Giovanni Sio

Giovanni Sio
Born	Giovanni-Guy Yann Sio (1989-03-31) March 31, 1989 Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, France
Occupation	Professional footballer
Years active	2007–present
Known for	Football forward, Ivory Coast national team player

Giovanni-Guy Yann Sio (born 31 March 1989) is a professional football player who operates primarily as a forward. Although he was born in France and represented French youth squads, he later chose to play for the Ivory Coast national team at the senior level.

Career

Originating from Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, Sio started his football journey at Nantes. After being released by Nantes, he moved to Real Sociedad B in the summer of 2007. A year later, he earned promotion to the club’s Segunda División squad, securing a two-year contract with an option to extend for an additional season.

On 2 September 2009, the Swiss outfit Sion acquired the French forward from Real Sociedad. Notably, on 29 May 2011, Sio opened the scoring in Sion's 2-0 triumph over Neuchâtel Xamax FCS in the Swiss Cup Final.

In January 2012, Sio transferred to German side VfL Wolfsburg for an estimated fee of €5 million and agreed to a four-year deal. Shortly after, in July 2012, he was loaned out to FC Augsburg until the season’s conclusion; however, this loan was cut short in January 2013.

On 16 August 2013, Sio signed a four-year contract with Swiss champions Basel. He marked his debut in the Champions League play-off round by scoring in a 4–2 victory against Ludogorets Razgrad. Three days later, he found the net again on his domestic league debut. Basel clinched the 2013–14 Swiss Super League title but fell short in the Swiss Cup final against Zürich. The club advanced to the Champions League group stage, finishing third and moving on to the Europa League quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Valencia.

During the subsequent 2014–15 campaign under new manager Paulo Sousa, Basel secured their sixth consecutive league crown and progressed to the Champions League knockout rounds. Despite this success, Sio featured in only 16 matches across all competitions and was loaned out to Ligue 1 side SC Bastia in February 2015.

Following his loan spell, Sio did not return to Basel. Over his tenure there, he appeared in 59 games across league, cup, European fixtures, and friendlies, scoring a total of 16 goals.

On 29 June 2015, Basel confirmed Sio’s move to French club Rennes. Later, on 29 September 2018, he was loaned to Al-Ittihad Kalba SC with an option to purchase set at €1.6 million.

In November 2021, Sio rejoined Sion once again.

International career

Born in France to parents from the Ivory Coast, Sio represented France at youth levels including U-15, U-16, and U-17 teams. Subsequently, he was selected for the Ivory Coast U-20 squad participating in the 2010 Toulon Tournament. He made his senior international debut for Ivory Coast in 2013 during a World Cup qualifying match against Gambia. He also featured for Ivory Coast at the 2014 World Cup.

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Real Sociedad	2008–09	Segunda División	2	0	0	0	—		0	0	2	0
Sion	2010–11	Swiss Super League	30	10	4	3	—		0	0	34	13
	2011–12	Swiss Super League	18	7	1	0	—		2	1	21	8
	Total		48	17	5	3	0	0	2	1	55	21
VfL Wolfsburg	2011–12	Bundesliga	9	0	0	0	—		0	0	9	0
	2013–14	Bundesliga	1	0	0	0	—		0	0	1	0
	Total		10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0
FC Augsburg (loan)	2012–13	Bundesliga	6	0	1	0	—		0	0	7	0
Sochaux (loan)	2012–13	Ligue 1	13	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	4
Basel	2013–14	Swiss Super League	23	9	3	1	—		12	2	38	12
	2014–15	Swiss Super League	7	1	2	1	—		1	0	10	2
	Total		30	10	5	2	0	0	13	2	48	14
Bastia (loan)	2014–15	Ligue 1	13	5	0	0	2	0	0	0	15	5
Rennes	2015–16	Ligue 1	34	7	2	0	1	0	colspan="2"|—	37	7
	""2016–17"	"Ligue 1"	"9"|"1"|"0"|"0"|"0"|"colspan=2"|"—"|"35"|"9"
	"Total"	"68"!"16"!"3"!"0"!"1"!"0"!"0"!"0"!"72"!"16"
""Montpellier""	""2017–18""	"Ligue 1"	"10"|"2"|"0"|"2"|"0"|"colspan=2"|"—"|"37"|"10"
""Al-Ittihad"" (loan)	""2018–19""	"UAE Pro League"	"7"|"4"|"0"|"colspan=2"|"—"|"colspan=2"|"—"|"25"|"7"
Gençlerbirliği"	"'19-20'"	"Süper Lig"	"10"|"0"|"0"|"colspan=2"'—'"|'colspan=2"'—'"|'28'|'10'"
''20-21''	'Süper Lig'	'0'|'0'|'0'|'colspan=2'|'—'|'colspan=2'|'—'|'3'|'0'
'Total'	'31'!'10'!'0'!'0'!'0'!'0'!'0'!'0'!'31'!'10'
'Career total'	'285'!'79'!'20'!'5'!'5'!'0'!'15'!'3'!'315'!'87'

International goals

The scorelines present Ivory Coast's goals first.

No	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 November 2015	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Ivory Coast	Template:Fb	1–0	3–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.				2–0
3.	8 January 2017	Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Template:Fb	2–1	2–1	Friendly

Honours

Sion

• Swiss Cup: 2010–11