Nouha Dicko (born 14 May 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

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

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club OFI. Born in France, he represented Mali national team at international level.

Early life

Dicko was born in

Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne Saint-Maurice () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. The insane asylum Charenton (asylum), Charenton was located in Saint-Maurice; it is now a psy ...

, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. He grew up in the city with his family, who originate from

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

Club career

Early career

Dicko began playing football at the age of six with local club Jeanne d'Arc de Maisons-Alfort. At the age of 13, he was signed by Créteil-Lusitanos, staying at the club for three seasons, before moving 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 ...

in the spring of 2007. Following his arrival, Dicko's progress was hindered by a number of injuries during his first season at the club, including an ankle injury that kept him out of action for four months. He made his debut for Strasbourg's reserve team in the 2009–10, impressing on a number of occasions, despite the team's relegation to

CFA 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

. His first-team debut came during the following season against

Stade Plabennecois Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

in a

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

match in September 2010.

Wigan Athletic

In 2011, Strasbourg released Dicko due to financial difficulties, and he was offered a trial with

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 ...

side

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, ...

, signing with the club a few weeks later. He made his senior debut for Wigan on 13 September 2011, in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. On 27 January 2012, he joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on loan until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

, and went on to score four goals in 11 league appearances for the club. He came on as a substitute in Blackpool's 2–1 defeat in the 2012 Championship play-off final against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He re-signed for Blackpool on a season-long loan on 17 August 2012. He was recalled from his loan on 3 January 2013. On 28 March 2013, Dicko moved on loan again, entering his first spell with

English 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 En ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He made only four substitute appearances, scoring once, as the club unsuccessfully fought to avoid relegation under

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

. Dicko began the 2013–14 season by appearing as a substitute in Wigan's Community Shield defeat to league champions

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. However, new Wigan manager

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

did not select him for any league games and Dicko's only playing time for the club came 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 ...

and

. In November 2013, he was loaned out to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

until January 2014. He was recalled by new Wigan manager

Uwe Rösler Uwe Rösler (; born 15 November 1968) is a German football manager and former professional footballer. As a player he was a centre forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchester City, where he was the leading goalscorer for three ...

in late December.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 13 January 2014, Dicko moved to

, then in the third tier, for a reported fee of £300,000, signing a -year contract. Dicko scored two goals on his second debut for the club, on 25 January 2014. On 18 April, he scored a hat-trick against

in a 6–4 victory. He ended the 2013–14 season as the club's top scorer, as they won promotion as champions. Back at Championship level, Dicko was the club's joint top goalscorer in the following season, as the club missed out on the play-offs due to goal difference. He signed a new three-year contract with the club during the close season, and was given the squad number 9. However, in September 2015, Dicko suffered a knee ligament damage during a match against Charlton, which ultimately forced him to miss the remainder of the season. After further delays to his comeback, Dicko returned to first-team football in October 2016, over 13 months since his last appearance and signed a new contract, which was due to keep him at Wolves until the summer of 2020. He made 32 appearances during the campaign, but scored just three times. At the start of the following season, Dicko was largely only used as a substitute by new coach

Nuno Espírito Santo Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), often referred to as simply Nuno, is a Portuguese football manager and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al- ...

, but still scored twice in seven appearances; his final goal for the club came against the team he was about to join.

Hull City

On 29 August 2017, Dicko joined fellow Championship club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

for an undisclosed fee in a three-year deal. On 8 September 2017, he made his debut in a 5–0 loss away to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 14 October 2017, when he opened the scoring in a 1–1 draw away to

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. On 2 September 2019, Dicko joined

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 ...

club Vitesse on loan for the rest of the season. On 30 June 2020, Hull indicated that Dicko would leave the club following the expiry of his contract.

Gaziantep

On 1 October 2020, Dicko joined Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

on a two-year contract.

Yeni Malatyaspor

In January 2022, Dicko joined

Yeni Malatyaspor Yeni Malatyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Malatya, Turkey. The club plays in the TFF First League, which is the second tier of football in the country. History Founded in 1986 as Malatya Belediyespor. Its prim ...

on a 1.5 year contract with an additional 1 year option. Dicko would wear jersey 94.

OFI

In July 2022 he signed for Greek club OFI.

International career

Although born and raised in France, Dicko is eligible to play for the

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 ...

through his parents, who both come from the

Yélimané Cercle Yélimané Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Kayes Region of Mali. Its administrative centre (''chef-lieu'') is the town of Yélimané. In the 2009 census the population of the cercle was 178,442. Yélimané Cercle is a major ce ...

area. He was called up by Mali to their international squad in May 2014. He made his debut on 25 May 2014 in a friendly against

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

, played in

Colombes Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the 53rd largest city in France. Name The name Colombes comes from Latin ''columna'' (Old French ''colombe'') ...

, France. In November 2014, he picked up an injury while on international duty.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dicko, Nouha 1992 births Living people People from Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne Footballers from Val-de-Marne French men's footballers Malian men's footballers Mali men's international footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards RC Strasbourg Alsace players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players SBV Vitesse players Championnat National players English Football League players Super League Greece players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands French sportspeople of Malian descent Gaziantep F.K. footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Malian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Malian expatriates in England Malian expatriates in the Netherlands Süper Lig players OFI Crete F.C. players Malian expatriate sportspeople in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Greece Malian expatriates in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece