Bakary Koné (, born 27 April 1988) is a Burkinabé 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 ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

Club career

Early career

Koné played on youth side for CFTPK Abidjan and joined in 2004 to Etoile Filante where he began his professional career in 2005.

Guingamp

In July 2006 Koné signed for En Avant de Guingamp. He played his first game for Guingamp on 11 May 2007 against

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), is a French association football club based in Tours, the capital city of the Indre-et-Loire department. The club was formed in 1919 and currently play at the fifth level of French ...

in the Ligue 2. Whilst at Guingamp, then in Ligue 2, Koné played in the

2009 Coupe de France Final The 2009 Coupe de France Final was the 91st final of France's most prestigious cup competition, the Coupe de France. The final was played at the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on 9 May 2009 and was contested between Rennes ...

in which they beat Rennes. After making 112 appearances for the club from five seasons, he was signed by Lyon in 2011.

Lyon

Koné joined Olympique Lyonnais on 11 August 2011 and signed a five-year deal for 3.8 million euro transfer fee. He scored his first goal with Lyon in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

play-offs against

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

on 24 August 2011. He scored his second goal, again in the Champions League in group stage against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

on 27 September of the same year. During his five years at Lyon, he made 89 appearances for the club and also scored 9 goals. He left the club in 2016 after his regular contract ran out.

Malaga CF

On 27 June 2016, Koné signed a three-year deal with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side Málaga CF. On 26 August 2017, he moved to Ligue 1 side RC Strasbourg on a season-long loan. On 28 July 2018, Koné terminated his contract with Málaga.

MKE Ankaragücü

Koné joined Turkish club

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Ankara. The football team wears a yellow and navy kit and plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium following the closure of t ...

during the August transfer window. He spent one season in Turkey and made 14 appearances for the club.

Arsenal Tula

On 28 January 2019, he signed a 1.5-year contract with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club Arsenal Tula. On 2 December 2019, he was removed by Arsenal from their league registration list after only appearing in one league game in 2019.

Kerala Blasters FC

On 21 October 2020,

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

club

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established ...

announced the signing of Bakary on a season long contract. He is the second Burkinabe to sign for an

club. He made his debut for the Blasters against ATK Mohun Bagan on 20 November 2020 which ended 1-0 in favour of ATK Mohun Bagan. On 11 June 2021, it was announced that Bakary along with five other players has left the club.

International career

He made his debut for the Burkino Faso on 7 October 2006 at the age of 18. He played the entire 90 minutes where Burkino Faso defeated

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

1:0 in the

Africa Cup of Nations Qualification Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. He was the member of the Burkino Faso squad that played in the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

. He played the entire minutes in the tournament and Burkino Faso became the runners up of the tournament for the first time in the history. In the final he won the Fair Player of the Match Award. On 14 November 2014, Bakary Koné captained his national side for the first time in an African Nations Cup Qualification match against

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. With 83 appearances, Koné is currently the third most capped player for his country.

Career statistics

Honours

Guingamp *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 2008–09French Cup final - Evian v Bordeaux as it happened
Live text commentary, BBC.co.uk, Retrieved 18 August 2013 Lyon *

: 2011–12 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Burkina-Faso * African Cup of Nations runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, third place:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Individual * Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kone, Bakary 1988 births Living people Footballers from Ouagadougou Men's association football central defenders Burkinabé men's footballers Burkina Faso men's international footballers 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players La Liga players Russian Premier League players En Avant Guingamp players Olympique Lyonnais players Étoile Filante de Ouagadougou players Málaga CF players RC Strasbourg Alsace players MKE Ankaragücü footballers FC Arsenal Tula players Burkinabé expatriates in France Burkinabé expatriates in Ivory Coast Expatriate men's footballers in Ivory Coast Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Ivory Coast Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in France Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Spain Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Russia 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Kerala Blasters FC players 21st-century Burkinabé people