Sabah FK have completed the loan signing of Gabonese centre-forward Orphé Mbina from Slovenian side NK Maribor, securing the 25-year-old until 2026-06-30. The move, registered as a loan transfer, formally begins on 2026-02-05 and will see the striker join the Azerbaijani Premyer Liqa club with a market value listed at €400k. At the end of the spell, Mbina is scheduled to return to Maribor, raising the possibility of a future free-agent status depending on his contractual situation in Slovenia.
The deal takes Mbina out of the Prva Liga and into Azerbaijan’s top flight, confirming another step in a career that has increasingly unfolded away from his home country of Gabon. Sabah FK add a tall, right-footed centre-forward to their attack, while Maribor temporarily part with a player whose current valuation has settled at €400k after peaking at €500k during his earlier spell in Slovenia.
Born in Libreville and standing at 1.88m, Mbina has built his reputation as a traditional central striker, listed primarily as an attack-focused centre-forward. His move to Sabah FK continues a long run of playing abroad. He left Gabonese club Stade Mandji Port-Gentil for France in 2018, joining US Colomiers, and has not played club football in Gabon since. From there, he moved through AS Béziers B and Grenoble Foot 38 B before a transfer to AS Beauvais Oise in 2021.
His progression continued inside French football with a switch to FC Chamalières in 2022 and then to Nîmes Olympique in 2023, both standard transfers that maintained his steady rise through European leagues. In 2024 he left Nîmes for NK Maribor, marking his first move into the Slovenian Prva Liga. A loan to Portuguese side UD Leiria followed in early 2025, before he returned to Maribor at the end of that same year’s loan period.
Market-value data reflects that upward path and subsequent stabilisation. While at Nîmes Olympique he was valued at €300k, that figure climbed to €500k after his initial months at Maribor in late 2024. It later adjusted to €400k during his loan spell at UD Leiria and remained at €400k upon his return to Maribor, the same value now attached to him as he joins Sabah FK.
The temporary nature of the move is clearly defined in the transfer records: the forward is on an active loan transfer to Sabah FK, with an end-of-loan return to Maribor already registered for 2026-06-30. Once that date is reached, his medium-term future will depend on Maribor’s plans and any new offers that may arise, including the possibility of him moving on as a free agent if his contractual status allows.
For now, the confirmed move to Sabah FK ensures that Mbina will continue his career abroad, exchanging Slovenian football for the Azerbaijani Premyer Liqa and adding another country to an itinerary that has already taken him from Gabon to France, Portugal, Slovenia, and now Azerbaijan. How he performs during this loan spell is likely to be decisive in shaping his next contract, his reputation on the European market, and the next step in a career that has yet to circle back to his homeland.
