Sereso Geoffroy Gonzaroua Dié (born 7 November 1984), known as Serey Dié, is an Ivorian 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 defensive midfielder for the Ivory Coast national team. His last club was

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. He quietly and secretly resigned, as can be seen from the transfer overview of the Swiss Football League.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Facobly Facobly (also spelled Facobli) is a town in western Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of and seat of Facobly Department in Guémon Region, Montagnes District. Facobly is also a commune. In 2014, the population of the sub-prefecture of Facobly ...

, Serey Dié started his football career with Centre National des Sports de Haut Niveau in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

. He played one year for Volcan Junior and one year for CO Korhogo, before moving to top team Stade d'Abidjan in 2003. Three years later, he moved to

EO Goulette et Kram Etoile Olympique de La Goulette et du Kram (), often referred to as ''EOGK''. is a football club from La Goulette La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is ...

in Tunisia. But this was also to remain a short stay, he cancelled his contract himself after just half a year.

ES Sétif

Serey Dié was invited for a trial with ES Sétif, and therefore moved to Algeria. This adventure nearly started and ended as a farce on the same day. As the club's president saw Serey Dié, he thought that the wrong player had been hired and sent him home. The coach asked Serey Dié to stay for the training, which he did and in a test match, he was able to convince the club's management to let him stay for a six-month trial. During this trial period, Serey Dié played well and ES Sétif won the

2007–08 Arab Champions League The 5th Edition of Arab Champions League 2007–08 The Format * Each federation enter with (1~2) teams from their top Leagues : – The teams must be one of the top 5 teams in the latest season, or Cup Champions/Runners-up. * The Number of te ...

, but he refused to sign the contract that he was subsequently offered.

Sion

Between 2008 and 2012, Serey Dié played for

, with whom he won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

twice. During March 2010, he came under suspicion of corruption in connection with betting manipulation. In May 2012, he was the subject of controversy after cameras filmed him slapping a thirteen-year-old ball-boy in the face. This was during the away game against FC Lausanne-Sport on 2 May. This assault resulted in an eight match suspension.

Basel

On 13 December 2012,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

announced the signing of Serey Dié on a three-and-a-half year contract. He joined Basel's first team during the winter break of their 2013–14 season under head coach

Murat Yakin Murat Yakin ( tr, Yakın; born 15 September 1974) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national football team. Playing career Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown clu ...

. He made his debut for Basel on 10 February 2013, in a 3–0 home win in

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

against his former club, Sion. He scored his first goal for Basel, the first goal of the match, in a 4–0 away win against

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

in the

Swissporarena Swissporarena is a multi-use stadium in Lucerne, Switzerland, completed in 2011. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of FC Luzern of the Swiss Super League. The stadium has a capacity of 16,800 spectators, including ...

, on 1 April 2013. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 Serey Dié won the Championship title with the team. In the

2012–13 Swiss Cup The 2012–13 Swiss Cup was the 88th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition commenced on 14 September 2012 with the first game of Round 1 and ended on 20 May 2013 with the Final. The winners of the competition, Gr ...

Basel reached the final, but were runners up behind Grasshopper Club, being defeated 4–3 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. In the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

, Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

holders Chelsea. Chelseas won both games and 5–2 on aggregate. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Serey Dié won the league championship with Basel. The team also reached the final of the

2013–14 Swiss Cup The 2013–14 Swiss Cup was the 89th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition started on 14 August 2013 with the first game of Round 1 and ended in May 2014 with the Final. The winners of the competition qualified f ...

, but were beaten 2–0 by

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

after extra time. Basel joined the 2013–14 Champions League in the qualifying rounds and they advanced to the group stage. Finishing in third place in their group, Basel qualified for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. But eventually they were beaten by

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

5-3 on aggregate, after extra time. In their 2013–14 season, Basel played a total of 68 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, 6 Swiss Cup, 6 Champions League and 10 Europa League and 10 test matches). Serey Dié totaled 38 appearances, 22 League, 3 Cup, 4 Champions League and 5 Europa League as well 4 in the test games. He scored 2 goals in these matches. The season 2014–15 was a successful one for Basel. However, Serey Dié's season was an unlucky and unthankful one under the new trainer Paulo Sousa. Despite the fact that Basel won the championship for the sixth time in a row that season and despite that Basel had entered the Champions League in the group stage, reaching the

knockout phase A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

on 9 December 2014, as they managed a 1-1 draw at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Serey Dié totaled just 13 appearances during the first half of the season (7 League, 2 Cup, and just 2 in the Champions League, as well 2 further appearances in test games). Because Sousa did not rely on Serey Dié as a regular player, he was forced to leave the club and they club announced that he moved to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

on 2 February 2015.

VfB Stuttgart

On 2 February 2015, Serey Dié moved to

. After returning victorious from the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

, he featured in all but one of Stuttgart's remaining games, becoming a key member of the midfield. On 15 July 2016, Stuttgart announced that Serey Dié would return to

Return to Basel

Basel confirmed the transfer on the same day, stating that Serey Dié had signed a two-year contract. He joined Basel's first team for their 2016–17 season under head coach Urs Fischer. At the end of the season, Serey Dié won the Swiss championship for the fourth time in his career. For the club, this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total. They also won the

2016–17 Swiss Cup The 2016–17 Swiss Cup was the 92nd season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition commenced on 13 August 2016 with the first games of Round 1 and concluded on 25 May 2017 with the Final. The winner of the competition wa ...

, defeating

3–0 in the final, which meant they had won the double. In Basel's 2017–18 season

Raphaël Wicky Raphaël Wicky (born 26 April 1977) is a Swiss football coach and a former player. He is currently the manager of Swiss Super League club BSC Young Boys. He was a defensive midfielder who could also play in defence and was known for his combativ ...

was appointed as new head coach. In the domestic league Basel ended the season in second position and in the Cup they reached the semi-final only to be defeated by Young Boys. The team entered the Champions League in the group stage, ending this in second position in the table. In the second half of the season Serey Dié was loaned out to Xamax. Basel stated that the Africa-Cup was the reason for Serey Dié's move. The player himself stated "I couldn’t risk not playing as much with FCB in the 2nd half of the season. With regular appearances for Xamax I will be able to help my new club achieve their goals, as well preparing myself for the Africa-Cup with the Ivory Coast this summer." Following his loan period and his appearances at the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

, Basel and Serey Dié decided to dissolve their contract. Between the years 2012 to 2015 and again 2016 to 2019 Serey Dié played a total of 168 games for Basel scoring a total of six goals. 95 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, 15 in the

, 31 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 27 were friendly games. He scored all six goals in the domestic league.

Aarau and Xamax

Serey Dié had a short spell with

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

and another short spell with Xamax.

Return to Sion

On 26 May 2020 it was confirmed, that Serey Dié had returned to the side where he started his European career seven years earlier, FC Sion. Serey Dié signed a two-year deal. During the 2021–22 Super League season Serey Dié quietly and secretly resigned from his active football career, as can be seen from the transfer overview of the Swiss Football League.

International career

He represented Ivory Coast on 50 occasions between 2013 and 2019, scoring 2 goals.

Personal life

At the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, during Ivory Coast's match against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Dié was shown crying during the national anthem before the match. Despite rumors of his emotional feelings were for his father's death, this was inaccurate; Dié himself claimed that he did think about his father (who died in 2004), but that the emotion came from the intensity and excitement he felt while representing his national team.

Coaching career

After his retirement, Dié was hired as a youth coach at FC Bramois in September 2022.Football: Geoffroy Serey Die entame sa carrière d’entraîneur avec les juniors du FC Bramois
lenouvelliste.ch, 31 August 2022

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first.''

Honours

ES Sétif * Arab Champions League: 2007–08 FC Sion *

: 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

FC Basel *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17 *

: 2016–17 * Uhren Cup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

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 ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

External links

* *
Serey Die: Profile at FC Basel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Die, Serey 1984 births Living people Ivorian men's footballers Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers Stade d'Abidjan players ES Sétif players FC Sion players FC Basel players VfB Stuttgart players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players FC Aarau players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Bundesliga players Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Abidjan