Lamin Conteh
Lamin Conteh (born 20 June 1976), widely known by his nickname Junior Tumbu, is a Sierra Leonean former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He represented the Sierra Leone national team between 1994 and 202. He is widely considered the most talented and most popular Sierra Leonean footballer in the 1990s and early 2000s. Junior Tumbu had a talent for dribbling and he played as a supporting striker or attacking midfielder. During his playing days for the Leone Stars (Sierra Leone national football team) Conteh was by far the most famous Sierra Leonean footballer within Sierra  Leone, and he was loved by Sierra Leonean football fans. Early life. Conteh was born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone to muslim parents from the limba ethnic group. A Muslim himself, Conteh grew up in poverty. As a teenager, he was frequently seen playing street football across Freetown with boys much older than he was. As a teenager, 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. Though a muslim, Lamin was highly involved in the rastafarian movement and was a big fan of reggae star Bob Marley. Career. 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. After a match against Nigeria in 2000, Conteh claimed that the Sierra Leone Football Association owed him $2,000, and refused to play for his country until the money was paid to him. The matter  was later resolved, and in 2002, he took over the captaincy of the national team from Mohamed Kallon.