Mahamadou Diarra (born 18 May 1981) is a Malian former 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 played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for the Mali national team.

Club career

OFI Crete

Diarra started his professional career at Greek club OFI at the age of 17, being signed after recommendation of his elder brother Harouna, who had joined the club a year earlier. After a single season at Greece and being watched by clubs such as

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, he decided to join Dutch club Vitesse.

Vitesse

Diarra made his debut for Vitesse on 13 August 1999. During his tenure at the club, his playing style was compared to

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...

and attracted interest from

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

, then coached by

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

. During the summer of 2002, after receiving offers from many European clubs, Vitesse sold Diarra to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

by €4 million, although the player favoured a move to

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 Greek ...

to rejoin his old manager

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

. Diarra played a total of 69 league matches and scored nine times for the

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

-based club.

Lyon

At Lyon, Diarra was a starter in each of his four seasons, playing alongside Michael Essien and

Juninho Pernambucano Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Júnior (born 30 January 1975), commonly known as Juninho Pernambucano or simply Juninho, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who was most recently the sporting director of French club Olympique Lyonna ...

in the midfield and helping his side to win the

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 ...

in each of those seasons.

Real Madrid

After

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

head coach

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...

asked club president

Ramón Calderón José Ramón Calderón Ramos (born 26 May 1951) is a Spanish lawyer who is the former President of Real Madrid. He got his Law Degree in the University of Navarra, Spain in 1974 and he worked in London, England, as a lawyer, in 1975 and 1976. A ...

to sign "three players", "Diarra, Diarra and Diarra", Real Madrid joined Manchester United in the race to sign the midfielder. Lyon said that Diarra could not leave and put a €40 million price tag on him. However, on 18 August 2006, Real Madrid agreed a fee of €26 million and four days later, Diarra was unveiled at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

by Calderón and was assigned the number 6 shirt. During the 2006–07 season, Diarra was a staple in Capello's two-defensive midfielder system. He appeared in 33 of Madrid's 38 matches, scoring three times. On 18 June 2007, with Real Madrid needing to win against

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

to win the Liga for the first time since 2003, Diarra scored an 81st-minute header to give Madrid a 2–1 lead. In the 84th minute,

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in ...

scored a third goal to ensure Real Madrid were champions. Diarra played a pivotal role in the 2007–08 title defence under new head coach

Bernd Schuster Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional footballer of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides FC Barcelona (1980–1987) and Real Madrid (1988–1990). He played as a m ...

, and he established himself as the first-choice

, causing teammate

Fernando Gago Fernando Rubén Gago (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine professional former player and football manager of Racing Club. During his 16-year club career, limited by multiple serious injuries, Gago played as a defensive midfielder and deep-lyi ...

to play higher upfield. Real Madrid comfortably won the Liga, finishing eight points clear of second-placed

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

. Diarra had now been a league champion for six consecutive seasons, after winning Ligue 1 with Lyon between 2002–03 and 2005–06, and La Liga with Real Madrid in 2006–07 and 2007–08. In October 2008, while playing an international fixture for

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

against

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

, Diarra was stretchered off the field after receiving a blow to his knee. He was rested for a month and made his next appearance in late November, but was forced to undergo surgery after aggravating his knee injury, which ruled him out for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. In his absence, Real Madrid signed

Lassana Diarra Lassana Diarra (born 10 March 1985) is a French former professional footballer. His predominant position was as a defensive midfielder but he could also play in a more advanced role and has played at right back, which he occasionally has done ...

from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

as a replacement defensive midfielder, who was issued Diarra's number 6 shirt. After recovering from injury, Diarra only started 8 further matches in two seasons for Real Madrid. In January 2011, it was reported that Diarra would be leaving Real Madrid, and was linked to several clubs including

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

Monaco

Diarra returned to

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

after signing with

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

on 27 January 2011. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. Diarra left Monaco after the club was relegated to

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 ...

at the end of the 2010–11 season. After his departure, he remained without a club for the first half of the 2011–12 season and was linked with moves to the Middle East and English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Fulham

Diarra signed for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

on 26 February 2012. He agreed to a contract for the remainder of the 2011–12 season, with an option for the 2012–13 season. He made his Fulham debut as a substitute against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 4 March, assisting the fifth goal in a 5–0 win. On 17 March, he made his first start for Fulham in a 3–0 home loss to Swansea City. He scored his first goal for Fulham against Bolton Wanderers on 7 April 2012. After impressing manager

Martin Jol Maarten Cornelis "Martin" Jol (born 16 January 1956) is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. He played over 400 games during his career which included spells in the Netherlands, Germany, and England, as well as earning three caps wit ...

throughout his 11 Premier League match, on 17 May, Diarra signed a new one-year contract at the club, keeping him at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

until the end of the 2012–13 season. Diarra was one of 12 players released by Fulham at the end of the 2012–13 season. Despite his release, Martin Jol remained positive on Diarra and vowed to help him over the summer to continue his rehabilitation. Diarra re-signed for Fulham on 26 March 2014 on a contract that expired at the end of the 2013–14 season in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to help the club survive relegation.

Later career

Diarra trained with Championship side

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

throughout the 2016–17 season and made an appearance for the club's

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

on 20 September 2016.

Style of play

FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had ...

'' magazine described Diarra's playing style with the following forwards in 2006: "Diarra provides aggression, tactical awareness, toughness and the discipline that other players simply lack."

Personal life

Diarra is a practising Muslim. He observes fasting during the Islamic month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

, he maintains that "every coach has respected my decision".

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

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

Honours

Lyon *

: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, 2003, 2004,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Real Madrid *

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

: 2008 Mali *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

bronze: 1999

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diarra, Mahamadou 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Bamako Malian Muslims Malian footballers Association football midfielders Mali international footballers 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Malian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate footballers in England OFI Crete F.C. players Olympique Lyonnais players AS Monaco FC players SBV Vitesse players Real Madrid CF players JS Centre Salif Keita players Fulham F.C. players Super League Greece players Eredivisie players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Premier League players Malian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Malian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Malian expatriate sportspeople in France Malian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Malian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Malian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Mali under-20 international footballers 21st-century Malian people