Souleymane Oularé (born 16 October 1972) is a Guinean retired professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. His son Obbi is also a professional footballer.

Career

Oularé was elected Footballer of the Year in Belgium in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, when he won the Belgian Championship as a striker with

Racing Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgium, Belgian professional association football, football club based in the city of Genk in Limburg (Belgium), Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays ...

, scoring 17 goals during the season. He then went on to play for Fenerbahçe (Turkey),

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

(Spain),

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

(England),

K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder was a Belgian football club, from the municipalities of Heusden-Zolder and Beringen in Limburg. Its stadium has been located in the municipality of Beringen-Mijn from 2004 to 2006 (after its relegation from the Belgi ...

and C.S. Visé (both Belgium). Oularé signed for

in England in 2002. After his only league game for Stoke against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in 2002 Oulare was diagnosed with a life-threatening

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...

in his lungs. He returned for the 2nd leg of the play-offs against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and made a vital contribution. He came on after 71 minutes replacing

Chris Iwelumo Christopher Robert Iwelumo (; born 1 August 1978) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a striker. Iwelumo started his career with St Mirren before moving to Danish club Aarhus Fremad for two years. A move to Stoke Cit ...

with Stoke 2–1 down,

James O'Connor James O'Connor may refer to: Politics and law * James O'Connor (Louisiana politician) (1870–1941), U.S Representative from Louisiana * James F. O'Connor (1878–1945), U.S Representative from Montana * James Francis Thaddeus O'Connor (1886–1 ...

scored in the 88th minute to send the tie into extra time and then in the 115th minute an O'Connor free-kick was deflected in off Oularé's backside. This went down in folklore among Stoke City fans as they won the tie 3–2 and went on to win promotion. He never got a chance the following season and was released in 2003.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Genk *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 1998–99 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 1997–98

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oularé, Souleymane 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Conakry Guinean footballers Belgian people of Guinean descent Association football forwards Guinea international footballers Guinea youth international footballers 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players Belgian Pro League players Belgian First Division B players Süper Lig players La Liga players English Football League players K. Sint-Niklase S.K.E. players K.S.K. Beveren players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers K.R.C. Genk players Stoke City F.C. players UD Las Palmas players C.S. Visé players Guinean expatriate footballers Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England