Seydou Doumbia (French pronunciation: [sɛdu dumbja]; born 31 December 1987) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
After beginning his career in the Ivory Coast and Japan, he arrived in Europe in 2008 to play for Swiss club Young Boys, where he was the top scorer and player of the year in the Swiss Super League in both of his seasons. In 2010, he signed for CSKA Moscow for a reported fee of €15 million, where he won six domestic honours and was twice the Russian Premier League's top scorer. He was transferred to Roma in 2015, and spent much of his tenure out on loan, including the 2016–17 season at Basel, where he won the league, Swiss Cup and was top scorer for a third time.
Doumbia made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in 2008. He was part of their squads at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 and 2015, winning the latter tournament.
Doumbia started his career at the Inter FC youth academy and started playing at second division partner club AS Athlétic Adjamé in 2003. He joined second division team Toumodi on loan for the 2004–05 season, and was on loan in 2005 at AS Denguélé, where he became Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division top scorer with 15 goals. In 2006, he moved to Japan, where he played for Kashiwa Reysol and then Tokushima Vortis until 2008, when his contract expired.
In summer 2008, Doumbia signed with Swiss club Young Boys, before failing a trial at Rapid Bucharest. In the Swiss Super League, he scored 20 goals in his maiden season and 30 in the 2009–10 season, making him twice top goalscorer in the Swiss Championship.
On 30 July 2009, Doumbia scored the only goal of the game as he slotted the ball past goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz to defeat Athletic Bilbao 1–0 in the first leg of their Europa League qualifying round tie at the San Mamés. Young Boys crashed out of the competition on away goals as they lost the second leg at home 2–1 on 6 August. In the club's run to their appearance in the 2009 Swiss Cup Final, Doumbia netted five goals, including a brace against Ibach and the only goal in their Round of 16 victory over Gossau.
Doumbia scored his first hat-trick for the club against Aarau on 4 October 2009, a 4–0 win, and netted another remarkable first-half hat-trick three weeks later in a 7–1 thrashing of Bellinzona on 29 October. On 13 February 2010, Doumbia proved vital in his club's 2–1 win against Lucerne as he netted two times in the first 17 minutes of the game. The Ivorian's final hat-trick in Swiss football came in a 4–0 thumping of Grasshopper on 20 March 2010. Doumbia's performances caught the eyes of other big clubs in Europe, and he left the club having scored fifty league goals in just 64 appearances.
On 5 January 2010, Russian club CSKA Moscow completed the transfer of Doumbia on a five-year deal, for a reported fee of €15 million. Under the terms of the contract, he would stay at Young Boys until the end of the season, before moving to Russia.
He made his debut in a 2–1 win over Spartak Moscow on 1 August 2010, thereby becoming the 200th CSKA player to appear in the Russian league.
On 19 August 2010, he scored his first goal for CSKA Moscow in the first leg of a Europa League playoff tie against Anorthosis Famagusta and added another goal seven minutes later. In the second leg, Doumbia leveled the score with 5 minutes to go and CSKA Moscow went on to win 2–1 (6–1 in aggregate). On 30 September, Doumbia scored goals either side of a Mark González penalty to earn his side a 3–0 victory over Sparta Prague to maintain the Russian's 100% record in Europa League Group F play. In the next matchday, the Army Men travelled to the Stadio Renzo Barbera, where Doumbia netted another brace in a 3–0 win over Palermo on 21 October.
Doumbia's first goal of the new league campaign came on 17 April 2011, in their third Premier League fixture when he latched on to a Tomáš Necid cross and pushed it by Rubin goalkeeper Sergey Ryzhikov; the away win pushed the Army Men up into first place in the table. In their Moscow derby against Dinamo on 8 May, Doumbia seemingly won the game with a strike in the 81st minute, until a defensive error let Marko Lomic equalize the game at 2–2 in the 90th minute. In the final of the Russian Cup on 22 May 2011, Doumbia netted two times as CSKA defeated second-tier side Alania Vladikavkaz 2–1.
In CSKA's match against Tom Tomsk on 20 August 2011, Doumbia scored a second-half brace as the capital club eased to a 3–0 victory. On 14 September, he scored twice in the Champions League against Ligue 1 champions Lille, helping his side secure a 2–2 draw after falling behind 2–0. The Ivorian striker added two more goals as CSKA defeated Turkish side Trabzonspor 3–0 on 18 October, to record the Russians first victory in Group B play. Five days later, Doumbia scored two goals to power CSKA to victory in their enthralling 5–3 game against side Anzhi Makhachkala. In their following league game against Spartak Nalchik on 28 October, Doumbia scored a seven-minute hat-trick to earn his side a 4–0 win, after his teammate, Vagner Love, had put the hosts up 1–0 in the 34th minute. Doumbia opened the scoring against Internazionale on 7 December, guiding his side to a 2–1 away victory, which secured a berth in the Round of 16 against Spanish club Real Madrid. On 29 December, Doumbia was voted the Russian Premier League Player of the Year after netting 24 goals in 30 league games during the calendar year as well as five Champions League goals in as many games.
On 19 March 2012, Doumbia scored a goal against city rivals Spartak, earning his side a 2–1 victory. He scored his final goal of the league season from the penalty spot, as CSKA defeated local rivals Lokomotiv 3–0 on 2 May. Doumbia won the Golden Boot as he netted 23 goals in the initial league campaign, seven more than closest rival Alexandr Kerzhakov, and added five more goals in the Championship Group as well as providing 11 assists throughout the season.
Doumbia scored two first-half goals, the first of which was within two minutes of kick-off, as CSKA won 2–1 at Manchester City in the Champions League group stage on 5 November 2014.
On 31 January 2015, Doumbia joined Italian club Roma on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an initial fee of €14.4 million, rising to a potential €15.9 million. Doumbia scored twice in his thirteen appearances, in back-to-back games against Sassuolo and Genoa.
Loans to CSKA Moscow and Newcastle United
On 10 August 2015, Doumbia returned to CSKA Moscow on a season-long loan deal, following an unsuccessful spell with Roma.
On 1 February 2016, it was confirmed that Newcastle United had signed Doumbia on loan for the remainder of the 2015–16 season, with an option to make the deal permanent in the summer. The loan was unsuccessful, with Doumbia only making three appearances, all from the bench, and failing to score. Newcastle finished the season eighteenth and were relegated to the Championship.