Youssouf Koné (born 5 July 1995) is a Malian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Belgian Pro League club Molenbeek and the Mali national team.

Club career

Koné is a youth team graduate from Lille. He made his

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 ...

debut on 2 March 2014 in a 3–2 away win over

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

. His second appearance came on 12 April 2014, a league game against Valenciennes. Koné spent the first half of the 2017–18 season at

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 ...

side

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

on loan after being loaned out by Head Coach Marcelo Bielsa. The full-season loan contract was terminated early when he suffered a cruciate ligament injury. Following the departures of both

Fodé Ballo-Touré Fodé Ballo-Touré (born 3 January 1997) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Fulham F.C., Fulham, on loan from Serie A club AC Milan. Born in France, he plays for the Senegal nation ...

to Monaco and Hamza Mendyl to Schalke 04, Koné established himself as first-choice left-back under Galtier post-Christmas In Lille's excellent 2018–19 campaign, finishing second to Paris Saint-Germain. On 3 July 2019, he signed a contract with Lyon. The fee was estimated at €9 million. On 29 September of the following year, after just 11 league appearances, he was loaned to La Liga side Elche for one year. On 1 February 2021, Elche and Lyon, agreed to terminate the loan of Koné, due to a lack of playing time. On the same day, Koné was loaned to Turkish club Hatayspor. On 30 August 2022, Lyon announced Koné's loan to

for the 2022–23 season. On 28 August 2023, Koné terminated his contract with Lyon following a mutual consent, and joined Molenbeek on a 1-year contract.

International career

Koné debuted for the Mali national team in a

2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the 31st edition of the international men's football champion ...

match against Benin on 6 September 2016.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Mali's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Koné goal.''

Honors

Mali U20 * FIFA U-20 World Cup third place:

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

*
Eurosport profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kone, Youssouf 1995 births Living people Footballers from Bamako Men's association football defenders Malian men's footballers Lille OSC players Stade de Reims players Olympique Lyonnais players Elche CF players Hatayspor footballers ES Troyes AC players AC Ajaccio players R.W.D. Molenbeek (2015) players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players La Liga players Süper Lig players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Mali men's international footballers Malian expatriate men's footballers Malian expatriate sportspeople in France Malian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Malian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Malian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 21st-century Malian people