AS Arta Solar 7 2022-23 Home (SONG #17) Jersey/Shirt

This is a Puma AS Arta Solar 7 2022-23 home jersey featuring the name and number of star midfielder Alex Song.

Association Sportive d'Arta Solar 7 compete in Championnat de Djibouti de football, the top tier of football in Djibouti and are based in the town of Arta in south-eastern Djibouti. The club was founded in 1980 as AS CDE/Arta and were sponsored by Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Éthiopien (C.D.E.), also known as Ethio-Djibouti Railways. AS Arta have often been one of the top clubs in Djibouti, having won the league title 6 times (in 1988, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2021 & 2022) as well as the Coupe de Djibouti 8 times, including recent titles in 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022. In 2018 the club was acquired by prominent businessman Tommy Tayoro Nyckoss, the owner of a vast network of businesses, including solar panel company Solar 7. In November 2020, AS Arta announced one of the biggest shock transfers in the history of African football with the signing of former Arsenal and Barcelona star Alex Song. Since then, they have added fellow African legends Salomon Kalou, Alain Traoré & Carlos Kameni to the squad, with the club having dominated the domestic competitions in Djibouti in recent years. Considering that Arta is just the 6^th largest town in Djibouti with a population of only 11,000, it is truly remarkable that they have been able to attract such high-profile stars to play in one of Africa’s smallest countries. 

Alex Song has had a prolific career at both club and international level having played in many of Europe’s top leagues. His longest stint was with Arsenal from 2006-2012, where he was a regular starter for the team after his breakout season in the 2008-09 campaign. After impressing at Arsenal, Song was signed by La Liga giants Barcelona for a £15 million transfer fee in August 2012. While at Barcelona he was a member of their 2012-13 La Liga title-winning squad, however was later loaned out of West Ham United after limited opportunities. Song later had stints with Russian Premier League Club Rubin Kazan and Swiss side Sion, where he was sacked after refusing to take a pay cut during the coronavirus pandemic. The highly surprising move to Djibouti followed in late 2020, with Song signing a two-year deal with Arta Solar 7, which is hoped will develop the standard of domestic football in Djibouti. At international level, Song represented Cameroon, the country of his birth and won 49 caps for The Indomitable Lions. He was a member of Cameroon’s squad at the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups as well as the Cameroon squad that finished runners-up in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.