Diadie Samassékou (born 11 January 1996) is a Malian 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He also represents the Mali national team.

Club career

Red Bull Salzburg

In August 2015, Samassékou signed a four-year contract with Red Bull Salzburg, initially joining their farm team

FC Liefering FC Liefering GmbH is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club, originally from Salzburg#Districts, Liefering, Salzburg. It currently plays in the Austrian Football Second League, Second League, the second tier of Austrian f ...

. During the 2017–18 season Salzburg had their best ever European campaign. They finished top of their Europa League group, for a record fourth time, before beating

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

thus making their first ever appearance in the UEFA Europa League semi-final. On 3 May 2018, he played in the Europa League semi-finals as

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

played out a 1–2 away loss but a 3–2 aggregate win to secure a place in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final.

TSG Hoffenheim

On 15 August 2019,

TSG Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern fo ...

announced the signing of Samassékou on a five-year deal. On 1 February 2024, Samassékou joined

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

in Spain on loan.

International career

Samassékou represented Mali at youth level at the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

and the

2016 Toulon Tournament The 2016 Toulon Tournament was the 44th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It took place 18–29 May 2016. The tournament was used by several teams as preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The tournament was won by England. Participants ;AFC ...

. He made his debut for the senior team in a 3–1 friendly win against

China PR China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

on 29 June 2014. He competes for his first international competition in the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

. In December 2021, Samassékou was selected by coach Mohamed Magassouba to participate in the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's ass ...

. On 2 January 2024 he was selected from the list of 27 Malian players selected by

Éric Chelle Éric Sékou Chelle (born 11 November 1977) is a professional football manager, head coach of the Nigeria national football team and a former player who played as a centre-back. Born in Ivory Coast to a French father and a Malian mother, he made ...

to compete in the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mali's goal tally first.''

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2016–17, 2018–19 Individual * Austrian Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2017–18, 2018–19 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

Squad of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samassekou, Diadie 1996 births Living people Malian men's footballers Malian expatriate men's footballers Mali men's international footballers Mali men's under-20 international footballers Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players Bundesliga players Super League Greece players Men's association football midfielders FC Liefering players FC Red Bull Salzburg players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Olympiacos F.C. players Cádiz CF players Malian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Malian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Malian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Malian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers from Bamako