Bafodé Diakité (born 6 January 2001) is a French 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

Early life

Bafodé Diakité was born on 6 January 2001 in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France to

Guinean Demographics of Guinea describes the condition and overview of Guinea's peoples. Demographic topics include basic education, health, and population statistics as well as identified racial and religious affiliations. Population According to t ...

parents. He holds

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

nationalities.

Club career

Toulouse

Diakité made his professional debut for

in a 1–0

win over

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

on 5 December 2018, at the age of 17.

Lille

On 5 August 2022,

announced the signing of Diakité on a four-year deal.

International career

Diakité is a youth international for France. In 2024, he was called up to the

France Olympic football team The France Olympic football team, also known as the France national under-23 football team, represents France in international football competitions in Olympic Games. It has been active since 1948, and first competed in 1948. Olympic football was ...

for the Olympics football tournament in a preliminary list alongside his Lille teammates

Lucas Chevalier Lucas Eugène Chevalier (born 6 November 2001) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ligue 1 club Lille. Club career Chevalier is a youth academy graduate of Lille. He was third-choice goalkeeper of club behind Mike M ...

and

Leny Yoro Leny Jean-Luc Yoro (born 13 November 2005) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United. A Lille OSC, Lille academy graduate, Yoro joined the club as a ...

. However, the three players were eventually retained by their club due to the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round played in August before the start of the Ligue 1 season.

Career statistics

Honours

Toulouse *

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* *
TFC Profile
* * 2001 births Living people Footballers from Toulouse Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks French men's footballers French sportspeople of Guinean descent Guinean men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Toulouse FC players Lille OSC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 3 players Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen {{France-footy-defender-2000s-stub