Saïd Riad Bakari (born 22 September 1994) 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 winger for club

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

. Born in France, he plays for the Comoros national team. Born in La Courneuve, Bakari played youth football for FC Bourget, Paris Saint-Germain,

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

and

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France * Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department ** US Chantilly, a football club * Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States *Chantilly, Miss ...

before starting his senior career at Belgian third tier club

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...

in 2013. He had spells with fellow amateur clubs Bonchamp and

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

before joining

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

in 2017, initially on a non-contract basis before signing a professional contract later that year. He was promoted to the

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 ...

with the club in 2019. Bakari made his debut for the Comoros national team in 2017, against

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

. He played every match of Comoros' qualification campaign for 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 foo ...

as they qualified for their first ever tournament. He made four appearances in the final tournament as Comoros were eliminated in the round of 16.

Club career

Early career

Bakari was born in La Courneuve, France, to Comoran parents and grew up there alongside his five siblings. He played youth football for FC Bourget between 2005 and 2010. He subsequently joined Paris Saint-Germain's academy but left in 2011 due to a lack of game time. He had spells with

and US Chantilly's academies before leaving home in 2013 to move to Belgium, where he played for

in the Belgian Third Division B. He played twice in the 2013–14 season and 17 times in the 2014–15 season, scoring four times in the latter but was forced to leave the club at the end of the season following the club's bankruptcy. After the promise a move to a Moroccan club fell through, Bakari signed for French part-time

Régional 1 The Régional 1 (previously known as ''Division d'Honneur'') is the common generic name for the highest level association football, football league competitions run by each of the 13 French football league system#Regional Leagues, Regional Lea ...

club ES Bonchamp where he scored 8 goals in 21 games during the 2015–16 season. He combined his spell at Bonchamp with part-time work, first in a supermarket before working as a school caretaker. He returned to Belgium with UR Namur in 2016 and scored 6 in 28 Belgian Second Amateur Division appearances during the 2016–17 season.

RKC Waalwijk

After a successful trial with

club

, Bakari signed for their under-23 side in summer 2017 on an amateur basis. He made his first-team debut for the club on 25 August 2017 as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to

Jong AZ Jong AZ is a Dutch association football team, based in Zaandam in the Zaanstreek The Zaan () is a small river in the province of North Holland in the northwestern Netherlands and the name of a district through which it runs. The river was origina ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in the first minute of a 4–1 win over SC Telstar on 17 November 2021. In December 2017, he signed a two-year professional contract with the club, including the option for a further year, having played in 15 of the club's first 16 matches. In total, he scored once in 23 matches during the 2017–18 season. He played three times during the 2018–19 season as Waalwijk were promoted to the Eredivisie via the play-offs. Bakari made his

debut on 11 August 2019 in a 2–0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar, becoming the first player from Comoros to play in the division. Bakari played mainly as a left-back during the early stages of the 2019–20 season following an injury to usual left-back

Paul Quasten Paul Gerardus Quasten ( cz, Pavel Quasten; born 13 March 1985) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Club career Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch father and Czech mother, Quasten progressed through the Ajax academy aft ...

. He scored his first Eredivisie goal on 19 October 2019 in the 63rd minute of a 2–1 home defeat to

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

. He made 18 appearances in the

2019–20 Eredivisie The 2019–20 Eredivisie was the 64th season of the Dutch football league Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. The season began on 2 August 2019 and was suspended on 12 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. The season ...

, scoring once, before the season was cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In September 2020, Baraki signed a contract with RKC valid until summer 2023. He scored for the club in a 1–0 win away to

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

on 17 October 2021, which was his only goal in 30 league appearances that season.

Sparta Rotterdam

On 25 April 2023, Bakari signed a contract with

for two seasons, with an option for a third, beginning in the 2023–24 season.

International career

Born in France to Comorian parents, Bakari was called up to the Comoros national team in September 2017. He made his debut for Comoros in a 1–0 friendly win over

on 6 October 2017. He represented Comoros at the

2018 COSAFA Cup The 2018 COSAFA Cup was the 18th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). In July 2017, it was reported that i ...

and made one appearance in

2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the 32nd edition of the international men's football champion ...

as Comoros failed to qualify. He was part of Comoros' successful bid to qualify for the

, playing all six of their qualification Group G games as Comoros qualified for their first ever Africa Cup of Nations. In December 2021, it was announced that Bakari was named in Comoros' squad for the tournament, which started in January 2022. He made four appearances as Comoros were eliminated by

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

in the round of 16.

Career statistics

Club

International

Style of play

Although mainly a winger, Bakari retrained to play as a left-back during the 2019–20 season following an injury to

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakari, Said 1994 births Living people French sportspeople of Comorian descent Footballers from Seine-Saint-Denis Comorian men's footballers French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Comoros men's international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Red Star F.C. players US Chantilly players KFC Turnhout players ES Bonchamp players Union Namur players RKC Waalwijk players Sparta Rotterdam players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Third Division players Division d'Honneur players Eredivisie players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Comorian expatriate men's footballers Comorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Comorian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands