Christopher Jean-Louis Dilo (born 5 January 1994) is a 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 for Djiboutian club Arta/Solar7 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Born in France, he represents

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

at international level.

Club career

Growing up in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Dilo started his youth professional career at the

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

, the team he supported as a boy.

Blackburn Rovers and loan

However, the club released Dilo at age sixteen and he joined

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 ...

despite interests from other French clubs. He later explained going to England; ''"Blackburn were in the Premier League at the time I signed and although I had some French clubs interested in me when I left PSG I wanted to try the UK."'' During the 2012–13 season, he played on loan for Hyde to gain first team experience. He made an impressive debut defeat losing 3–2 to

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

on 10 November 2012. After two months at Hyde, it was announced on 30 January 2013 that his loan spell had come to an end. He was released by Blackburn at the end of the 2012–13 season.

St Mirren

Dilo signed a one-year contract with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club St Mirren in July 2013. Upon joining St Mirren, he soon became homesick, which was later settled down by

Ludovic Roy Ludovic Roy (born 18 August 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Roy spent his entire professional career in Scotland, most notably having started at St Mirren. Club career Early days Roy spent his yout ...

. He became the club's number one goalkeeper in September 2013 after David Cornell was dropped. He kept his first clean sheet against Hearts at Tynecastle, a game which St Mirren won 2–0. He fell out of the first team, after making a handful of appearances, when the club signed the experienced

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

n goalkeeper

Marián Kello Marián Kello (born 5 September 1982) is a Slovakia, Slovak former Slovakia national football team, international Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Kello played for MFK Košice, 1. FC ...

. After an injury to Kello, Dillo was given another opportunity and he retained his place for the last eight matches of the season keeping three clean sheets. Dilo was released by St Mirren in June 2014, after he failed to respond to the club's offer of a new contract.

Rennes

After leaving Scotland, Dilo was without a club for a number of months. On 27 September 2014, it was confirmed that has had signed a one-year contract with

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pl ...

Dijon

Sochaux

On 6 July 2016, departed

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

joining

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Frenc ...

on a one-year contract.

Paris FC

In January 2018, Dilo joined

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 ...

side

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade Ch ...

, reportedly agreeing a six-month with the option of a further year.

International career

Dilo made his debut for the

Guadeloupe national football team The Guadeloupe football team (french: Sélection de la Guadeloupe de football) represents the French overseas department and region of Guadeloupe in men's international football. The team is controlled by the Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football ( ...

on 23 March 2019 in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier against Martinique.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dilo, Christopher 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Argenteuil French men's footballers Guadeloupean men's footballers Guadeloupe men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Stade Rennais F.C. players Dijon FCO players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Paris FC players SO Cholet players National League (English football) players Scottish Professional Football League players Championnat National players Championnat National 3 players French expatriate men's footballers Guadeloupean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland French people of Guadeloupean descent Footballers from Val-d'Oise Djibouti Premier League players AS Arta/Solar7 players Expatriate men's footballers in Djibouti Black French sportspeople