Hamed Junior Traorè (born 16 February 2000) is an Ivorian 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 an

attacking 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. ...

for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

, and the Ivory Coast national team.

Early life

Born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

, Ivory Coast, Traorè moved to Italy at a young age.

Club career

Empoli

Traorè made his

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

debut for

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

on 8 October 2017 in a game against

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

. On 26 August 2018, he made his debut in Serie A in the defeat against

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, substituting Zajc the 85th minute. On 15 January 2019,

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

agreed a deal to sign Traorè with him remaining on loan at Empoli for the remainder of the season. However, at the end of the season, Empoli chairman Fabrizio Corsi announced the deal had fallen through.

Sassuolo

On 12 July 2019, Traorè joined

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

on a two-year loan with an option to buy.

Bournemouth

On 31 January 2023, Traorè joined

side

on an initial loan until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, with the deal being set to turn into a permanent transfer and including a five-year contract. On 16 May, Bournemouth announced that the mandatory obligation to buy for the player had officially been activated. In December 2023, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola publicly confirmed that Traorè had been hospitalized after being diagnosed with

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, and that he was set to undergo long-term recovery. The following month, following medical tests in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, he was cleared to return to full training.

Loan to Napoli

On 17 January 2024, Traorè returned to Italy and joined

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on loan with a reported option to buy of €25 million. He only managed to make nine appearances in an underwhelming Napoli side

Loan to Auxerre

On 27 August 2024,

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

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

announced they had completed the loan signing of Traorè from

for one year with no purchase clause.

International career

Traorè debuted for the Ivory Coast U23s in a pair of 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualification matches in March 2019. He made his debut for the Ivory Coast national team on 6 September 2021 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, a 2–1 home victory. He substituted

Jérémie Boga Jérémie Boga (born 3 January 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a attacking midfielder or winger for Ligue 1 club Nice. Born in France, he plays for the Ivory Coast national team. Coming through Chelsea's youth system, Boga sp ...

in the 69th minute.

Personal life

In July 2020, an investigation into trafficking of football players was launched by the public prosecutor's office of

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. Among the involved was Hamed Mamadou Traorè, a distant relative of Hamed and his alleged brother Amad Diallo, who was accused of posing as their father to facilitate their immigration to Italy. The investigation also questioned the relationship between Hamed and Amad. On 10 February 2021, Traorè was found guilty of violating the Italian Sports Justice Code in order to join the football club "ASD Boca Barco" in 2015 under the name "Hamed Junior Traorè". He was accused of falsifying documents in order to fake a relationship with Hamed Mamadou Traorè, an Ivorian citizen resident in Italy, and request a

family reunification Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries because of the presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the divided family or only specific members of the family to ...

. Traorè requested a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

, with the Federal Prosecutor's Office imposing a fine of €48,000.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Traorè goal.''

Honours

Ivory Coast U23 *

Africa U-23 Cup of Nations The U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, or simply U-23 AFCON or U-23 CAN, is the quadrennial African football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football ( ...

runner-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

Hamed Traorè
at

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

(archived) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Traore, Hamed 2000 births Ivorian emigrants to Italy Living people Footballers from Abidjan Men's association football midfielders Ivorian men's footballers Ivory Coast men's under-20 international footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers Empoli FC players US Sassuolo Calcio players AFC Bournemouth players SSC Napoli players AJ Auxerre players Serie B players Serie A players Premier League players Ligue 1 players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in France 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen