Mohamed Camara (born 6 January 2000) is a Malian professional footballer 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. ...

for

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

club

Al Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club () is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the capital city Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the top level of Qatari football, the Qatar Stars League. Locally, it i ...

and the Mali national team.

Club career

Camara started his career at

Real Bamako Association Sportive du Real Bamako, commonly referred to as Real Bamako is a Malian professional football club based in Bamako. They compete in the Malian Première Division, top division of Malian football. Their home stadium is Stade Modibo Ke ...

before joining Red Bull Salzburg on five-year deal in 2018. On 8 January 2019, he was loaned to

TSV Hartberg TSV Hartberg, currently known as TSV Egger Glas Hartberg for sponsorship reasons, is an association football club based in Hartberg, Styria, Austria. Founded in 1946, the club competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of the Aust ...

for the rest of the season. On 18 February 2021, Camara was suspended for three months of all club and international football activities by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

, following a doping investigation conducted by

in which Camara tested positive after taking an altitude sickness medicine prescribed by the Malian National Team Doctor. On 14 August 2022,

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

announced that Camara signed a five-year contract with the club. On 30 July 2024, Camara signed a five-year contract with Qatari side

International career

Camara debuted for the Mali national team in a 2–1 friendly loss to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 13 October 2019. In December 2021, Camara 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 January 2, 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 ...

Controversy

On 19 May 2024, the

Ligue de Football Professionnel The (, ''Professional Football League''), commonly known as the LFP, is a French governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in France and Monaco. It was founded in 1944 and serves under the authority of the French Footba ...

(LFP) celebrated the

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) is list of minor secular observances#May, observed on 17 May and aims to coordinate international events that raising awareness, raise awareness of LGBTQ rights violati ...

. During this event, Camara covered the campaign logo on his jersey, which featured the word 'Homophobie', with a red cross using two pieces of white tape. He also removed the LFP logo in

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

colors on the sleeves with a black tape. Before the event, he refused to pose for the pre-match group photo in which the football players posed in front of the campaign logo. The French Minister of Equal Opportunities and French Sports Minister condemned his actions. The sports minister called his actions "unacceptable behavior" and asked for the "strongest sanctions" against Camara. In reference to his actions, the minister of equality tweeted, "Homophobia is not an opinion, it's a crime. And homophobia kills. There must be strict punishment for Mohamed Camara." The LFP summoned Camara for a disciplinary hearing. Monaco's general manager Thiago Scuro apologized and cited religious reasons for the actions of Camara, a Muslim. However, the

Malian Football Federation The Malian Football Federation () is the governing body of football in Mali. Founded in 1960, it joined the Confederation of African Football, CAF in 1963 and has been affiliated with FIFA since 1964. Its first general secretary was Garan Fabou K ...

issued a support letter for his actions, citing "fundamental rights". On 30 May 2024, the LFP suspended Camara for four matches.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''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 ...

: 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 *

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 ...

: 2019–20,

, 2021–22 Mali U17 *

Africa U-17 Cup of Nations The U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, is a biennial youth association football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for its nations consist ...

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 ...

Mali U20 *

Africa U-20 Cup of Nations The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known for short as the U-20 AFCON and for sponsorship purposes as TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, previously known as the African Youth Championship and the African U-20 Championship, is the biennial i ...

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 ...

Individual

Team of the Year: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the AS Monaco FC website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Camara, Mohamed 2000 births Footballers from Bamako Living people Malian men's footballers Mali men's international footballers Mali men's youth international footballers Malian expatriate men's footballers AS Real Bamako players FC Liefering players TSV Hartberg players FC Red Bull Salzburg players AS Monaco FC players Al Sadd SC players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players Ligue 1 players Qatar Stars League players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Malian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Malian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Malian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar