Bakary Koné (, born 27 April 1988) is a Burkinabé 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 lea ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Early career

Koné played on youth side for CFTPK Abidjan and joined in 2004 to ÉF Ouagadougou where he began his professional career in 2005.

Guingamp

In July 2006 Koné signed for

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

. He played his first game for Guingamp on 11 May 2007 against

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), was a football club based in Tours, France. Formed in 1919, the club adopted the name Tours FC in 1951 after several other name changes. The club was dissolved on 26 February 2025 d ...

in the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

. Whilst at Guingamp, then in Ligue 2, Koné played in the 2009 Coupe de France Final in which they beat

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 ...

. After making 112 appearances for the club from five seasons, he was signed by Lyon in 2011.

Lyon

Koné joined

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

on 11 August 2011 and signed a five-year deal for a €3.8 million transfer fee. He scored his first goal with Lyon in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

play-offs against

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

on 24 August 2011. He scored his second goal, again in the Champions League in the group stage against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

on 27 September of the same year. During his five years at Lyon, he made 89 appearances for the club and also scored 9 goals. He left the club in 2016 after his regular contract ran out.

Malaga

On 27 June 2016, Koné signed a three-year deal with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

. On 26 August 2017, he moved to

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 ...

side

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a professional club in ...

on a season-long loan. On 28 July 2018, Koné terminated his contract with Málaga.

Ankaragücü

Koné joined Turkish club Ankaragücü during the August transfer window. He spent one season in Turkey and made 14 appearances for the club.

Arsenal Tula

On 28 January 2019, Koné signed a 1.5-year contract with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Arsenal Tula. On 2 December 2019, he was removed by Arsenal from their league registration list after only appearing in one league game in 2019.

Kerala Blasters

On 21 October 2020,

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

club

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian association football, professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in Indi ...

announced the signing of Koné on a season-long contract. He is the second Burkinabe to sign for an

club. He made his debut for the Blasters against

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

on 20 November 2020 which ended in a 1–0 loss. On 11 June 2021, it was announced that Bakary along with five other players has left the club.

International career

Koné made his debut for the Burkino Faso on 7 October 2006 at the age of 18. He played the entire 90 minutes where Burkino Faso defeated

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

1–0 in the

Africa Cup of Nations Qualification Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. He was the member of the Burkino Faso squad that played in the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange S.A., Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the Association football, footbal ...

. He played the entire minutes in the tournament and Burkino Faso became the runners up of the tournament for the first time in the history. In the final he won the Fair Player of the Match Award. On 14 November 2014, Koné captained his national side for the first time in an African Nations Cup Qualification match against

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. With 83 appearances, Koné is the third most capped player for his country.

Career statistics

Honours

Guingamp *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 2008–09French Cup final - Evian v Bordeaux as it happened
Live text commentary, BBC.co.uk, Retrieved 18 August 2013 Lyon *

: 2011–12 *

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 cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Burkina-Faso *

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

runner-up:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, third place:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kone, Bakary 1988 births Living people Burkinabe men's footballers Footballers from Ouagadougou Men's association football central defenders Burkina Faso men's international footballers 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players La Liga players Russian Premier League players En Avant Guingamp players Olympique Lyonnais players Étoile Filante de Ouagadougou players Málaga CF players RC Strasbourg Alsace players MKE Ankaragücü footballers FC Arsenal Tula players Kerala Blasters FC players Burkinabe expatriate men's footballers Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in Ivory Coast Expatriate men's footballers in Ivory Coast Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia 21st-century Burkinabe sportsmen