Ousmane Diomande (born 4 December 2003) 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 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

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and the Ivory Coast national team.

Club career

Midtjylland

Diomande is a youth product of the Ivorian club Olympic Sport Abobo, having joined at the age of 10. He moved to the youth academy of the Danish club

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

in January 2020. Diomande joined the Portuguese club

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Repu ...

on loan on 5 August 2022 on a season-long loan. The next day he made his professional debut with Mafra in a 3–1

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

loss to Oliveirense on 6 August 2022.

Sporting

Thanks to impressive performances with Mafra, Diomande's loan was cut short halfway through the season and he transferred to

club

on 31 January 2023, signing a contract until June 2027 for a fee of €7.5 million, which could rise to €12.5 million with add-ons. Midtjylland is also owed 20% of the profit Sporting receives from a future transfer. Diomande's release clause was set at €80 million. Diomande made his debut for the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

club on 7 February, coming off the bench to replace

Matheus Reis Matheus Reis de Lima (born 18 February 1995), known as Matheus Reis, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left-back or centre-back for Sporting CP. Club career São Paulo Reis is a youth product of the Brazilian League, Sã ...

on the final minutes of a 1–0 league victory away at

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

. Two weeks later, he made his first start for the ''Lions'', in a 3–2 league victory away at Chaves, where he was replaced by Jeremiah St. Juste on the 71st minute. Diomande made his

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

debut on 9 March, coming off the bench to replace

Ricardo Esgaio Ricardo de Sousa Esgaio (; born 16 May 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Sporting CP as a right-back. Club career Sporting CP Born in Nazaré, Leiria District, Esgaio joined Sporting CP's youth system at the age of 12, ...

on the 77th minute of a 2–2 draw at home to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the

UEFA 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 ...

round of 16 first leg. Eight days later, on the return fixture in the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

, Diomande started and played the full match, as Sporting drew 1–1 and eliminated Arsenal through

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. The Ivorian scored his first goal for the ''Lions'' on 21 May 2023, in the

Derby de Lisboa The Derby de Lisboa or Dérbi de Lisboa (English: Lisbon derby) is a football derby match in Portugal. It is played between Lisbon clubs Benfica and Sporting CP, two of the most decorated clubs in Portugal. The rivalry originated in 1907 when e ...

, out-jumping

Álex Grimaldo Alejandro "Álex" Grimaldo García (born 20 September 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Primeira Liga club Benfica. Club career Barcelona Born in Valencia, Valencian Community, Grimaldo joined Barcelona's ...

to head a Nuno Santos corner into the net, making the score 2–0 for Sporting; however, Benfica went on to salvage a 2–2 draw. Sporting CP finished the 2022–23 season in 4th place in the Primeira Liga, qualifying for the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League group stage. On 21 September 2023, Diomande scored his first goal in European competitions, through a 84th minute winner in a 2–1 victory away at

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

in the UEFA Europa League.

International career

Diomande was called up to the Ivory Coast national team for a set of

2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches will be organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the 34th edition of the international men's football champi ...

matches in September 2023. He debuted in a 1–0 win over

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

on 9 September 2023. In December 2023, Diomande was named to the Ivory Coast's squad for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2023 or CAN 2023) is scheduled to be the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's association football, football championship of Africa organized by the ...

. Despite only featuring for first two group stage matches against

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, Ivory Coast ended up winning the tournament on 11 February, after defeating Nigeria 2–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Style of play

As a central defender, he has the ability to play out from the back and drive the team forward, allowing his team to play out of trouble and turn defense to attack quickly. His main strengths are his physicality, his vision and his speed, but he has also notable short passing, dribbling, positioning, anticipation and tackling attributes.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ivory Coast *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *

Defender of the Month: December 2022/January 2023 *

Defender of the Month: September 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diomande, Ousmane 2003 births Living people Ivorian Muslims Footballers from Abidjan Ivorian men's footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players FC Midtjylland players C.D. Mafra players Sporting CP footballers Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players