Aruna Dindane (born 26 November 1980) is an Ivorian former 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 played as a striker. He has 62 caps and 17 goals for the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

since his debut in 2000, and has played at four

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

and two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Club career

Anderlecht

Born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

, Ivory Coast, Dindane was transferred from Ivorian club

ASEC Mimosas The Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, literally Mimosas Commerce Employees' Sporting Association, is an Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian Association football, football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ''ASEC Mimosas A ...

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

in the summer of 2000 and helped the team to win the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

Championship in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, as well a

Supercup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

in 2000 and 2001. In 2003, Dindane won both the

Ebony Shoe The Ebony Shoe award (Dutch: ''Ebbenhouten schoen'', French: ''Soulier d'ébène'') is a football award in Belgium given annually to the best African or African origin player in the Belgian Pro League. The jury is composed of the coaches of leagu ...

as the best player of

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

origin in the Belgian League and the Golden Shoe as the best player in the Belgian League. In November 2004, he was given a

Swan D'Or Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

Award for a spell of back-to-back hat-tricks.

Lens

In June 2005, Dindane signed for French

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

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

Portsmouth

In August 2009, Dindane joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

team

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on a one-year

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

deal, with the option to sign him at the end of his loan spell. He scored his first goal for Portsmouth in a 3–1

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

win over

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

on 22 September 2009. and his first Premier League goal as part of a hat-trick in the 4–0 win over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 31 October. On 5 December 2009, he scored against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

with a header after missing a penalty earlier in the game. On 9 February 2010, Dindane scored a 95th-minute equaliser in the 1–1 draw with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

. On 21 March 2010, it was revealed he was left out of Portsmouth's match squad the previous day as, if he played one more game, the club would have to pay a £4 million fee to Lens. With Portsmouth in administration, they could not afford to pay this fee, and so he was dropped. However, he subsequently played in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

on 11 April 2010, and Portsmouth were aiming to negotiate terms with Lens that allow him to play in the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

and the remaining Premier League games without incurring the £4 million fee. On 4 April 2010, it was revealed that

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

were preparing a £2.5 million bid for the striker in time for the 2010–11 season. Dindane underwent and passed a medical at the club, only for the transfer talk to cool due to financial disagreements between Blackburn and Lens. Dindane reiterated his desire to stay in English football after the loan to Portsmouth had ended. However, on 24 May 2010, Dindane agreed a three-year deal with

Lekhwiya Al-Duhail Sports Club ( ar, نادي الدحيل الرياضي), formerly Lekhwiya SC, is a Qatari sports club, best known for its football team, which plays in the Qatar Stars League. The club is based in the Duhail district in the city ...

of Qatar.

Qatar

In January 2012, Dindane agreed to join Qatari club

Al-Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan. It is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was estab ...

. After a short spell at Al-Gharafa, he signed a one-year deal with

Al-Sailiya Sport Club Al-Sailiya Sports Club ( ar, نادي السيلية الرياضي) is a Qatari professional football club currently competing in the Qatar Stars League. They are based in Doha and play their home games at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. History Al Sail ...

on 27 May 2012.

Return to England

After half a season at Al-Sailiya, Dindane was released and started training with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. On 23 March 2013, he signed for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

until the end of the 2012–13 season. He was released just prior to the end of the season without having made a senior appearance and with doubts over his fitness.

After retirement

After his retirement, Dindane worked as general secretary of the ''Association des Footballeurs Ivoiriens'' (Ivorian Footballers Association).

International career

Dindane made his debut for

on 9 April 2000 against

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. He participated in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, where he scored twice in a memorable comeback to win 3–2 in their last group match against

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

. However, the team failed to reach the second round due to previous defeats against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Dindane represented his country at the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

, but left the tournament on 22 January 2006 following the death of one of his twin daughters. He was also selected in the Ivorian squad for the

2008 African Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confede ...

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 ...

. He currently has 67 international caps for his country. After Dindane's successful season in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for

, where he scored 10 goals in 24 appearances, he was called up to the Ivorian squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. Dindane was a starter in their first two group games, against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first.''

Honours

ASEC Mimosas *

Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division The Ivory Coast MTN Ligue 1 is the top division of the Ivorian Football Federation. It was created in 1960. 2021−22 Ligue 1 clubs * AF Amadou Diallo * AS Indenié Abengourou * ASEC Mimosas * Bouaké FC * CO Korhogo * ES Bafing * FC San Pedro * ...

: 2000 *

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup (also known as African Super Cup or for sponsorship reasons TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup) is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Anderlecht *

: 2000–01, 2003–04 *

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

: 2000, 2001 Lens *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

: 2008–09 Ivory Coast *

runner-up:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Individual *

Belgian Ebony Shoe The Ebony Shoe award (Dutch: ''Ebbenhouten schoen'', French: ''Soulier d'ébène'') is a football award in Belgium given annually to the best African or African origin player in the Belgian Pro League. The jury is composed of the coaches of leagu ...

: 2003 *

Belgian Golden Shoe In association football, the Belgian Golden Shoe ( nl, Gouden Schoen, french: Soulier d'Or) is an award given in Belgium at the beginning of each civil year to the best footballer of the Belgian First Division A for the past year. The trophy is spon ...

: 2003

References

External links

* *
Profile, stats and pictures of Aruna Dindane
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dindane, Aruna 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Abidjan Ivorian footballers Ivory Coast international footballers Association football forwards ASEC Mimosas players R.S.C. Anderlecht players RC Lens players Portsmouth F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Expatriate footballers in France 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Belgian First Division A players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Premier League players Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Belgium Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Ivorian expatriate footballers Lekhwiya SC players Expatriate footballers in Qatar Qatar Stars League players Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Al-Gharafa SC players Al-Sailiya SC players Ligue 1 (Ivory Coast) players FA Cup Final players