Elimane Coulibaly (born 15 March 1980 in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

) is a

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

retired professional footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

First years

Having emigrated from Senegal to Belgium, Coulibaly first started playing football in the local teams of KFC Oostakker and KVK Ninove. At the start of the 2005–06 season, Coulibaly left KVK Ninove for KMSK Deinze, which played in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, where he scored 15 times in 36 games over two seasons.

KV Kortrijk

At the end of the 2005-06 season, Coulibaly joined the West-Flemish fellow Second Division team

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 2009 ...

on a two-year-contract. In his first season, he managed five goals in 27 games while his club was promoted to the

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 ...

. The season 2008–2009 became the breakthrough of Coulibaly: thanks to his 11 goals, Kortrijk managed to avoid relegation from the Pro League.

AA Gent

In summer 2009, Coulibaly signed a three-year contract with

AA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

. Following a slow start to the 2009–2010 season with few appearances he got his first goal versus

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

before going on to score 11 goals for the season and thus greatly contributing to AA Gent's vice-championship. Coulibaly also scored the first goal in the cup final as his club beat Cercle Brugge to win the

2009–10 Belgian Cup The 2009–10 Belgian Cup (also known as ''Cofidis Cup'' because of sponsoring purposes) was the 55th season of the main knockout football competition in Belgium. It commenced on 25 July 2009 with the first matches of Round 1 and concluded with th ...

. Coulibaly's second season in Ghent was less spectacular than his first. He scored AA Gent's first ever goal in Champions League qualification as his team lost 6–1 on aggregate to

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

for the 2010–2011 Champions League and helped AA Gent make the group phase of the Europa League by scoring in their return leg against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

in the

playoff round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, but later lost his place in the starting lineup to new arrival

Shlomi Arbeitman Shlomi Arbeitman ( he, שלומי ארביטמן; born May 14, 1985) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career A young striker, Arbeitman joined Maccabi Haifa for the 2005–06 season. He regularly p ...

Beerschot AC

Having been released by Gent Coulibaly joined

Beerschot AC Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were r ...

in July 2012. However, on 24 October 2012, he was released by the club for aggressive behavior towards his teammate

Hernán Losada Hernán Pablo Losada (born 9 May 1982) is an Argentine football manager and former professional player who played as a midfielder. He currently serves as the head coach of CF Montréal in Major League Soccer. As a player, Losada was known for his ...

. Coulibaly clashed with Losada after their team's 3-0 defeat by KRC Genk on 20 October 2012.

Return to AA Gent

Free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Coulibaly was signed by Gent in December 2012.

Honours

; K.A.A. Gent *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

(1): 2009–10 Belgian Cup, 2009–10

References

External links

Guardian's Stats Centre
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coulibaly, Elimane 1980 births Living people Footballers from Dakar Senegalese footballers Senegalese expatriate footballers Belgian footballers Belgian Pro League players Belgian First Division B players K.V. Kortrijk players K.A.A. Gent players Beerschot A.C. players K.M.S.K. Deinze players K.V. Oostende players Royal Excel Mouscron players Association football forwards Expatriate footballers in Belgium Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium K.V.K. Ninove players