by Baboucarr Camara
Ex-Gambian international Edrissa Sonko has been speaking to the Daily Observer on the latest stage of his career after his appointment as a youth coach at Ras Al-Khaimah’s U-19 side following the end of his professional career at the club.
The former Steve Biko and Real de Banjul winger brought an end to his 14-year professional career at the United Arab Emirates Pro-League side at the end of the 2012/13 season. He was first appointed U-15 coach and having guided his new team to a third-place finish in the 2013/14 season, Sonko has now started the process of attaining his coaching badges.
“I got offered a coaching job at the Club [Ras Al-Khaimah] to work with the U-15’s. I worked the whole season of 2013/14 and finished third in the league. After that I spoke to the club to give me a chance to apply for my coaching badges in the United Kingdom and they agreed,” Sonko intimated.
“During the summer I contacted the PFA [Professional Footballers Association] and send in my application and got accepted to start the course on the 5th October, 2015. After the summer I went back to Dubai and started the pre-season with the U-19’s as an assistant, so I could be going back to the United Kingdom to attend my classes and be back from time to time.”
Edi Sonko, 35, started his football career with Steve Biko in The Gambia and played for the Bakau-based club between 1995 and 1997 before moving to Real de Banjul for a season and was sold by the Banjulians in 1998 to Anderlecht in Belgium.
Edi Sonko though would be remembered by most people for his seven-year stint with Roda JC Kerkrade in the Netherlands whom he joined in 2000 and played more than 100 Dutch Eredivise games, scoring 20 goals. After a brief move to Skoda Xhanthi, he joined Walsall in England, then in the English third tier. He also played for Tranmere Rovers and Hereford United.
He netted his first Tranmere goal in the win at home to Accrington Stanley in the Football League Trophy in September 2008. His first league goal followed just over a week later away at Huddersfield Town, he scored a stunning long range volley in the 2-1 Tranmere win.
Sonko signed a one year deal with Hereford United in 2009 but was released at the end of the season and moved to Cypriot side APEP. In September 2010 he joined Ras AlKhaima Club in the United Arab Emirates, where he made more than 100 appearances and scored 31 goals.
A multiple capped Gambian international at senior level, Edi Sonko completed the second phase of his coaching badges last week and will now link up with his UAE club until May 2016 when he would have to return to England and start the process of attaining his UEFA A License.