Samuel Junior Kotto

Samuel Junior Kotto made his senior debut for Malmö FF on 4 May 2023, coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 win against Varbergs BoIS, and the club won the Allsvenskan title that year. His path there had run through a string of loans: a 2022 season at BK Olympic in the Ettan Södra, where he made 24 appearances, a stint at Landskrona BoIS in the Superettan in 2023 with 14 matches, and a run in the Allsvenskan itself with IFK Värnamo in 2024, making 17 appearances. Despite that volume of football out on loan, his solitary league appearance for Malmö's own first team came in that Varbergs match.

In January 2025, Kotto moved to Belgium, joining KAA Gent for a base fee of €800,000 that could rise to €1.3 million with add-ons, signing until June 2028. A year later, in January 2026, he arrived at Stade de Reims on loan for the rest of the 2025–26 season, with Reims paying a loan fee of €900,000 and securing an option to buy. Reims triggered that option in May 2026, turning the move permanent for a fee of €4 million plus possible bonuses, and Kotto put pen to a contract running to June 2030.

A left-footed player standing 190 cm tall, Kotto has also established himself with Cameroon, making his senior debut in 2023 after missing out on selection for that year's Africa Cup of Nations. He has since gone on to earn caps for Cameroon and was named in their squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, wearing the number 17 shirt.