Seko Mohamed Fofana (born 7 May 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club Lens. Born in France, he represents the Ivory Coast national team.

Club career

Manchester City

Born in Paris, France, Fofana began his youth career at Paris FC when he was nine and stayed there for six years before joining Lorient. After two years at Lorient, he moved to England when he joined Premier League side

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in 2013 and was immediately sent to the development squad. Fofana began to be a regular in the under-18s in the 2013–14 season, making 20 appearances and scoring 5 goals in the league and playing 7 times scoring twice in the club's UEFA Youth League campaign against CSKA Moscow and Benfica Juniors. During

's U21 friendly match against HNK Rijeka, he was racially abused by one of the opposition player just before half-time. As a result, players from Manchester City's U21 squad walked off the pitch, prompting the match to be cancelled. After the match, Manager Patrick Vieira praised the action of the players to walk out.

Fulham (loan)

On 27 November 2014, Fofana signed for Championship side

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

on loan until 31 January 2015. He made his Fulham debut two days later, where he came on as a substitute for Emerson Hyndman in the 63rd minute, in a 2–1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. His form and performance convinced Fulham to extend the loan spell until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for the club on 21 March 2015 to secure a 2–0 win away to Huddersfield Town. Having established himself under the management of

Kit Symons Christopher Jerry "Kit" Symons (born 8 March 1971) is a professional association football manager and former Welsh international footballer. As a professional player, he had lengthy spells at Portsmouth, Manchester City and Fulham as well as earn ...

, Fofana went on to make 25 appearances scoring once before returning to his parent club.

Bastia (loan)

After making two appearances for City during their pre-season tour in Australia (playing the second half of a 2–0 win over Adelaide United, and coming on as a late substitute in Manchester City's 1–0 win over Melbourne City), the Premier League club agreed to send Fofana out on loan again to gain further experience. The Frenchman subsequently returned to his native France, to join Bastia on a season-long loan on 29 July 2015. He made his

debut in the opening game of the season 10 days later, on 8 August 2015, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2−1 win at home to

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. He then scored his first goal on 12 December 2015, in a 1–1 draw against

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

, followed up by assisting in the next game on 19 December 2015, in a 2–0 win over

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

. In a 1–0 win over

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

on 16 January 2016, Fofana received a straight red card in the 65th minutes. After the match, he was given a four match ban and Fofana, himself, apologised for his action. In total, he made 32 appearances and scoring once for Bastia.

Udinese

After three years at Manchester City, Fofana joined Serie A side Udinese, signing a five-year deal for worth £2.5 million. In addition, the move included a possible €2 million bonus and Bastia receiving 15% of the total compensation, up to €700K. Fofana made his Udinese debut in the opening game of the season playing 79 minutes before being substituted, in a 4–0 loss against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Lens

On 18 August 2020, Fofana signed a four-year contract with RC Lens. After a string of good performances, he was awarded the

Ligue 1 Player of the Month The UNFP Player of the Month trophy is an award that recognises the best Ligue 1 player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 50% of the final tally, and the players of each ...

for September 2021. In May 2022, Fofana won the

Prix Marc-Vivien Foé The Prix Marc-Vivien Foé is an award in an honour to the late Marc-Vivien Foé Marc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a Cameroonian professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder for both club and country. Having ini ...

as the best African player in France's top flight for the 2021–22 campaign, following a season in which he scored eight goals in 37 appearances.

International career

Fofana was eligible to play for France and

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, as his parents come from there. Fofana previously represented France U16, France U17, France U18 and France U19. On 3 April 2017, Fofana chose to represent the Ivory Coast, the country of his parents. Fofana made his debut for Ivory Coast in a 2–0

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

loss to Morocco on 11 November 2017.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fofana goal.''

Honours

Individual * UNFP

Team of the Year: 2021–22 *

: 2021–22 * UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month:

September 2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fofana, Seko 1995 births Living people Footballers from Paris Association football midfielders Citizens of Ivory Coast through descent Ivorian footballers Ivory Coast international footballers French footballers France youth international footballers French sportspeople of Ivorian descent English Football League players Ligue 1 players Serie A players Manchester City F.C. players Fulham F.C. players SC Bastia players Udinese Calcio players RC Lens players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in England