Andy Alune Diouf (born 17 May 2003) is a French 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

Early life

Born in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

, Hauts-de-Seine, Diouf was raised in

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

. He started playing football at the age of 6 years, in the nearby

La Garenne-Colombes La Garenne-Colombes () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from Notre Dame de Paris, France's kilometre zero. Name The commune used to be part of the neighbouring city of Colombes. At t ...

Club career

Rennes

Diouf played for the youth teams of

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

(PSG) and

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

, also spending two years at the

INF Clairefontaine The INF Clairefontaine (), known as INF or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of sixtee ...

, before joining the

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

academy in 2015. He made his professional debut for Rennes on 9 May 2021, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

home draw against his former club PSG.

Basel

On 18 July 2022, Diouf joined

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in Switzerland on a season-long loan with an option to buy. He joined Basel's first team for their 2022–23 season under head coach

Alexander Frei Alexander Frei or Alex Frei (born 15 July 1979) is a Swiss professional football coach and a former player who played as a forward. He was most recently head coach of FC Aarau in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Fr ...

. Diouf played his domestic league debut for his new club on 24 July 2022 in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

as Basel played a 1–1 draw against

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

. He scored his first goal for his new team on 13 October in the away game in the Tehelné pole stadium as Basel played in the

2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage The 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage began on 8 September 2022 and ended on 3 November 2022. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide 8 of the 16 places in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League knockout pha ...

against Slovan Bratislava. Diouf was substituted in for Wouter Burger in the 64th minute as Basel were 3–1 down and he scored just one minute later. His first shot was blocked, but he headed home the rebound. Just seven minutes later Basel equalised and the game ended in a 3–3 draw. On 2 May 2023, the option to buy was activated, with Diouf signing a four-year contract. But, not quite two months later, the

decided to move back to France. During his one season with the club, Diouf played a total of 60 games for Basel scoring a total of three goals. 34 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

, five in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, 18 in the

2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League was the second season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. It was won ...

, where the team advanced to the semi-finals and three were friendly games. He scored all three goals in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

Lens

On 30 June 2023, Diouf signed for

club

on a five-year contract.

International career

Born in France, Diouf is of Senegalese descent. He is a youth international for France.

Career statistics

Honours

France U23 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

silver medal:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Season:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

*UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season:

Orders *

Knight of the National Order of Merit A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

: 2024

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diouf, Andy 2003 births Living people Footballers from Nanterre French men's footballers Men's association football forwards Paris Saint-Germain FC players AC Boulogne-Billancourt players Stade Rennais FC players FC Basel players RC Lens players Championnat National 3 players Ligue 1 players Swiss Super League players France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for France Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Olympic silver medalists for France Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Senegalese descent 21st-century French sportsmen