Dan Basambombo

Basambombo was born on May 26, 1997, in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1] He grew up playing soccer before moving with his parents to Canada after he turned 9.[2] Afterwards, he began playing badminton and lived in Ottawa, Ontario.[2][3] He attended Franco Cite High School and was convinced to try out football by his friends after a time there.[2] Basambombo was a member of his first team, the Canterbury Mustangs, starting at the age of 14 in 2011.[4] He played for the Cumberland Panthers of the Ontario Varsity Football League (OVFL) in 2015, averaging five tackles per game.[4]

Basambombo began attending Université Laval in 2016.[2] He was the youngest player on their football team and was designated a "project."[2] After seeing very limited playing time in his first two seasons, Basambombo became the starter at linebacker after an injury to Marc-Antoine Verin early in the 2018 season.[2] In his second collegiate start, he posted 11 tackles and two quarterback sacks.[2] Basambombo helped the team compile an undefeated 12–0 record while playing in eight games, as they won 34–20 in the 54th Vanier Cup.[5][2][6] He finished the season with a total of 31.5 tackles and two sacks.[7] In 2019, he sat out due to academic reasons.[8]

Basambombo was selected in the second round of the 2020 CFL Draft with the 19th pick by the Ottawa Redblacks, being a territorial selection from the area given to the Redblacks for being a last place team in the prior season.[3][9] His rookie season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] He signed a contract with the team in February 2021.[5][10] That year, he saw limited action as a special teams player and appeared in five games.[1][7] Basambombo's role increased in 2022, as he played in all 18 games and posted six special teams tackles.[11] During 2023 training camp, he was placed on the six-game injured list with an undisclosed injury.[12]

• Ottawa Redblacks bio