Abdoul Razzagui Camara (born 20 February 1990) is a Guinean 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 as a striker, but was also often utilized as a left-winger.

Early life

Camara was born in

Mamou Mamou ( Pular: 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤵𞤲) is a city and sub-prefecture in a valley of the Fouta Djallon area of Guinea. The population is 376,269 (2018 est). Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

, but he moved to France at a young age. He acquired

French nationality French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', (Latin for "right of blood") according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nat ...

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

on 28 June 2002.

Football career

Early career

In 1999, he joined local club OS Fives, located in the commune

Fives Fives (historically known as hand-tennis) is an English handball sport derived from ''jeu de paume'', similar to the games of handball, Basque pelota, and squash. The game is played in both singles and doubles teams, in an either three- or f ...

, a suburb in the city of

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. In June 2004, he joined the prestigious youth academy of

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

Rennes

While playing in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

, Camara was a part of a slew of talented youngsters. Among his teammates were

Yann M'Vila Yann Gérard M'Vila (born 29 June 1990) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Stade Malherbe Caen, Caen. M'Vila is a France national football team, French international, having played ...

Yacine Brahimi Yacine Nasreddine Brahimi (; born 8 February 1990) is a professional footballer who plays for and captains the Qatari club Al-Gharafa and the Algeria national team. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is described as "technica ...

, Samuel Souprayen, Maxime Le Marchand and

Damien Le Tallec Damien Le Tallec (born 19 April 1990) is a French professional football official and a former centre-back. He works as an advisor with the Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg. A former France youth international, Le Tallec appeared with the und ...

. The team effectively lived up to their reputation by winning the under-18 championship in the 2006–07 season and the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their s ...

in 2008. On 15 August 2007, Camara, alongside M'Vila and Le Tallec, signed his first professional contract, agreeing to a three-year deal. His play during the 2007–08 season was limited playing mainly with the club's

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

team and the under-18 squad. He was subsequently promoted to the senior team for the 2008–09 season. However, he wasn't assigned a number, and again, played on the club's CFA team. He appeared in 30 matches, scoring 4 goals and helping the side finish 1st among professional clubs in their group, thus qualifying for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, where they lost 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 ...

in the semi-finals. He made his professional début for Rennes on the final matchday of the 2008–09 season appearing as a substitute in the club's 4–0 defeat to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. On 3 August 2009, Rennes agreed to send Camara on loan to

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 ...

club

Vannes OC Vannes Olympique Club (; commonly referred to as simply Vannes) is a professional French football club based in Vannes. The club was formed in 1998 as a result of the merger of ''Véloce vannetais'' founded in 1911 and ''FC Vannes'' known before ...

for the entire season. He was given the first-team number 9 shirt and made his début in the club's opening league match against

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, appearing as a substitute in a match that Vannes won 3–0. He played 37 league matches, scoring 4 goals. Camara returned to Rennes for the 2010–11 season but only played intermittently, also playing 8 matches for the B team, scoring 3 goals.

Sochaux

Camara was sold to Sochaux-Montbéliard for £1.5m in the summer of 2011. He played 21 matches in his first season and another 15 in the first half of the 2012–13 season before being loaned out to Greek side

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

in January 2013 for the rest of the season. He played 13

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

matches, scoring twice. Camara spent the first half of the 2013–14 season at Sochaux-Montbéliard before being loaned out again, this time on 31 January 2014 to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

team

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

Angers

On 1 July 2014, after the expiry of his contract with Sochaux, Camara signed a three-year contract with

Angers SCO Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest, commonly referred to as Angers SCO (), is a French professional football club based in Angers in Pays de la Loire in western France. The club was founded in 1919 and plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Foot ...

. Camara played 27 league matches in his first season, scoring 6 goals. In the 2015–16 season, he impressed in manager Stephane Moulin's 4–3–3 formation, scoring twice in 17 matches and helping Angers to third in the table at the time of his departure from the club.

Derby County

On 4 January 2016, Camara joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £1.25 million. Camara made his debut for Derby on 9 January against Hartlepool United in the FA Cup. He scored his first goal for the club in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

tie against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

on 8 February 2017.

Retirement

He retired on health grounds in September 2018.

International career

He played for the under-17, under-18 and under-21 teams. He was a part of the under-17 squad that reached the quarter-finals of the

2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, the twelfth edition of the tournament, was held in South Korea between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four ...

. On 24 January 2012 Camara made his senior international début for the Guinea national team at the

2012 African Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CA ...

, coming on as a substitute for Alhassane Bangoura in a 1–0 loss against

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 ...

. He scored twice in three matches during the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (C ...

: the third in a 6–1 win over

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

on 28 January and the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

on 1 February. He played with the national team in

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was org ...

, where the team reached the quarter-finals.

Style of play

Camara usually plays as a striker, but can also play as a left-winger. He describes himself as "a quick player. I like dribbling and to make a difference to the team but I also like to defend." In the 2015–16 season he was recognised as the quickest player in French football.

Career statistics

Honours

Rennes *

: 2008

References

External links

* *
Stade Rennais FC Profile
*
Camara in Guinea squad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camara, Abdoul 1990 births Living people People from Mamou Men's association football forwards Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers French sportspeople of Guinean descent Guinean men's footballers 21st-century Guinean sportsmen Guinea men's international footballers Guinean expatriate men's footballers Guinean expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Super League Greece players English Football League players Stade Rennais FC players Vannes OC players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players PAOK FC players RCD Mallorca players Angers SCO players Derby County F.C. players En Avant Guingamp players France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen