Sol Bamba’s battle against cancer was “never a fair fight” said his wife in a heartbreaking tribute to the former Premier League footballer, who has passed away aged 39.

The former Cardiff and Leeds centre-back was working at Adanaspor as technical director and the Turkish club announced that he died on Saturday night, leaving the world of football mourning a player described by broadcaster Jeff Stelling as “just one of the nicest men I have ever met”.

Bamba was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2021 while at Cardiff, but was declared cancer-free after a course of chemotherapy and returned to play again for the Welsh club and for Middlesbrough.

“For the last few years I have watched Sol fight his cancer head on with an astounding mental and physical strength and stoicism,” wrote his wife Chloe on Instagram. “Unfortunately, it was never a fair fight and just when things were looking up he took a downturn and finally succumbed on 31 August.

“These years have been indescribably difficult but we still managed to find joy and laughter in it. I’ve experienced my worst days but also some of my best. Sol accepted his fate as God’s will and left this earth knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was loved wholeheartedly. I made sure of that.

“It was an honour to have loved and been loved by Sol. I learnt so much from him. He is my hero. My heart is breaking. What a gift, what a gift, what a gift to have been loved by him.”

An Adanaspor club statement on Saturday read: “Our technical director Souleymane Bamba, who fell ill before the match against Manisa Football Club yesterday, was taken to Manisa Celal Bayar University Hospital and unfortunately lost his battle for life there. Our condolences to his family and our community.”

Born in France, Bamba started in the Paris St-Germain Academy before a career in British football where his friendliness and infectious smile made him hugely popular with fans, team-mates and journalists. “One of the good guys,” wrote a Yorkshire Post reporter who covered his time at Leeds.

Bamba played in Scotland with Dunfermline and Hibernian before his first move to England with Leicester, where he played under Nigel Pearson. “Devastating to hear the terrible news of Sol’s death today... A truly wonderful man whose inner strength in fighting his health issues and warmth and desire to help others was typical of this caring man. Rest well, my friend xx,” wrote Pearson on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Following spells abroad, he returned to England and played for Leeds before getting promoted to the Premier League with Cardiff and playing regularly in the top flight for a season. He scored a late winner against Brighton while in the Premier League and gave an interview to Match of the Day, saying: “A winning goal in the Premier League, it can’t get better.”

It was while at Cardiff that he received his non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis but he returned to football and moved to his final club Middlesbrough before starting his post-playing career. He was assistant manager at Cardiff before his appointment in Turkey in the summer.

“He was a great leader, a gentleman and on the pitch he was a warrior for me in my time as head coach at Leeds United. See you at the far post big man,” said Steve Evans, his manager at Leeds.

Former Leeds captain Liam Cooper added: “Truly heartbreaking. A man that stood for what was right. An amazing player on the pitch and a true gentleman off it. Sending all my love and prayers to Sol’s family, friends and everyone who was lucky enough to know him. Fly high mate.”

Neil Warnock, who made Bamba his first signing at Cardiff, said: “I can’t believe I won’t see that beaming smile again. I’m so happy that Sol was part of my life and we had such brilliant memories together.

“I’m heartbroken for Chloe and the family and all my thoughts are with them. Sol was a ray of sunshine and I’ll miss him so much.”