Evan Ndicka

Obite Evan Ndicka (born 20 August 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma. Born in France, he plays for the Ivory Coast national team.

Ndicka is an academy graduate of Auxerre and made his senior debut for the club in January 2017, aged 17. He spent the next season-and-half at the club, making 14 senior appearances before joining Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in July 2018.

Early life
Ndicka was born in Paris to a Cameroonian father and an Ivorian mother.

Auxerre
Having joined Ligue 2 side Auxerre at the age of 13, Ndicka progressed through the club's academy and made his professional debut on 27 January 2017, starting in a 1–0 win over Clermont. He signed his first professional contract with the club on 5 February. He ultimately made 14 appearances for the club over the next season and half before signing for Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported fee of €5.5m.

Eintracht Frankfurt
On 5 July 2018, Ndicka signed for German club Eintracht Frankfurt on a five-year deal. He quickly became an important member of the first-team squad and featured regularly for the club in the league and the Europa League. In February 2019, his performances earned him the Bundesliga Rookie of the Month award, a monthly title awarded to the highest performing under-23 player in a particular month, and saw him also nominated for the Rookie of the Season award. From then, he missed only one match for the remainder of the season as the club narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification.

Having been a part of the side that won the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, in June 2023 Ndicka officially left Eintracht after five seasons, following the expiration of his contract.

Roma
On 21 June 2023, Ndicka signed for Serie A club Roma on a five-year contract. On 14 April 2024, during a match against Udinese in the Serie A at the 73rd minute, Ndicka collapsed due to chest pain; he was eventually taken away on a stretcher, although conscious. The match was abandoned fifteen minutes later with a 1–1 draw. AS Roma's official profile on X (Twitter) stated later that Ndicka was conscious and taken to a hospital for "further checks".

International career
Ndicka represented France at U16 and U17 level and was called up to the U18 team for the first time by manager Bernard Diomède in March 2017. He then went on to play for every French youth squad up to the Under-21 national team.

In June 2023, he officially switched his allegiance to Ivory Coast, subsequently receiving his first official call-up by the senior national team for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Zambia; however, he was eventually forced to withdraw from the squad, due to bureaucratic issues. He finally debuted with the Ivory Coast in a 1–0 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification win over Lesotho on 9 September 2023.

Honours
Eintracht Frankfurt Ivory Coast
 * UEFA Europa League: 2021–22
 * UEFA Super Cup runner-up: 2022
 * DFB-Pokal runner-up: 2022–23


 * Africa Cup of Nations: 2023

Individual
 * Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2021–22