Souleymane Adama Diamouténé (born 30 January 1983) is a Malian 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 defender.

Club career

Diamouténé was born in

Sikasso Sikasso ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ tr. Sikaso) is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city with 225,753 residents in the 2009 census. History Sikasso was a small ...

. He spent his professional career in Italy, moving in the country after being noted by an

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

scout. He then trained with the ''zebrette'' under-19 squad for a few months between 1999 and 2000, without being officially signed. After a friendly against

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, he was spotted by Francesco D'Arrigo, the head coach of the ''nerazzurri'', who successfully signed him with his next club,

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

's Lucchese. Diamouténé spent two seasons with Lucchese, and in 2003 he was signed by

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. In 2004, Diamouténé joined

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce () is a Football in Italy, professional Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2023–24 Serie A, 2023–24 season, the top level of the Italian football league system, Italian footb ...

, becoming a mainstay of the ''salentini'' under coach Zdenek Zeman. He played two seasons in Serie A (2004–05, 2005–06) and two in Serie B (2006–07, 2007–08). He was confirmed with Lecce for the 2008–09 season, the first one back in the top flight for his club, but in January 2009, he was loaned to

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

with a pre-set price of €3.15M as a replacement for outgoing

Christian Panucci Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former footballer and manager. In his playing career he played as a defender. A versatile footballer, he began his career as a right-back, but was also capable of playing on the left; as he ...

. On 31 August 2009, Diamouténé joined

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

on a loan deal. On 10 February 2012, it was announced that Diamouténé had signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

club

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

. He was handed the number 25 shirt. On 23 May 2012, Diamouténé scored his first goal for Levski in a 7–0 win over

PFC Svetkavitsa Profesionalen futbolen klub Svetkavitsa 1922 (; ) is a Bulgarian football club based in Targovishte, which currently competes in Bulgaria's third tier, the North-East Third League. They play their home matches at the local Dimitar Burkov Stadium ...

. In August 2016, he joined

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

club Gżira United.

International career

At youth level, Diamouténé played at the

1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the eighth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, and Dunedin in New Zealand from 10 to 27 November 1999. Players born after 1 January 1982 could participate in ...

. He represented the Mali national team at the

2004 African Cup of Nations The 2004 African Cup of Nations was held from 24 January to 14 February 2004 in Tunisia. It was the 24th edition of the biennial international men's football championship of Africa, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Tun ...

in Tunisia, the

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated with the Confede ...

in Ghana and the

2010 Africa Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was held in Angola, where it began on 10 January 2 ...

in Angola.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Score and result list Mali's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Diamouténé goal.''

Honours

Perugia *

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

Profile at Football.it
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamoutene, Souleymane 1983 births Living people People from Sikasso Men's association football defenders Malian men's footballers Malian expatriate men's footballers Mali men's international footballers 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Lucchese 1905 players AC Perugia Calcio players US Lecce players AS Roma players SSC Bari players Fidelis Andria 2018 players Delfino Pescara 1936 players PFC Levski Sofia players Lupa Roma FC players ASD Nuova Igea Virtus players Gżira United F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Maltese Premier League players Malian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Malian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Malian expatriate sportspeople in Malta Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Malta 21st-century Malian sportsmen