercorn fee) respectively. Como paid Pro Sesto 30 million lire as an incentive for the loan. The deal later converted to co-ownership deal. In 2003, Como was relegated from Serie A and tried to buy back Barjie and Donghi but were out-bid by Pro Sesto, who bought Barjie and Donghi by submitted a closed tender to Lega Nazionale Professionisti.

Monza In 2004, he left Pro Sesto for fellow Serie C2 team Monza; the team was promoted to Serie C1 in 2005. In 2008, he left for Pro Patria on a reported free transfer. But 1 season later he returned to Monza until his retire.

International career Barjie capped at least three times for Gambia. He played a friendly match against Luxembourg in 2007 and a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier in 2003.

Personal life He graduated as a Doctor in sports science in 2010 from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Barjie has a Gambian father and Italian mother. He visited Gambia for the first time in more than 10 years in 2003 and saw his father again. At that time he had an international duty for Gambia and the match was scheduled at Bakau, suburb of Banjul, the capital city.