Ousmane Camara (born 1 January 2006) is a

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Latvian club

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian professional association football, football club, playing in the Latvian Higher League, the highest division of domestic football. They are based in Ķekava, near the capital Riga. Auda won their first ever major t ...

on loan from

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian Association football, football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 Latvian Higher League, 2016, the club has been playing in the Latv ...

. Born in Mali, he represents

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

internationally.

Club career

On 11 October 2023, Camara was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2006 worldwide. On 10 January 2024,

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

side

announced the signing on Kamara.

International career

Camara was born and raised in Mali where he played for Sadio Diarra Center academy. He was released in 2017 where he then joined Rahimo FC in Burkina Faso. Camara was called up to the Burkina Faso under-17 squad after obtaining a Burkinabe passport ahead of

2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-17 association football, football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations. Players born 1 January 2006 or later were eligible to ...

, which doubled as a mini-tournament for teams in the

West African Football Union The West African Football Union (; ), officially abbreviated as WAFU-UFOA and WAFU, is a sports governing body representing the football associations in West Africa that was founded in 1975 and is a subregional body of the Confederation of Afr ...

. Having scored five goals in five games, including a brace against 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 ...

, he was unable to help Burkina Faso win the tournament, as they were defeated 2–1 by

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. Despite this loss, Burkina Faso still qualified for the

2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations known as the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes or 2023 U17 AFCON for short was the 14th edition (19th if editions without hosts are included) of the biennial African youth footb ...

. Having lost their opening game to

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

, a 2–1 win over

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 ...

helped them to the next round, though Camara was suspended for the quarter-final match against

, having been booked in both of the previous games. He was unable to help Burkina Faso progress past

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 ...

in the semi-finals, but scored in the 2–1 third-place playoff win over Mali,in which he did not celebrate his goal due to Mali being his country of origin. He dedicated his man-of-the-match award to the people of Burkina Faso. Camara made his debut for the senior Burkina Faso national team on 6 September 2024 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Camara, Ousmane 2006 births People from Koulikoro Region Living people Burkinabe men's footballers Burkina Faso men's youth international footballers Burkina Faso men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Rahimo FC players Riga FC players FK Auda players Burkinabe Premier League players Latvian Higher League players Burkinabe expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in Latvia 21st-century Burkinabe sportsmen