Papa Khalifa Sankaré (born 15 August 1984) is a Senegalese 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 plays as a central defender.

Club career

Early career

Sankaré was born in Dakar, Senegal. He started his football career at AS Douanes but moved to French team US Boulogne in 2003, and appeared with the latter's first team during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. In July 2007 he was transferred to Belgian club S.V. Zulte Waregem, but spent the majority of his spell on loan at

K.V. Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

and

R.A.E.C. Mons R.A.E.C. Mons may refer to one of two Belgian football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, ...

Greece

In July 2010, Sankaré transferred to Greek team Olympiacos Volou. He made his debut for the club on 28 August, starting in a 1–0 away win against

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

, and subsequently established himself as a regular starter at the club. In the 2011 summer, after Olympiacos' relegation due to a match-fixing scandal, Sankaré was released by the club and joined Aris Thessaloniki in the same division. He scored his first goal for Aris on his debut, netting the first in a 1–1 draw at

Ergotelis The Gymnastics Club «Ergotelis» Heraklion Crete ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος «O Εργοτέλης» Ηρακλείου Κρήτης, Γ.Σ. Εργοτέλης), commonly known simply as Ergotelis ( el, Εργοτέλης), ...

. Sankaré joined Super League side

Asteras Tripolis Asteras Tripolis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Αστέρας Τρίπολης), commonly referred to as Asteras Tripolis (meaning "Star of Tripoli"), is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greec ...

from Aris on a free transfer in July 2012. He reached fan acclaim by scoring a stunning bicycle kick in the play-off match against

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

on 15 May 2013.

Kuwait / Asteras Tripolis return

In May 2013, Sankaré joined Kuwaitian club

Al-Arabi Al-Arabi may refer to: Companies *Al-Arabi Group, a holding company in the Kuwait Stock Exchange#Services *Al Arabi Investment Group (AB Invest), a subsidiary of Arab Bank *Al Arabi Investment Group Company, a subsidiary of Arab Bank Media *'' A ...

. In January of the following year, after being rarely used, he returned to his former club Asteras Tripolis, becoming an immediate first-choice. Sankaré was also an undisputed starter for Asteras during the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

run, which saw the club reach the group stage for the first time in their history. He also scored a goal in a 1–1 away draw against Finnish club RoPS on 17 July 2014.

Cádiz

On 13 August 2016, Sankaré signed a one-year contract with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

club

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

Honours

Club

Asteras Tripoli * Greek Cup runner-up:

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sankare, Khalifa 1984 births Living people Footballers from Dakar Men's association football defenders Senegalese men's footballers Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Segunda División players Super League Greece players US Boulogne players S.V. Zulte Waregem players K.V. Oostende players R.A.E.C. Mons (1910) players Olympiacos Volos F.C. players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) players Cádiz CF players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in France Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Kuwait Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Kuwait Premier League players