Abdallah Sima: Story of the season
Discovery of Abdallah Sima has been undoubtedly the biggest story of the 2020/21 season so far. Senegalese forward came to the Czech Republic on the beginning of this year moving from French Evian Thonon Galliard to then 3rd-tier club FC Táborsko. Because the Czech Football League (3rd level of Czech football) was suspended due to Covid-19, Sima could play only two friendly games for Táborsko, one of them against Slavia reserves.
Sima almost immediately joined Slavia reserves for a testing period and at the end of July he signed a permanent contract with the red and whites with prospect of playing for the reserves for at least one year. He managed to start to 6 games in Czech Football League for Slavia reserves and scored 4 goals before the competition was suspended again due to Covid-19.
At the end of September Sima joined the first team after several players tested positive for Covid and were not available for the following games. He also appeared on the list of players available for the UEFA Europa League Group Stage.
He made his first appearance in the league game against Slovácko on 26 September, few days later he played several minutes against Beer Sheva and Leverkusen in the UEL. 11 games in the starting line-up in the row followed in which Sima scored 10 goals including two strikes in the Prague Derby against Sparta and in the home league game against Slovan Liberec.
“I am happy I can be here,” Sima said after scoring two goals in a 3-0 away win at Sparta at the beginning of December. “Many people are helping me here - my teammates and other people from the club too. They were ready to help from my first day in the first team and that’s why I can feel good here,” our forward added.
The 19-year old forward scored 7 goas in the Czech league and added 3 more in the UEL Group Stage (against Nice home and away and Beer Sheva home).
“I am grateful that I got this chance and that I met people who were willing to help me. I must thank my agent and the managers of Táborsko, Slavia reserves and Slavia first team. They all helped me to get to this level,” Sima said after the Prague Derby.
