Ludovic Lamine Sané (born 22 March 1987) is a 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 most recently played for

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. He is primarily a

centre-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 ...

but has also been used as

holding 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 ...

. Born in France, he represented

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

at international level.

Football career

Early career

Sané was born in

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and commune in the southwestern French department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly named ''Villeneuve-d'Agen''. Villeneuve-sur-Lot ...

in southwestern France and began his football career playing for local club US Lormont on the outskirts of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. He later joined

Stade Bordelais Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of dome ...

before signing a contract with

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

club

RCO Agde RCO Agde () is a French football club. The club is based at the 3500-seat Stade Louis Sanguin in Agde. RCO Agde was created in 1999 from the merger of ''Racing Club Agathois'' (founded 1904) and ''Football Olympique Agathois''. As of the 2019– ...

at the age of 19. Sané spent one season at Agde appearing in 25 matches scoring one goal. Following the season, he returned to Lormont and spent a season playing in the Division d'Honneur. During the summer of 2008, Sané jumped five divisions signing a three-year professional contract with

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 ...

club

Bordeaux

Sané initially played with the club's reserve team upon his arrival appearing in 15 matches during the 2008–09 season. While playing with the amateurs, the young player impressed manager

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...

and assistant

Jean-Louis Gasset Jean-Louis Gasset (born 9 December 1953) is a French former midfielder and current manager of Ivory Coast national football team, Ivory Coast. Football career Born in Montpellier, Gasset played his whole career with hometown club Montpellier HSC ...

. For the 2009–10 pre-season, Sané featured regularly and performed well, most notably in a 3–1 win over Spanish club

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

after appearing as a second-half substitute. On 19 September 2009, Sané was called up to the first team for the first time for Bordeaux's league match against

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

. He didn't appear in the match, but eventually became a regular in the first 18 often appearing on the bench as a backup for French international

Alou Diarra Alou Diarra (born 15 July 1981) is a French former professional footballer. He was a France international from 2004 until 2012. As of the 2022–23 season, he is the manager of Troyes' under-19 side in the Championnat National U19. He primari ...

. On 3 November, Sané made his professional debut in the club's 2–0 victory over German club

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

appearing as a substitute in the 84th minute. The following month, he earned his first start playing the entire match in Bordeaux's 1–0 victory over

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i club

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

. Sané made his league debut four days later in Bordeaux's important tie with

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. Bordeaux won the match 1–0 with Sané playing the full 90 minutes. On 8 January 2010, Sané agreed to a contract extension with Bordeaux which will tie him to the club until 2014. He scored his first goal for Bordeaux in a 3–1 loss to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

in a

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

final at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

Werder Bremen

After spending seven senior years at Bordeaux, Sané departed the club and signed for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

for an undisclosed fee. In January 2018, the club's sporting director Frank Baumann announced that Sané would not be part of the team "for the time being" because he had been absent from training on two days without a valid excuse. Sané would also be allowed to settle his personal sporting future.

Orlando City

On 20 February 2018, Sané signed for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

. He made his debut as a halftime substitute away to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 17 March and scored his first goal for the club against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

in a 3–1 home victory on 6 May. After an injury-troubled first season with the club in which they set a new MLS record for goals conceded in a season, Sané formed a strong central partnership with

Robin Jansson Per Tony Robin Jansson (; born 15 November 1991) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Major League Soccer club Orlando City, whom he captains. Professional career Early career Jansson began his career with BK Häck ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and was a regular starter as Orlando turned things round defensively, conceding a team-record low number of goals. Despite this, on 21 November 2019, it was announced Sané had his contract option for the 2020 season declined by Orlando as part of the end-of-season roster decisions.

FC Utrecht

On 8 February 2020, Sané signed for

until the end of the season. He made his debut on 16 February as an 89th minute substitute against Willem II, entering with Utrecht leading 1–0. The game finished 1–1 after Willem II scored a stoppage time equalizer. Sané was an unused substitute in the next three league games as well as a 2–0

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

semi-final win over

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

before the season was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in April. He was released at the end of his contract having made one appearance.

Personal life

Ludovic's younger brother

Salif Sané Salif Sané (born 25 August 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Senegal national team. Born in France, he represents Senegal at international level. Early and personal life Sané was born in Lormont, France to S ...

is also a professional footballer and Senegalese international.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Bordeaux *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

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:Sane, Lamine 1987 births Living people People from Villeneuve-sur-Lot Sportspeople from Lot-et-Garonne Senegalese men's footballers French men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football midfielders Senegal men's international footballers 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players Eredivisie players RCO Agde players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players SV Werder Bremen players Orlando City SC players FC Utrecht players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Footballers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine French expatriate sportspeople in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in the United States Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Black French sportspeople