Sierra Leone forward Mohamed Buya Turay missed his own wedding to join Swedish top-flight club Malmo FF, with his brother standing in for him alongside his bride at the ceremony, he told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

The wedding was set for July 21 but the Swedish club wanted the 27-year-old to join them as soon as possible so Turay missed the ceremony and was instead unveiled by Malmo on July 22.

His brother therefore had to represent him at the wedding alongside his bride Suad Baydoun.

“We got married on July 21 in Sierra Leone. But I was not there because Malmo asked me to arrive earlier,” said Turay who had posed for pictures with his wife in their wedding outfits before he left for Sweden and posted them on twitter.

“We took the picture beforehand, so it looks like I was there, but I was not. My brother got to represent me at the actual wedding,” he said on twitter.

Turay, who signed for Malmo after spending two seasons in China’s top flight, came on for the last nine minutes for his debut against Luxembourg’s Diddeleng on Thursday in a 3-0 win in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.

He has experience of playing in Sweden, having featured for Dalkurd FF, AFC Eskilstuna and Djurgardens IF. He won the Allsvenskan in 2019 while on loan at Djurgardens, where he was also the league’s top scorer with 15 goals in 29 games.

Turay has not been reunited with his wife since the marriage but promised they would honeymoon together – eventually.

“First, we are going to win the league, and then I will go on a honeymoon,” Turay said with a smile.

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