Ousmane Kanté (born 21 September 1989) 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for club Pau. Born in France, he plays for Guinea national team.

Early life

Kanté was born in Paris, to Guinean parents. He holds French and Guinean nationalities.

Club career

Kanté began playing football at the age of 6 and joined the youth academy of

US Créteil-Lusitanos Union Sportive Créteil-Lusitanos (commonly referred to as US Créteil, USC, or simply Créteil) is a French football club based in Créteil, a southeastern suburb of Paris. The club was founded in 1936 and currently play in the National 2, the ...

. He spent his early career in the lower divisions of France. On 15 June 2018, he signed his first professional contract with

Paris FC Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...

after playing a key role in promoting

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

into the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

in the 2017-18 season. He made his professional debut for Paris FC in a 1–1 Ligue 2 tie with

Gazélec Ajaccio Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio (), commonly referred to as GFC Ajaccio, GFCA, Gazélec Ajaccio or simply Gazélec (), is a French football club from Ajaccio, Corsica. Founded in 1910, Gazélec played one season in Ligue 1 in the 2015–16 seaso ...

on 27 July 2018.

International career

Kanté debuted for the Guinea national team in a 1–0 friendly loss to

Comoros The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, ...

on 12 October 2019. In January 2022, he was selected by the coach

Kaba Diawara Kaba Diawara (born 16 December 1975) is a football manager and former player who played as a striker. Diawara played for French teams Sporting Toulon, Bordeaux, Rennes, Marseille, Nice, Paris Saint-Germain and Arles-Avignon, for English clubs ...

to participate in the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's ass ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

References

External links

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Foot-National Profile
1989 births Living people Footballers from Paris Guinean men's footballers Guinea men's international footballers French sportspeople of Guinean descent French men's footballers Men's association football defenders Paris FC players AS Béziers (2007) players US Créteil-Lusitanos players Pau FC players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen {{Guinea-footy-bio-stub