Mamadou Sarr (born 29 August 2005) is a French 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

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 ...

for

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

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 ...

Early life

He is the son of former Senegalese International Pape Sarr. Mamadou was born in

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A dir ...

while his father was playing for

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 ...

. Sarr spent most of his childhood living in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, following his father who spent a large part of his career at

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

Early career

Sarr began his football career at Étoile Sportive de

Saint-Laurent-Blangy Saint-Laurent-Blangy () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Saint-Laurent-Blangy is a light industrial suburb and river port on the northeast side of Arras, at the junction of the N50, ...

, before joining

, where his father plays. Sarr then moved to

in 2018. During the 2021-22 season, at only 16 years old, he established himself as a starter with the Rhone under-19 team. He thus plays an important role in Lyon's triumph in the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their sk ...

alongside players like Hugo Vogel and Mohamed El Arouch. He scored in the quarter-final against

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, then in the semi-final against

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

Club career

On 27 May 2023, Sarr made his professional debut in Lyon's 3–0

victory against

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

as a substitute, replacing

Maxence Caqueret Maxence Caqueret (born 15 February 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lyon. Club career Caqueret is a product of the Lyon academy. He made his first team debut on 5 January 2019 in a 2� ...

in the 83rd minute.

International career

Eligible to play with Senegal, Sarr chose France for his first selections for the youth team, even recovering the captain's armband on several occasions with the under-17s. In April 2022, he was selected with the France team for the

2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2022) was the 19th UEFA European Under-17 Championship (38th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football championship organis ...

organized in

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 ...

. He was a starter during the competition, where France was crowned as champions after a defeating

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

2–1 in the final thanks to Saël Kumbedi's brace.

Style of play

Trained as a centre-back, Sarr also occasionally played as a defensive midfielder during at Lyon's youth teams.

Career statistics

Honours

Lyon Youth *

: 2022 U17 France *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarr, Mamadou 2005 births Living people People from Martigues French sportspeople of Senegalese descent French men's footballers Men's association football defenders France men's youth international footballers Olympique Lyonnais players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 2 players