On Sunday, Aristide Bance was on fire in Guinea for his side Horoya FC against Kenyan Premier League side Bandari.
With his signature and conspicuous sturdy figure and dyed blond hair, Bance stood out in the game and basically ensured a home victory for his side.
His creativity and intelligence salvaged a team which had picked up very well before visiting side equalized by half-time courtesy of Abdallah Hassan and William Wadri.
The hosts would come from the tunnel with a winning mentality which eventually came to pass with Bance being the man of the match.
He grabbed a hat-trick to seal Horoya’s 4-2 win in the Caf Confederation Cup’s first leg encounter at the packed Conakry stadium. And he’s now the talk of the day, his name flooding Guinean newspaper headlines.
But I bet you’ve heard of his name often. Maybe in Africa or in Europe or even in the Middle East. He’s indeed a household name at his level.
At 35, the Burkina Faso forward has played for over 22 professional clubs in more than three continents; Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
He started off at Stade d’Abidjan in 2000 where he played for one year before moving to Athlétic Adjamé.
In 2002 he joined RFC Daoukro for another short stint. He would then play for Santos Burkina between 2002 and 2003, and Lokeren between 2003 and 2006.
Between 2006 and 2012, Bance had played for Metalurh Donetsk, Germinal Beerschot, Kickers Offenbach, Mainz 05, Al-Ahli Dubai, Umm-Salal and Samsunspor.
He later joined FC Augsburg for one year, then Fortuna Düsseldorf and HJK Helsinki by the end of 2014.
He’s also featured for Irtysh Pavlodar, Chippa United, Riga, ASEC Mimosas, Al-Masry and US des Forces Armées. He joined Horoya in 2019.
Horoya are bankrolled by Antonio Souare, a businessman who has pumped millions of dollars into the club in pursuit of African glory.
They reached the CAF Champions League quarter-finals in the past two editions but were ousted in the final qualifying round for the 2019/2020 group phase.