Lassina Chamste Soudine Franck Traoré (born 12 January 2001) is a Burkinabè 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 ...

who plays as a forward for

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

club

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

and the Burkina Faso national team.

Club career

Rahimo

Traoré began his football career in the youth ranks of Rahimo FC in his hometown of

Bobo-Dioulasso Bobo-Dioulasso is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of 904,920 (); it is the second-largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means "home of the Bobo-Dioula". The local Bobo-speaking population (r ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

. He was scouted by Ajax and brought to South Africa, where was stalled at the clubs' satellite club

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ...

until he was old enough to legally transfer to Amsterdam.

Ajax Cape Town

Shortly after his 18th birthday, Traoré moved to Europe joining

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in January 2019, on a three and a half year contract. He had previously played for Rahimo in Burkina Faso and was on the books of

in South Africa where he finished as top scorer of the reserves team before departing for the Netherlands.

Ajax

Traoré was named on the bench for the first time in Ajax's fateful second leg defeat to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in the

semi-finals 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 ...

of the

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 competi ...

on 8 May 2019, before making his debut in the final seconds of their 4–1 win over

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

in the league four days later. He would have to wait over five months for his next first-team appearance as a late substitute in a 4–0 win against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

on 27 October 2019. On 24 October 2020, Traoré scored five goals and assisted a further three in a record-breaking 13–0 league victory over

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followin ...

. Three days later, Traoré earned a penalty-kick and scored his first goal in

European competition The European Competition is a student competition in which students of all ages submit creative, artistic, or written pieces of work on the activities of the European Union. Tendered by European Movement Germany, it is the oldest student competition ...

in a 2–2 draw away to

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

in the group stage of the

Shakhtar Donetsk

On 18 June 2021, it was announced that Traoré had joined

side

for a fee of €10 million. On 22 September, Traoré scored twice in Shakhtar's 3–0 win against rivals

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

in the

2021 Ukrainian Super Cup The 2021 Ukrainian Super Cup was the 18th edition of Ukrainian Super Cup, an annual association football, football match contested by the previous season's 2020–21 Ukrainian Premier League, Ukrainian Premier League champions and 2020–21 Ukraini ...

International career

Traoré made his international debut for

on 4 May 2017, during a friendly match against

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

Playing style

Lassina Traoré is not remarkably tall at 1.83 m, but his muscularity makes him well suited for a physical playing style. As a team player, he is technically competent beyond being a typical ‘ target man’.

Personal life

Traoré's mother was a former professional footballer and captained the Burkina Faso women's national football team. His cousin,

Bertrand Traoré Bertrand Isidore Traoré (born 6 September 1995) is a Burkinabé professional footballer who plays as a forward for Süper Lig club İstanbul Başakşehir, on loan from Premier League club Aston Villa and the Burkina Faso national team. A ...

, is also a professional footballer, who plays as a right winger for Aston Villa.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Burkina Faso's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Traoré goal.''

Honours

Ajax *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 2018–19, 2020–21 * KNVB Cup: 2018–19, 2020–21 Shakhtar Donetsk *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football competition season in Ukra ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Individual * Eredivisie Player of the Month: October 2020

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traore, Lassina Living people 2001 births Sportspeople from Bobo-Dioulasso Burkinabé men's footballers Burkina Faso men's international footballers Ukrainian Premier League players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Rahimo FC players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players Burkinabé expatriate men's footballers Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Burkinabé expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine 21st-century Burkinabé people Men's association football forwards