Kouakou Odilon Dorgeless Kossounou (; born 4 January 2001) is an Ivorian 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 ...

who plays as a defender 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 ...

club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

and the Ivory Coast national team.

Club career

Early career

Kossounou started his career in the academy of ASEC Mimosas in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

. After having been discovered at the youth tournament

Gothia Cup The Gothia Cup () is an international youth association football tournament organized by professional football club BK Häcken, which has been held annually since 1975 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Considered the biggest tournament in the world in terms ...

in 2016, he was first invited to train with Swedish Allsvenskan club Hammarby IF. He went on to visit the club on numerous occasions throughout the next few years.

Hammarby IF

On 11 January 2019, shortly after his 18th birthday, Kossounou signed a four-year contract with Hammarby. He made his competitive debut for the club on 18 February, in the main domestic cup

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

, providing an assist to Mats Solhem in a 3-0 win against

Varbergs BoIS Varbergs BoIS FC is a Swedish football club located in Varberg, the main town of Varberg Municipality in Halland County. Background The club was formed at a meeting in the Varbergs Folkets Hus on 25 March 1925. The backbone of the new club w ...

. Kossounou went on to make nine league appearances in Allsvenskan for the club, most notably being voted man of the match in a 2–2 home draw against

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play thei ...

. On 8 May 2019, Hammarby reached an agreement with Belgian side Club Brugge for the transfer of Kossonou, effective on 1 July the same year. The club received a record breaking fee for the player, reportedly for a fee of around €4 million (or 44 million SEK) that could rise higher subject to bonuses, plus a 10 percent sell-on clause.

Club Brugge

On 1 July 2019, Kossounou completed his transfer to Club Brugge. In his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

at the club, Kossounou picked up a league winner's medal as Club Brugge were declared champions in April 2020 with the Pro League being cut short by the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium The COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on 4 February 2020, when one of a group of nine Belgians repatriated from Wuhan to Brussels was repor ...

Bayer Leverkusen

On 22 July 2021, Kossounou joined

club

on a five-year deal for a reported €23 million fee.

International career

Kossounou debuted with the Ivory Coast national team in a 1–1 friendly draw with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 8 October 2020.

Playing style

Kossounou prevalently plays as centre back and excels in his tackling: his long limbs and the excellent timing of his interventions gives him one of the highest tackle success ratios in Europe.

Outside football

In 2020, Kossounou was the subject of a TV-documentary on Swedish television titled "Det vackra spelet" (The beautiful game), that for three years followed him on his transfer to Hammarby and then on to Club Brugge.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club Brugge * Belgian First Division A: 2019–20, 2020–21 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kossounou, Odilon 2001 births Living people Ivorian footballers Ivory Coast international footballers Hammarby Fotboll players Club Brugge KV players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Allsvenskan players Belgian First Division A players Bundesliga players Ivorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Association football defenders Expatriate footballers in Belgium Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Germany 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players