Boubacar Bernard Kamara (born 23 November 1999) 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 le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

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 ...

club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and the France national team. Mainly a

, he can also play 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 s ...

Club career

Marseille

In September 2005, "Bouba", aged 5, entered the Olympique de Marseille Academy where he progressed through all the categories. He eventually became the captain of the U19 team that made its way to the final of the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their sk ...

. At the age of 16, he was promoted to Marseille's reserve team, also making his debut with the senior team. As coach of the reserves, Jacques Abardonado made him a regular starter. Kamara made his debut as a professional side on 13 December 2016 against

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

in a

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

match. He started the match and was replaced by

Hiroki Sakai is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a right back for J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds and the Japan national team. Club career Kashiwa Reysol Born in Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan, Sakai was introduced to football by his two older bro ...

in the 82nd minute of a 1–1 (4–3) away loss on penalties. He scored his first professional goal on 5 February 2019, a header in a 1–0 home Ligue 1 victory over

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. Kamara went onto play 170 times for his boyhood club, under several different managers - being utilised mainly as a defensive midfielder, but also featuring as a right-back, left-back, central midfielder and right-sided midfielder.

Aston Villa

On 23 May 2022, it was announced that Kamara had signed a five-year contract with English

club

ahead of the expiry of his Marseille contract on 1 July. He made his Aston Villa debut on 6 August 2022, in a 2–0 defeat to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

. On 16 September 2022, during a 1–0 victory over

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Kamara jarred his knee in a tackle with

Mohamed Elyounoussi Mohamed Amine Elyounoussi (born 4 August 1994), nicknamed Moi (), is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for Premier League club Southampton and the Norway national team. Early life Elyounoussi was born in Al Hoceim ...

- the subsequent ligament strain ruled Kamara out until November, meaning that he missed the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

. Kamara returned to the pitch slightly ahead of schedule on 6 November 2022, in a 3–1 victory over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. On 27 September 2023, Kamara scored his first goal for Aston Villa in a 2–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

defeat to Everton.

International career

Kamara was eligible to play for the national teams of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

through birth, and

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

through his family heritage. He played youth football for France at U17, U18, U19,

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA SN ...

and U21 levels. Featuring in the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

and the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

for France. In 2022, Kamara was contacted directly by Senegal manager

Aliou Cissé Aliou Cissé (born 24 March 1976) is a Senegalese Association football, football coach and former player who is the manager of the Senegal national football team, Senegal national team. Cissé is best known for captaining the Senegal team which ...

to convince him to declare for the Senegalese team after their

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

victory to fill the space of aging midfielders

Idrissa Gueye Idrissa Gana Gueye (born 26 September 1989) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Everton and the Senegal national team. Starting his career at Diambars in his native Senegal, Gueye joined Frenc ...

and

Cheikhou Kouyaté Cheikhou Kouyaté (born 21 December 1989) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder or centre-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest and the Senegal national team. Kouyaté moved from Senegal to Belgium i ...

. However, despite Cissé stating that there was an "agreement in principle" between the parties, on 19 May 2022, Kamara was selected in the France first team for the first time. Kamara made his debut on 6 June 2022, as a second half substitute in a 1–1 away

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

draw against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, thus committing his international future to France.

Personal life

Kamara was born in France to a Senegalese father and a French mother. Kamara has been a supporter of OM since he was a child after going to the

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...

with his mother Cathy. He has two sons, Leeroy and Kingsley, with Coralie Porrovecchio.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Marseille *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links

Profile
at the Aston Villa F.C. website * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamara, Boubacar 1999 births Living people Footballers from Marseille French men's footballers French sportspeople of Senegalese descent France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Olympique de Marseille players Aston Villa F.C. players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 2 players Premier League players Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Mauritanian descent France men's international footballers French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England