Abdoulaye Soulama (29 November 1979 – 27 October 2017) was a Burkinabé international

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 ...

Career

In the 2001-2002 football season, Soulama played for Turkish team

Denizlispor Denizlispor, due to current sponsorship Altaş Denizlispor, is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. ...

. He played successful matches at the club which made it to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

that season. Unfortunately, some Turkish players, including team captain

Tolunay Kafkas Hakkı Tolunay Kafkas (born 21 March 1968) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish professional football manager and former player. He is manager of Turkey U-21. Biography Kafkas was born in Ankara, he is of Circassian origin. Playing career He play ...

, wanted coach Sakip Ozberk to give the starting spot to Turkish substitute Suleyman Kucuk. At a cup match against Fenerbahçe SK, Tolunay punched Soulama in the face and got a red card. However, despite being reduced to 10 men, Denizlispor managed to pull a surprise and defeat their opponent 2–1. At the end of the season Soulama left the club. In August 2007, Soulama joined Ghanaian team Asante Kotoko. In December 2014, Soulama joined Ghanaian team Hearts of Oak SC.

International career

Soulama was a member of the Burkinabé

2004 African Nations Cup The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the NOKIA African Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004 for sponsorship reasons (also referred to as AFCON 2004 or CAN 2004) is the 24th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's footb ...

team, who finished bottom of their group in the first round of competition, thus failing to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. After about five years absence from the national side he was recalled in 2012 for a 16 May exhibition match against Benin national football team and next month's 2014 FIFA World Cup double-header qualifiers against Congo and Gabon.

Honours

On 5 July 2008 Soulama was nominated as Goalkeeper of the Year 2008 in Ghana.

Death

Soulama died of cancer on 27 October 2017.

References

1979 births 2017 deaths Burkinabé men's footballers Burkinabé expatriate men's footballers Burkina Faso men's international footballers 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Men's association football goalkeepers Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Asante Kotoko S.C. players Denizlispor footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ghana Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Ghana ASFA Yennenga players Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. players CA Batna players Süper Lig players People from Cascades Region 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers from Ouagadougou 21st-century Burkinabé people Deaths from cancer {{BurkinaFaso-footy-bio-stub