Mickaël Franck Poté (born 24 September 1984) is a

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

ese 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Turkish club Bandırmaspor.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Poté began his career in 2003 with

Grenoble Foot Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears white ...

, where he played only three games in his first season. After the season, he signed a contract with

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

, where he stayed three years, playing fifty-one games and scoring nine goals. In the summer of 2007, he joined

Clermont Foot Clermont Foot 63 (Occitan language, Occitan: ''Clarmont d'Auvèrnhe''; commonly referred to as Clermont Foot or simply Clermont) is a Football in France, French association football club based in Clermont-Ferrand. The first incarnation of the c ...

, where he played thirty-six games in his first season, scoring five goals. In the spring of 2009, there were rumours that he might be transferred to

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 ...

or Havre, but neither transfer occurred. On 26 June 2009, he signed a three-year-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 ...

side

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. On 2 January 2011, he joined

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 ...

side

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

on a six-month loan deal. On August 2011, he left France and signed a three-year contract with

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club Dynamo Dresden. In 2014, Poté moved to Omonia, where he was Cypriot's League top scorer with 17 goals in a season. In the 2015–16 season, he played for Adana Demirspor at Turkish 1st Division and won the top scorer title with his 20 goals.

International career

Although Poté was born in France, he was eligible to represent the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, due to his father's roots. Instead, he chose to play for

, his mother's country. His debut game was on 7 September 2008, against

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. He played at

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

where the team reached the quarter-finals

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Benin's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* *
Mickaël Poté
at foot-national.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pote, Mickael 1984 births Living people Footballers from Lyon Beninese men's footballers French men's footballers French sportspeople of Beninese descent French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Beninese people of Ivorian descent Men's association football forwards Benin men's international footballers 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Grenoble Foot 38 players AS Cannes players Clermont Foot players OGC Nice players Le Mans FC players Dynamo Dresden players AC Omonia players Adana Demirspor footballers APOEL FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players 2. Bundesliga players TFF First League players Cypriot First Division players Beninese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Black French sportspeople