Sierra Leone’s football legend, Mohamed Lamin Conteh ( also known as Junior Tumbu) has passed away in Kenema City, east of Sierra Leone, after a short illness, it was announced on Thursday, 5th May 2022 by the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA).
Following the announcement, tributes from those in the sport association and across the world flooded in for the former football legend.
In a press release, SLFA stated that: ”Junior Tumbu, as he was fondly called, served Sierra Leone diligently both as a football player and technical support staff, attached to the national team -Leone stars. The former Leone Stars captain will not only be forever remembered with Sierra Leone football, but also across the continent of Africa”
The SLFA President Daddy Brima together with his executives received the remains of Lamin Conteh (Junior Tumbu) at the Connaught Hospital Mortuary in Freetown where it will be preserved as the Federation prepares for a respectful burial.
Lamin Conteh (20 June 1976 – 5 May 2022), was a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He represented the Sierra Leone national team between 1994 and 2002.
Lamin Conteh was born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone to muslim parents from the limba ethnic group. Conteh grew up in poverty. As a teenager, he was frequently seen playing street football across Freetown with boys much older than he was. He was considered the best secondary school footballer in Sierra Leone. He dropped out of the Ahmmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Freetown in 1992 to become a professional footballer.
Conteh made his international debut for Sierra Leone in 1994, at the age of seventeen. At the age of 18, Conteh was selected to play for Sierra Leone in the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations held in Tunisia. He was also picked in the squad for the following tournament in South Africa two years later. In 2002, he took over the captaincy of the national team from another football legend Mohamed Kallon.
Junior Tumbu was widely considered the most talented and most popular Sierra Leonean footballer in the 1990s and early 2000s. He had a talent for dribbling and he played as a supporting striker or attacking midfielder. During his playing days for the Sierra Leone national team, Junior Tumbu was by far the most famous Sierra Leonean footballer within Sierra Leone, and he was loved by Sierra Leonean football fans.
More recently, Junior Tumbu was part of the Leone Stars technical team in Cameroon for the 2022 AFCON tournament. Until his death, he was working as a coach in the Eastern region.
Salone Messenger Media expresses its deepest condolences to the family, football association and people of Sierra leone for the the passing away of this great football legend.