Pape Malickou Diakhaté (born 21 June 1984) is a Senegalese former 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 played as a

central defender 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 ...

Club career

Diakhaté was born in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

, Senegal. Having come through the Nancy youth ranks, he made his

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 ...

debut on 20 October 2001, playing the first half of the 2–0 win over

LB Châteauroux La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (), commonly referred to as La Berrichonne or simply Châteauroux, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Châteauroux. The football team is a part of a sports club that consists of seve ...

. He played 25 league matches the following season, and appeared regularly for the club, although his 2003–04 season was severely disrupted by injury. 2004–05 brought Diakhaté favourable recognition, winning a place in

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...

's team of the season. On 18 July 2007, it was announced that Diakhaté had signed a contract with Ukrainian club

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

for a €4 million transfer fee. He made his debut for Dynamo on 1 August 2007 in a league fixture against

FC Chornomorets Odessa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it ...

. He quickly established himself in the first team and even captained the club on occasion. A month later, on 1 September, he broke a

collar bone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the righ ...

in a match against

FC Kharkiv FC Kharkiv ( ua, ФК "Харків") was a professional football club based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After 2009–10 Ukrainian First League season the club was relegated to the Ukrainian Second League. However, they failed attestation when they sub ...

, but once recovered returned to the team. On 16 December 2009, he left Dynamo Kyiv, and returned to France signing a half-year loan contract with

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

. The following season he was loaned to

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 ...

. On 26 August 2011, Diakhaté signed for Spanish club

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

, for a club record transfer fee of €4.5 million on a four-year contract. In January 2016, he joined former club

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

signing a contract until the end of the season. Having made few appearances due to back problems, he left the club at the end of his contract. In August 2017, after a year without a club, Diakhaté signed with fifth-tier side FC Lunéville. He played for the club on the first four matchdays before being reported as injured. In October, he agreed to the termination of his contract.

International career

In 2004 Diakhaté earned a full international call-up from

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

. After Nancy's promotion to

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 ...

in 2005, Diakhaté was also part of the Senegalese team that finished fourth in the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

Position

Originally a

left-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 ...

and capable of playing as a wide midfielder, he is recognised mainly 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 ...

. He has also been known to play in goal for Senegal on numerous occasions.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diakhate, Pape 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Dakar Senegalese footballers Association football defenders AS Nancy Lorraine players AS Saint-Étienne players Olympique Lyonnais players FC Dynamo Kyiv players Granada CF footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Ukrainian Premier League players La Liga players Senegal international footballers Senegalese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in France Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey