Aboubacar Kobele Keita (born April 6, 2000) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays 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 ...

for

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

. Keita was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

but grew up in Ohio, playing for the Crew Academy. After just one year in college at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, he signed with the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

as a Homegrown Player. Keita made his professional debut in 2019 while on loan to

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...

Early life

Although he was born in

, Keita was raised in

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 ...

, moved to

Westerville, Ohio Westerville is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin and Delaware County, Ohio, Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. A northeastern suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus as well as the home of Otterbein University, the population was 39 ...

, at the age of 10 and attended

Westerville North High School Westerville North High School is a public high school in Westerville, Ohio in Delaware County, Ohio. It is one of three high schools in the Westerville City School District. The school's current principal is Kurt Yancey. Background The high sc ...

. As a sophomore, he was named Honorable Mention All-

Ohio Capital Conference The Ohio Capital Conference is a high school athletic conference located in Central Ohio. It comprises 33 public high schools located primarily in suburban Columbus, Ohio, encompassing Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Hocking, Licking, Pickaw ...

while primarily playing 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 ...

. He joined the Crew Academy in 2016, playing in the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league featured youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

for the U16/17 and U18/19 teams and scoring once in 43 appearances. Keita also trained with the Crew's first team and played against

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

at the 2018 Carolina Challenge Cup. In January 2018, Keita took part in his first international camp, training with the United States U19 team Later that month, he committed to play collegiately at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

College

Keita made his debut for

on August 24, 2018, starting the season-opener against nationally ranked

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He played the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 victory over the Wildcats. On September 28, he scored his first collegiate goal from a header as part of a 2–0 victory against

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. Keita appeared in all three postseason games for the Cavaliers, and was eliminated in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

of the NCAA tournament. After concluding his lone collegiate season with one goal in 17 appearances, Keita was named to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

All-Freshman Team and earned an invite to a camp for the United States U20 national team.

Club career

Columbus Crew

On January 22, 2019, Keita was announced as the 12th Homegrown Player signing in

history. Keita had attended his first Crew game at the age of 12 and, as a Crew Academy player, had previously trained with the first team. In a bid to get acclimated to the professional game, Keita was sent on loan to

club

on March 6, 2019. The loan was for the duration of the

2019 USL League One season The 2019 USL League One season was the inaugural season of USL League One. The regular season consisted of a 28–game schedule that began on March 29 and concluded on October 5. The playoffs began on October 12 with the final match of the posts ...

, with Columbus able to recall him at any point during the year. Keita made his professional debut on April 27 versus

Chattanooga Red Wolves Chattanooga Red Wolves SC is an American professional soccer club based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They are a founding member of USL League One in the third division of American men's soccer. The club was announced as a member of USL League One ...

, coming on in the 77th minute to help Richmond see out a 1–0 victory. After suffering an injury during the U20 World Cup, Keita returned to Columbus from his loan to Richmond. On July 3, he made his debut for Columbus with a midweek start against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

. Keita would go on to make 10 appearances throughout the season for Columbus. Before

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

disrupted the initial start to the

2020 MLS season The 2020 Major League Soccer season was the 25th season of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. The regular season began on February 29, 2020, and was originally planned to end on October ...

, Keita started and played 90 minutes in one of Columbus's first two games. Keita went on to make a total of 13 appearances for Columbus during the Covid-shortened 2020 season, 12 appearances during the regular season and 1 appearance during the playoffs. Keita was part of the team that won

MLS Cup 2020 MLS Cup 2020 was the 25th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), and was played at Historic Crew Stadium, Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio. The match was originally set to take place on Nov ...

. Keita made his debut for Columbus during the 2021 season by starting in the second leg of the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

game against

Real Estelí Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rath ...

; helping Columbus to a 1–0 win.

Colorado Rapids

On January 5, 2022, Keita was traded to

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

in exchange for $300,000 in General Allocation Money In March it was announced that Keita had undergone successful ACL surgery on his right knee, which put him out the entirety of the 2022 MLS season. Keita signed a contract extension with the Rapids in August 2023. On 22 February 2024, Keita joined

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

club

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

on a one-year loan. He made his debut in a loss to Drogheda United and was in and out of the lineup following a managerial change. He returned to the starting lineup in a 1–0 win over Shelbourne. During this period, Keita was observing

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

and noted that fasting affected his match fitness. He made 16 appearances and scored one goal before the loan was mutually terminated on 15 August where he was subsequently released by the Rapids.

Columbus Crew 2

In late August 2024, Keita signed with

Columbus Crew 2 Columbus Crew 2 is a professional soccer team based in Columbus, Ohio that competes in the MLS Next Pro league, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Colum ...

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

, where he remained until the end of the season.

Kalmar FF

On 14 February 2025, after a trial with Finnish club

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

, he signed for

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

club

on a two-year deal. He scored a brace in a 2–0 match versus

Umeå FC Umeå FC is a Swedish professional football club located in Umeå, Sweden. The club, formed in 1987, is currently playing in the third tier of the Swedish league, Ettan. The club is affiliated to the Västerbottens Fotbollförbund. Season to se ...

International career

After earning previous camp call-ups for the United States U17, U18, and U19 national teams, Keita earned his first youth caps with the United States U20 team in March 2019. In the team's final camp ahead of the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

, he came off the bench against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on March 22 and provided

Christian Cappis Christian Jaeger Cappis (born August 13, 1999) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Norwegian Eliteserien club Viking. Club career FC Dallas Cappis started to play soccer for academy club, Texans SC. In ...

with a match-tying assist in second-half stoppage time; Keita also started three days later against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. On May 10, he was named to the final roster for the tournament by head coach

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and coach. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The first player to sign wi ...

. Keita started all five games for the United States, playing every minute of the tournament until being subbed off in the 86th minute of the team's

quarterfinal A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

match against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. Throughout the tournament, he was noted to be sound defensively but struggled with distribution.

Career statistics

Honors

Columbus Crew *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual * ACC All-Freshman Team:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Aboubacar 2000 births Living people American people of Guinean descent Sportspeople of Guinean descent American men's soccer players Soccer players from Columbus, Ohio Soccer players from New York City Men's association football defenders Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer players Columbus Crew players Richmond Kickers players Colorado Rapids players Colorado Rapids 2 players Bohemian F.C. players Columbus Crew 2 players Kalmar FF players USL League One players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Superettan players United States men's under-20 international soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) 21st-century American sportsmen Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Ilves (football) players American expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Finland American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Ireland American Muslims