Bassalia Sakanoko (born 3 June 1985) is an Ivorian

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 forward for Nechin in the Belgian Provincial Leagues.

Club career

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, ...

,Interview
Sakanoko played

street football The terms street football and street soccer (American and Canadian English) encompass a number of informal varieties of association football. These informal pick up games do not necessarily follow the requirements of a formal game of footbal ...

and

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

, until he joined

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

Ivorian team

FC Bibo F.C. Kossou Bibó, or commonly known as F.C. Bibó is an Ivorian semi-professional football team based in Kossou, Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast. Some noteworthy players have come through the academy including Feyenoord's Sekou Cissé, WS Woluwe's B ...

before going to Belgium for his first stint at WS Woluwe, where he made 17 appearances, scoring one goal. He spent the following year at

K.V. Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

after being signed, and sent straight out on loan by

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

, scoring five goals in 29 appearances.

Peruwelz

On 18 January 2007, Sakanoko signed for Peruwelz for a fee of €70,000. He became a first team regular for the rest of the season, after scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in his first game including a 25-yard curling effort in the 90th minute to make Peruwelz win against

Belgian Pro League 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 ...

leaders

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

3–2 in the cup.

Mouscron

In September 2008, he moved to

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropoli ...

for an inflated fee of €500,000, earning himself a reputation for being able to beat players on the turn and hold the ball up with his speed and strength.

Oud-Heverlee Leuven

On 5 August 2009, Sakanoko made a much anticipated yet controversial move to rivals

R.E. Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mouscron was formed in March 2010 and place ...

for fee of €2 million with additional fees if he makes a number of appearances and a 20% sell on fee. This was the first club where he started to play a wider role, usually playing on the left wing, making 31 league appearances, twelve assists and four goal.

Return to WS Woluwe

He returned to WS Woluwe in 2010 for an undisclosed fee. He was sent directly out on loan to

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

, where he was a first team regular. In 2011, he joined third league club Géants Athois.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakanoko, Bassalia 1985 births Ivorian men's footballers Living people R.S.C. Anderlecht players RWS Bruxelles players K.A.A. Gent players K.V. Oostende players R.R.C. Peruwelz players R.E. Mouscron players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Footballers from Abidjan Men's association football forwards