Alexander Kwabena Baidoo Djiku (born 9 August 1994) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. Born in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, France, he represents the Ghana national team.

Club career

Djiku spent his youth career at Bastia. He played for the reserve team until 2014, when he was promoted to the senior team. After spending three years at the club, he joined Caen. Djiku made his debut in a

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

match against

Évian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

in December 2013. On 11 July 2017, he joined

side

Stade Malherbe Caen Stade Malherbe Caen (; commonly known as SM Caen, SMC, or simply Caen) is a French professional football team, based in the city of Caen in Normandy, that competes in the Ligue 2. The club was founded on 17 November 1913 by the merger of ''C ...

on a four-year contract. He was acquired by Strasbourg in the summer of 2019.

International career

Djiku is of Ghanaian Ewe and French descent. He debuted with the senior Ghana national team in a 3–0 friendly loss to

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

on 9 October 2020. He played his second match for

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

on 12 October 2020 in which he impressed. Djiku's third match came when he was given the opportunity by the Black Stars new head coach to start against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

where Ghana won 3–1. He was part of Ghana's team at the 2021 African Cup of Nations in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Personal life

Djiku is married to Heley Djiku. The couple have two children, Wesley and Elyana.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Individual *

Ghana Football Awards Ghana Football Awards is an annual award scheme organized to recognize the best Ghanaian players playing in and outside of the country and key stakeholders who contribute significantly to the game. Several category of awards are given to the most o ...

Footballer of the Year: 2022 * Ghana Football Awards Foreign-based Footballer of the Year: 2022

References

External links

* * * 1994 births Living people Footballers from Montpellier Association football defenders Citizens of Ghana through descent Ghanaian footballers Ghana international footballers French footballers Ghanaian people of French descent French people of Ghanaian descent Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent Ligue 1 players SC Bastia players Stade Malherbe Caen players RC Strasbourg Alsace players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players {{France-footy-defender-1990s-stub