Sékou Baradji (born 30 August 1995) is a French 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 forward for

RC Grasse Racing Club Pays de Grasse is a French association football club founded in 1959. Until 2022 they were known as Racing Club de Grasse. They are based in the town of Grasse and their home stadium is the Stade Jean Girard. Since the 2017–18 season ...

Early life

Baradji was born in

Cergy Cergy () is a commune in the French department of Val-d'Oise, to the northwest of Paris. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise, created in the 1960s, of which it is the central and most populated commun ...

, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, to a Senegalese mother. He is also of Malian descent. He acquired French nationality on 25 February 2002, through the collective effect connected to the reinstatement of his mother in French nationality.

Career

Baradji was in the youth system of Cergy Pontoise from the age of 8 until 2012. He then trialled with

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

and signed a contract with the Under-19s. He returned to France after three months to complete his education, joining the Under-19 sides of

L'Entente SSG The Entente Sannois Saint-Gratien is a French association football team based in the suburb of Saint-Gratien, Val-d'Oise, Saint-Gratien in Paris. The team was founded in 1989 and play in the Championnat National 3, the country's fifth tier of com ...

and then Racing CFF. A knee injury sidelined him for 8 months, but he joined Olympique Montigny at level ten in the French football pyramid in January 2015, when contacted by a coach he had worked under at Racing CFF. He scored 15 goals in four months, and earned a move four levels up the pyramid to OFC Les Mureaux, where he was top scorer in

Division d'Honneur Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

with 18 goals in 20 matches. For the 2016–17 season, Baradji signed with

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

. After another good season he was signed by

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. ...

in June 2017. At the end of December 2018, Baradji was loaned to Bourg-Péronnas until the end of the 2018–19 season, due to limited first team opportunities at Red Star. In August 2020, Baradji left Red Star by mutual agreement. Before the end of the same month he signed with

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baradji, Sékou Living people 1995 births Men's association football forwards Senegalese men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Cergy Pontoise FC players Elche CF players Entente SSG players Racing Club de France Football players AC Boulogne-Billancourt players Red Star FC players Football Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas 01 players RC Grasse players French sportspeople of Malian descent French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Footballers from Pontoise Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen