Drissa Diakité (born 18 February 1985) is a Malian 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 ...

and

right-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 ...

for

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

club

Lucciana Lucciana (, , ) is a French commune in the department of Upper Corsica, collectivity and island of Corsica. Geography Situated on the eastern coast of Corsica nearly to the south of Bastia, the commune extends itself to the mountainous summi ...

. A former Mali international, he scored one goal in 43 caps for the national team from 2004 to 2015.

Career

Early career

Diakité was born in

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

, Mali. In his early career, he played for Malian club

Djoliba AC Djoliba Athletic Club is a Malian football club and one of the two biggest teams in Mali alongside the Stade Malien. The team is based in the capital city of Bamako. It has its headquarters and three training stadia at Complex Sportif Héréma ...

and Algerian club

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger ( ar, نادي مولودية الجزائر), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home sta ...

Nice

In January transfer window 2006, Diakité moved to French side

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, with an undisclosed fee. At Nice, he played defensive midfielder or right fullback. He was fan favourite, though he has physical unwavering commitment, which he earned cards. Diakité made his debut for the club coming on as a substitute for

Marama Vahirua Marama Vahirua (born 12 May 1980) is a Tahitian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career in France before finishing his professional career in Greece with Panthrakikos F.C. In July 2018, he became pr ...

in a 3–0 loss against

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. In his second half of the season, Diakité made five appearances. In the 2006/07 season, Diakité made 25 appearances. In March 2007 he was linked with £3.5 million moves to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, Everton and

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

. He was labelled as a half and half of

Patrick Vieira Patrick Vieira (born 23 June 1976) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Crystal Palace. He is widely considered as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. Vieira began his career at ...

and

Zé Roberto José Roberto da Silva Júnior (born 6 July 1974), commonly known as Zé Roberto, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a left wing-back or as a midfielder. Currently, he is a technical advisor to Palmeiras, acting directl ...

. Diakité signed a contract, that will keep him until 2010. In the 2007–08 season, Diakite made 22 appearances. In a 0–0 draw 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 ...

, on 3 November 2007, he received a straight red card for the first time in his Nice career. In the 2008–09 season, Diakite signed a contract until 2011 and went on to make thirty-one appearances and happen the same thing the following season. The 2010–11 season was troubled for him, as he received two cards and suffering injury. In his last season, his playing time has been more restricted, who suffered a crack in the fibula, making 16 appearances. At the end of the 2011–12 season, Diakite was released by the club, ending his six-years association with the club. Previously in February 2012, Diakite was told by the club that he's not offered a new contract. In his Nice career, he endured what were considered below-average seasons by most in the three season since he arrived.

Greece and return to France

In summer 2012, he moved to Greek side

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

on a one-year contract. However, Diakite made only four appearances and not even earn a first team place. At the end of 2012–13 season, Diakite was released by the club. After one-year in Greece, Diakité return to France by joining

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

on 29 May 2013 on a two-year contract.

International career

Diakite was part of the

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

U-20 team who finish third in group stage of 2003

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

. He was part of the Malian

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

football team, who exited in the quarter finals, finishing top of group A, but losing to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the next round.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mali's goal tally first.''

Honours

Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Mali *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

bronze:

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 gather ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diakite, Drissa 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Bamako Association football defenders Malian footballers Mali international footballers Olympic footballers of Mali Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Expatriate footballers in Algeria Expatriate footballers in Greece MC Alger players OGC Nice players SC Bastia players Djoliba AC players Olympiacos F.C. players Ligue 1 players Super League Greece players Championnat National 3 players Malian expatriate footballers Malian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Malian expatriate sportspeople in France 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Malian people Expatriate footballers in France