Gary Coulibaly (born 30 March 1986) is a French former 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 played as a

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 ...

. He was born in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

in France and is of Malian descent. He previously represented France at under-20 level, but has represented

at senior level.

Career

Born in

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 ...

, Coulibaly began his career with

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football ...

and made 35 league appearances in four seasons with the club, one of them being in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. He moved to

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location Istr ...

in July 2008 and helped the club gain promotion to

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 ...

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

champions in his first season. Two years later, Coulibaly was transferred to

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, having scored 6 goals in 107 games for Istres. In January 2014, he was released by Monaco, having played no games for the club in almost a year. A few days later, he signed a six months contract with

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

. Six months later, Coulibaly returned to his native island, joining Ligue 2 side

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccio ( co, Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ''ACA'' or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and ...

. In July 2015, he joined

Belgian First Division A 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 ...

club

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

on a free transfer. He signed a one-year contract with the option of another. In August 2017, Coulibaly returned to his former club SC Bastia as one of four new signings announced by the club, which had played in Ligue 1 in the 2016–17 season but dropped to the fifth-tier

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 ...

after filing bankruptcy.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coulibaly, Gary 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Bastia French footballers French sportspeople of Malian descent Association football midfielders France youth international footballers Corsica international footballers SC Bastia players FC Istres players AS Monaco FC players Stade Lavallois players AC Ajaccio players S.K. Beveren players Levadiakos F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Belgian Pro League players Super League Greece players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Footballers from Corsica