Massadio Haïdara (born 2 December 1992) 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 plays as a

left-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

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''), ...

. Born in France, he plays for the Mali national team.

Club career

Nancy

Haïdara made his professional debut on 11 December 2010 in a league match against

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

. On 10 January 2011, he signed his first professional contract after agreeing to a three-year deal with Nancy.

Newcastle United

On 25 January 2013, Haïdara signed for English club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for an undisclosed fee (reportedly £2 million) to become Newcastle's ninth first-team player with French nationality and fourth of five French players signed in the January 2013 transfer window. He made his debut for Newcastle on 21 February 2013 in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

against

Metalist Kharkiv Football Club Metalist Kharkiv ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб Металі́ст Ха́рків ) is a Ukrainian football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2021–22 season. It was revived 5 years ...

. Haïdara came on as a first-half substitute in the match against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 17 March 2013. A few minutes later, he was stretchered off as a result of a knee-high tackle on him by

Callum McManaman Callum Henry McManaman (born 25 April 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger, most recently for Tranmere Rovers. Born in Whiston, Merseyside, lived and brought up in Rainhill, Merseyside, McManaman began his youth c ...

and taken to hospital; and returned to first-team action on 11 April against Benfica. Referee

Mark Halsey Mark R. Halsey (born 8 July 1961) is an English retired professional football referee who was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, later based in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

did not see the incident, so McManaman received no card, and because one of his assistants did see it, albeit not clearly,

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

were unable to act. At the end of the season, their rules were changed to permit retrospective action "when match officials are not in a position to fully assess a 'coming together' of players." He made his first league appearance of the 2016–17 season against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on 7 May 2017, the day that Newcastle clinched the Championship title. The following season he also had to wait until the final game of the season to make his first league appearance, this time against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Lens

In July 2018, after his contract with

expired, Haïdara signed on a free transfer for French club

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

of the

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 ...

, the second-tier French league.

International career

Haïdara has represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at U21 level. On 9 November 2018, he was called up to

Mali national football team The Mali national football team ( French: '' Équipe de football du Mali '') represents Mali in men's international football and is governed by the Malian Football Federation. The team's nickname is Les Aigles. They represent both FIFA and th ...

. He made his debut for Mali on 26 March 2019 in a friendly against Senegal, as a starter.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Newcastle United *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haidara, Massadio 1992 births Living people People from Trappes Footballers from Yvelines French sportspeople of Malian descent French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Malian men's footballers Mali men's international footballers Black French sportspeople Men's association football fullbacks AS Nancy Lorraine players Newcastle United F.C. players RC Lens players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Premier League players English Football League players Malian expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Malian expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in England 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players