Ludovic Lamine Sané (born 22 March 1987) is a former

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 ...

. He played primarily 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 ...

but has also been used as

holding 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. ...

. Born in France, he represented

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 ...

at international level.

Football career

Early career

Sané was born in

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly name ...

in southwestern France and began his football career playing for local club US Lormont on the outskirts of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. He later joined

Stade Bordelais Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of dom ...

before signing a contract with

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

club

RCO Agde RCO Agde () is a French football club. The club is based at the 3500-seat Stade Louis Sanguin in Agde. History RCO Agde was created in 1999 from the merger of ''Racing Club Agathois'' (founded 1904) and ''Football Olympique Agathois''. As of the ...

at the age of 19. Sané spent one season at Agde appearing in 25 matches scoring one goal. Following the season, he returned to Lormont and spent a season playing in the Division d'Honneur. During the summer of 2008, Sané jumped five divisions signing a three-year professional contract with

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

Bordeaux

Sané initially played with the club's reserve team upon his arrival appearing in 15 matches during the 2008–09 season. While playing with the amateurs, the young player impressed manager

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (; born 19 November 1965) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back and is the manager of Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad Club (J ...

and assistant

Jean-Louis Gasset Jean-Louis Gasset (born 9 December 1953) is a French professional football manager and former player. As a player, he played as a midfielder, spending ten years at his hometown club Montpellier. Football career Born in Montpellier, Gasset played ...

. For the 2009–10 pre-season, Sané featured regularly and performed well, most notably in a 3–1 win over Spanish club

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

after appearing as a second-half substitute. On 19 September 2009, Sané was called up to the first team for the first time for Bordeaux's league match against

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

. He didn't appear in the match, but eventually became a regular in the first 18 often appearing on the bench as a backup for French international

Alou Diarra Alou Diarra (born 15 July 1981) is a French former professional association football, footballer. He was a List of France international footballers, France international from 2004 until 2012. As of the 2022–23 season, he is the manager of ES T ...

. On 3 November, Sané made his professional debut in the club's 2–0 victory over German club

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

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 ...

appearing as a substitute in the 84th minute. The following month, he earned his first start playing the entire match in Bordeaux's 1–0 victory over

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i club

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa () is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football, Basketball, Weightl ...

. Sané made his league debut four days later in Bordeaux's important tie with

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 ...

. Bordeaux won the match 1–0 with Sané playing the full 90 minutes. On 8 January 2010, Sané agreed to a contract extension with Bordeaux which will tie him to the club until 2014. He scored his first goal for Bordeaux in a 3–1 loss to

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 ...

in a

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

final at the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

Werder Bremen

After spending seven senior years at Bordeaux, Sané departed the club and signed for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

for an undisclosed fee. In January 2018, the club's sporting director Frank Baumann announced that Sané would not be part of the team "for the time being" because he had been absent from training on two days without a valid excuse. Sané would also be allowed to settle his personal sporting future.

Orlando City

On 20 February 2018, Sané signed for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

. He made his debut as a halftime substitute away to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 17 March and scored his first goal for the club against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

in a 3–1 home victory on 6 May. After an injury-troubled first season with the club in which they set a new MLS record for goals conceded in a season, Sané formed a strong central partnership with Robin Jansson in

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 ...

and was a regular starter as Orlando turned things round defensively, conceding a team-record low number of goals. Despite this, on 21 November 2019, it was announced Sané had his contract option for the 2020 season declined by Orlando as part of the end-of-season roster decisions.

FC Utrecht

On 8 February 2020, Sané signed for

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

until the end of the season. He made his debut on 16 February as an 89th minute substitute against Willem II, entering with Utrecht leading 1–0. The game finished 1–1 after Willem II scored a stoppage time equalizer. Sané was an unused substitute in the next three league games as well as a 2–0

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

semi-final win over

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

before the season was canceled 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 ...

in April. He was released at the end of his contract having made one appearance.

Personal life

Ludovic's younger brother

Salif Sané Salif Sané (born 25 August 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Mérignac. Born in France, he represents Senegal at international level. Early and personal life Sané was born in Lormont, France to Senegalese parent ...

is also a professional footballer and Senegalese international.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Bordeaux *

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 ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sane, Lamine 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Villeneuve-sur-Lot Senegalese men's footballers French men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football midfielders Senegal men's international footballers 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players Eredivisie players RCO Agde players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players SV Werder Bremen players Orlando City SC players FC Utrecht players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Footballers from Lot-et-Garonne French expatriate sportspeople in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in the United States Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen