Patrick Bantamoi (born 24 May 1986 in Bo, Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean-Finnish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Bantamoi was born and raised in Bo, in the southern region of Sierra Leone. Discovered while playing in a local street football tournament in Bo in 2002, he was soon aggregated to the national under-17 squad. The following year, he took part in the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland: however, shortly before the representative flew back to Sierra Leone, Bantamoi and several other players, including future senior international Mohamed Kamara, escaped from their accommodation and defected. Both Bantamoi and Kamara were between the players who successfully applied for political asylum (and, later on, were granted Finnish citizenship), although they had to wait until their 18th birthday to become eligible to play professional football. Once he turned 18, Bantamoi signed his first professional contract with Finnish club KuPS, playing in the second tier of the local football system: the Ykkönen. Although he was mainly a reserve during his first stances in Kuopio, in 2004 the team immediately won promotion to Finnish top tier Veikkausliiga, while in the following season they finished 10th out of 14 teams, being 12 points over the relegation zone. On July 31, 2005, the Sierra Leonean made his debut in the top-flight league, playing in a goalless away draw against Tampere United. Between 2005 and 2006 (also the year he and Kamara played together once more), Bantamoi established himself as the starting goalkeeper and was soon considered to be one of the league's best players in his position. However, 2006 was also a contrasting year for KuPS: they won the Finnish League Cup title, with the Sierra Leonean himself being deemed as the tournament's best player, but also finished last in the league, thus getting relegated to the Ykkönen again. Following the relegation with KuPS and the club's financial and managerial turbulence, in December 2006 Bantamoi transferred to fellow Veikkausliiga club FC Inter Turku, penning a two-year deal with an optional clause for a third year. At his new club, Bantamoi quickly became the first-choice goalkeeper, thus taking part in Inter Turku's successful period during 2007 and 2009: after losing the Liigacup to FC Lahti after the penalties in 2007, the following year the club didn't only succeed in the competition (beating TPS in the final), but also won the Veikkausliga title. In