Ismaël Kenneth Jordan Koné (born June 16, 2002) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player 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

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 ...

club

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 ...

, on loan from

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. Born in Ivory Coast, he represents

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at international level.

Early life

Koné was 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. In 2010, he moved to Canada with his mother at age 7, growing up in Montreal. Two years later, he began playing youth soccer with the AS Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Panthers. When he was 16, he joined CS Saint-Laurent. With CS Saint-Laurent he earned the bronze medal at the 2019 Canadian Under-17 Championship. He went on trial in Belgium with

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

and

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

, but was unable to sign with Mouscron as they did not have the funds available to sign a non-European player. Soon afterwards, he was forced to return to Canada due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, where he began training with CF Montreal U23 and earned an invite to the first team's training camp in 2021.

Club career

CF Montréal

After a few months training with the

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

first team, initially unable to sign a contract due to “some technicalities in MLS rules,” Koné officially signed a two-year contract with two option years on August 13, 2021. However, soon after signing his contract he suffered a knee injury, which limited his participation in training. After the 2021 season, he went to train with Montreal's sister club, Italian

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

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. Koné made his professional debut and scored his first goal with Montreal in a 3–0 win against

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

on February 23, 2022, in the

2022 CONCACAF Champions League The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2022 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League) was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions Cup under its former name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier Association football, football club ...

. During the 2022 summer transfer window, English Championship clubs Sheffield United and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

were reported to have approached Montréal over Koné's services.

Watford

In December 2022, 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 sys ...

club

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

announced they had agreed to sign Koné on a transfer from CF Montréal, with the midfielder signing a four-and-a-half-year deal. He made his debut on January 7, 2023, starting an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

match against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. Koné scored his first goal for Watford in a 3–2 win over

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

on November 28, 2023. In June 2024,

would announce that they had reached an agreement with Watford to sign Koné pending a medical, with Watford confirming that Koné would depart the club after appearing in 63 games and scoring 4 goals.

Marseille

On 28 June 2024, it was announced

club

Olympique Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Founded in 1899, OM has ...

had reached an agreement for the permanent signing of Koné, for a reported transfer fee of £15m including add-ons.

Loan to Rennes

On 3 February 2025, Koné joined

on loan for the remainder of the 2024–25 season.

International career

Koné was eligible to play for

and the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. In March 2022, Koné was called up to Canada for their final window of

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

matches. He made his debut on March 24 against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, as a substitute for Jonathan Osorio. Koné scored his first international goal for Canada in a friendly against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

on November 11, 2022. Two days later on November 13, he was named to Canada's 26-man squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He appeared in all three of the team's matches at the World Cup. At the end of the year, Koné was named the men's 2022 Canada Soccer Young Player of the Year. The following year, Koné was awarded again the Canada Soccer Young Player of the Year. In June 2023, Koné was called up to Canada ahead of the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League Finals. He scored in the second leg of the quarterfinals against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. In June 2024, Koné was named to Canada's squad for the 2024 Copa América. After starting in ''Les Rouges first two games, Koné was benched for Jonathan Osorio for the final group stage match—a 0–0 draw that sent Canada to the quarterfinals.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Honours

Individual * Canada Soccer Youth Player of the Year: 2022, 2023

References

External links

CF Montreal profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kone, Ismael 2002 births Living people Footballers from Abidjan Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian people of Ivorian descent Ivorian men's footballers Ivorian emigrants to Canada Men's association football midfielders CF Montréal players Watford F.C. players Olympique de Marseille players Stade Rennais FC players Major League Soccer players English Football League players Ligue 1 players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen