Alhassane Keita Otchico (born 26 June 1983), known as Keita, is a Guinean

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 most recently played as a striker for American club

Jacksonville Armada FC Jacksonville Armada FC is an American professional soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were founded in 2013 as an expansion franchise in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of American soccer, and played unt ...

Club career

Keita was born in

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

. After beginning his professional career in Morocco with Olympique Khouribga, he moved to Switzerland in 2001 joining

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

; during his five-season stay he scored goals at an extraordinary rate, including 20 in 2005–06 as the club emerged champions and the player was crowned league top scorer. Keita started the 2006–07 campaign still in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, netting four in as many games, but signed with

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

n side

Ittihad FC Al-Ittihad Club (), commonly known as Al-Ittihad or simply Ittihad, is a Saudi professional football club based in Jeddah. It was founded in 1927. The club has spent its entire history in the top flight of football in Saudi Arabia, currently know ...

, in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

. In late June 2008 he joined Spain's

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

on a five-year link, being irregularly used in his first year – he did manage, however, to score twice as a second-half substitute in a 2–0

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 ...

home win over

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

. In July 2009, Keita was initially banned for four months after it was found out he signed with

Umm-Salal Sports Club Umm Salal Sport Club () is a Qatari professional association football, football club based in Umm Salal, that competes in the Qatar Stars League, the highest tier of Football in Qatar, Qatari football. Previously called Al-Tadamun Sport Club, Umm ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

after he had already committed to

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 ...

. As the appeals begun, though, he was able to start the new season with the team, appearing in several matches from the bench; in late January 2010, the situation was resolved favorably to the Spaniards. Keita was loaned to Valladolid in the second division, initially in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long move. However, in late January 2011, he cancelled his loan agreement, terminated his contract with Mallorca and joined

Al-Shabab Riyadh Shabab Club also known as Al-Shabab () is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Riyadh that competes in the Saudi Pro League. Founded in 1947 as ''Shabab Al-Riyadh'' (; ), it was renamed ''Al-Shabab'' in 1967. The club earned its n ...

from Saudi Arabia until 2013. In August 2011, Keita left Saudi Arabia for

Emirates Club Emirates Club () is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. They play in the UAE Pro League after being promoted from the UAE First Division League. They play their home game ...

in the

UAE Arabian Gulf League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

, following a short spell. The same month in the following year, he moved to

Dubai CSC Dubai Cultural Sports Club () was a football (soccer), football club based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In 2017 merged with Al Shabab (Dubai), Al Shabab to join Al-Ahli to rebrand the club into Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC. History The clu ...

. In early January 2015, Keita moved clubs and countries again, signing with

from the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. He left two years later, as their all-time leading scorer. In July 2017, Keita joined

Prince Mohammad bin Salman League The Saudi First Division League (), currently known as the Yelo League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of Football in Saudi Arabia, professional football in Saudi Arabia. It ranks below the Saudi Pro League and above the Saudi Second ...

's Al-Watani. On 28 March of the following year, he returned to the Armada.

International career

Keita was part of the Guinean squad at the

2004 Africa Cup of Nations The 2004 African Cup of Nations was held from January 24, 24 January to February 14, 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 Afri ...

as they reached the competition's quarter-finals, with an exit 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 did not play in the tournament, however.

Club statistics

Honours

FC Zürich *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 2004–05 * Super League/Nationalliga A: 2005–06, 2006–07 Al-Ittihad *

Saudi Premier League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

: 2006–07 Individual *Swiss Super League top goalscorer: 2005–06

References

External links

Real Mallorca bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Alhassane 1983 births Living people Guinean Muslims Guinean twins Footballers from Conakry Guinean men's footballers Men's association football forwards Horoya AC players Olympique Club de Khouribga players FC Zürich players Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players RCD Mallorca players Real Valladolid players Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) players Emirates Club players Dubai CSC players FC St. Gallen players Al-Watani Club players Jacksonville Armada FC players Botola players Swiss Super League players Saudi Pro League players La Liga players Segunda División players UAE Pro League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Guinea men's international footballers 2004 African Cup of Nations players Guinean expatriate men's footballers Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Guinean expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Guinean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Morocco Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States