Elhadji Babacar Khouma (born 17 March 1993), known as Khouma Babacar, is a Senegalese 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 ...

who plays as a striker for Danish club

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Club career

Born in

Thiès Thiès (; ar, ثيس, Ṯyass; Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population officially estimated at 320,000 in 2005. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St- ...

, Babacar began his career in the academy of US Rail in his hometown. Two years later, aged only 14, he moved to Italy and signed with Delfino Pescara 1936 after a successful trial. In July 2008, Babacar signed with another club in the latter country, ACF Fiorentina, after also being tracked by another

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

side, Genoa CFC. In the 2009–10 season he began training with the first team, coached by Cesare Prandelli. On 14 January 2010, at the age of 16 years and 10 months, Babacar made his official debut for the ''Viola'', starting against

A.C. ChievoVerona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, ...

in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

and scoring the 2–2 equaliser in the 75th minute of an eventual 3–2 home win. He scored his first league goal on 20 March, netting the third in a 3–0 home victory over Genoa. On 31 January 2012, Babacar was loaned to Spain's

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

. He maiden appearance in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

took place 11 days later, when he came on as late substitute in a 0–0 home draw against Atlético Madrid. Babacar netted ten times in 22 matches in the 2016–17 campaign, helping his team finish in eighth place. In January 2018, he joined

U.S. Sassuolo Calcio Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, commonly referred to as Sassuolo (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna. Their colours are black and green, hence the nickname ''Neroverdi'' (literally "black and gre ...

on loan until 30 June as part of a swap deal involving

Diego Falcinelli Diego Falcinelli (born 26 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Modena. Club career Pontevecchio Born in Marsciano, in the Province of Perugia, Falcinelli started his career at Ponte San Giovanni ...

– his new club also secured an option to sign him permanently. On 2 September 2019, Babacar was loaned to newly promoted

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

-long move. On 21 January 2022, he signed a contract with Danish club

until the summer of 2025.

International career

Babacar made his debut for

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

on 27 March 2017, playing the second half of a 1–1 friendly draw with Ivory Coast that had to be abandoned in the 88th minute due to crowd trouble.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Copenhagen *

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

*
Gazzetta dello Sport profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babacar, Khouma 1993 births Living people Footballers from Thiès Senegalese men's footballers Men's association football forwards US Rail players Serie A players Serie B players ACF Fiorentina players Calcio Padova players Modena FC 2018 players US Sassuolo Calcio players US Lecce players La Liga players Racing de Santander players Süper Lig players Alanyaspor footballers F.C. Copenhagen players Senegal men's youth international footballers Senegal men's international footballers Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Denmark