Pape Malickou Diakhaté (born 21 June 1984) is a Senegalese former 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 played as a

central defender 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 ...

Club career

Diakhaté was born in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, Senegal. Having come through the Nancy youth ranks, he made his

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

debut on 20 October 2001, playing the first half of the 2–0 win over

LB Châteauroux La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (), commonly referred to as La Berrichonne or simply Châteauroux, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Châteauroux. The football team is a part of a sports club that consists of seve ...

. He played 25 league matches the following season, and appeared regularly for the club, although his 2003–04 season was severely disrupted by injury. 2004–05 brought Diakhaté favourable recognition, winning a place in

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

's team of the season. On 18 July 2007, it was announced that Diakhaté had signed a contract with Ukrainian club

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

for a €4 million transfer fee. He made his debut for Dynamo on 1 August 2007 in a league fixture against

FC Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Odesa, Ukraine. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as ''Dynamo'', but until 2002 it carried a logo with 1958 and 1959

. He quickly established himself in the first team and even captained the club on occasion. A month later, on 1 September, he broke a

collar bone The clavicle, collarbone, or keybone is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on each side of the body. The clavicle is the ...

in a match against FC Kharkiv, but once recovered returned to the team. On 16 December 2009, he left Dynamo Kyiv, and returned to France signing a half-year loan contract with

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

. The following season he was loaned to

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 ...

. On 26 August 2011, Diakhaté signed for Spanish club

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

, for a club record transfer fee of €4.5 million on a four-year contract. In January 2016, he joined former club

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), known as AS Nancy Lorraine, and more commonly as Nancy, is a French football club founded in 1967 and based in Nancy, Grand Est. The club plays its home matches at the Stade Marcel Picot located in Tomb ...

signing a contract until the end of the season. Having made few appearances due to back problems, he left the club at the end of his contract. In August 2017, after a year without a club, Diakhaté signed with fifth-tier side FC Lunéville. He played for the club on the first four matchdays before being reported as injured. In October, he agreed to the termination of his contract.

International career

In 2004, Diakhaté earned a full international call-up from

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 ...

. After Nancy's promotion to

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 ...

in 2005, Diakhaté was also part of the Senegalese team that finished fourth in the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split in ...

Position

Originally a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and capable of playing as a wide midfielder, he is recognised mainly as 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 ...

. He has also been known to play in goal for Senegal on numerous occasions.

Career statistics

Honours

Nancy *

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 ...

: 2005–06 Dynamo Kyiv *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

: 2008/09 * Ukrainian Super Cup: 2011

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diakhate, Pape 1984 births Living people Footballers from Dakar Senegalese men's footballers 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers Men's association football defenders AS Nancy Lorraine players AS Saint-Étienne players Olympique Lyonnais players FC Dynamo Kyiv players Granada CF footballers Kayseri Erciyesspor footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 3 players Ukrainian Premier League players La Liga players Süper Lig players Senegal men's international footballers Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in France Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century French sportsmen