Aliou Fadiala Diarra (born 31 December 2001) is a Malian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

FUS Rabat Fath Union Sport ( ar, اتحاد الفتح الرياضي), commonly called FUS or FUS Rabat, is a Moroccan professional football club based in Rabat and currently playing in the first division. The club was founded on 10 April 1946. 'Fath U ...

. Diarra was recruited on outside courts by

Stade Malien Stade Malien is a Malian professional football and sports club based in Bamako. One of the two dominant clubs of Malian football, their eastern Bamako training grounds host other sports as well, including a successful basketball club. Football ...

and was an unknown in professional basketball circles until he gained attention in

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for his performance in the Basketball Africa League (BAL). In his rookie season, he was named the

BAL Defensive Player of the Year The Basketball Africa League Dikembe Mutombo Defensive Player of the Year is an annual Basketball Africa League (BAL) award given to the best defensive player of a given season. The award is named after Congolese basketball legend Dikembe Mutombo. ...

and was named to the

All-BAL First Team The All-BAL First Team is an annual Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is Africa's premier men's basketball league. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, similar to the ...

Early life

After initially playing soccer, Diarra picked up basketball in his village in

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

. There, he made a name for himself in the local community by playing on open courts and was eventually recruited by coach Kaba Kanté of

Career

Stade Malien (2022–2023)

2022–23: Breakout rookie season

Diarra, who says he models his game after

Anthony Davis Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. (born March 11, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward and center positions. Davis is an eight-time NB ...

, made his first notable appearances in professional basketball with Stade Malien in the 2023 Road to BAL games. With 11.8 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, he helped Stade qualify for their first-ever BAL season on 19 November 2022. Diarra scored 16 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the decisive third place game against

Bangui Sporting Club Bangui Sporting Club is a Central African basketball team based in Bangui. the team plays in the Bangui Basketball League (LBBB) and has won the championship in 2022. Founded in 2017 as GIBA-BCAGS, under former International player Cyrille Daman ...

. On 18 March, Diarra had 20 points and 16 rebounds in a surprise win over

REG Reg or REG may refer to: * Reginald (disambiguation) * Reg or desert pavement * Raising for Effective Giving, a charity * Random event generator (parapsychology) * Raptor Education Group * Regal Entertainment Group * Regular language * .reg MS Wi ...

. He led the Sahara Conference in rebounds and blocks per game. Over eight games, Diarra had eight double-doubles as he averaged 18.3 points and league-leading numbers of 12.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. Stade Malien finished in a surprising third place, and Diarra was named the

. Diarra was also honoured with a place in the

FUS Rabat (2023–present)

In the 2023 offseason, Diarra transferred to the Moroccan champions

of the Division Excellence. He played with the team in the 2024 tournament of the

Road to BAL The Road to BAL, also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, are the qualifying tournaments of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The organization of the qualifiers is in hands of FIBA Africa. The first qualifying rounds were held on 16 October ...

in October-November. On 4 November 2023, Diarra had a double-double of 18 points and 21 rebounds in the 78-60 win over FAP, that clinched the team's spot in the 2024 BAL season.

National team career

Diarra was selected for the

Mali men's national basketball team Mali national basketball team ( French: Équipe nationale de basket-ball de Mali) represents Mali in men's international basketball competitions has yet to appear in the FIBA World Championship. Their best finish at the FIBA Africa Championship ...

for the first time in 2023, when he was selected for the

2023 FIBA AfroCan The 2023 FIBA AfroCan was the 2nd edition of the FIBA AfroCan. The tournament was held from 8 July to 16 July 2023 and was be hosted in Angola. DR Congo are the defending champions, having won the 2019 title. The second tournament was supposed ...

roster. He eventually did not play in the 2023 AfroCan.

BAL career statistics

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References

2001 births Malian men's basketball players Stade Malien basketball players Centers (basketball) Sportspeople from Bamako Living people {{DEFAULTSORT:Diarra, Aliou FUS Rabat basketball players Malian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco