Axel Mohamed Bakayoko (born 6 January 1998) is a French 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 plays as a winger for Italian club Casertana.

Club career

Inter Milan

Bakayoko made his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

debut for

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

on 8 December 2016 against

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

. He replaced

Andrea Pinamonti Andrea Pinamonti (born 19 May 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Genoa, on loan from Sassuolo. He also plays for the Italy national team. Club career Inter Milan Pinamonti made his senior debut for Int ...

after 80 minutes.

Loan to Sochaux

He joined French club Sochaux on 10 July 2017 for a season long loan. He made his

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 ...

debut on 28 July as a substitute replacing

Aldo Kalulu Aldo-Nsawila Kalulu Kyatengwa (born 21 January 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and striker for Serbian club Partizan. Born in France, he plays for the DR Congo national team. Early life Kalulu was born ...

in the 65th minute of a 2–0 home win over Bourg-Péronnas. On 8 August he played in the first round of the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

in a 3–1 away defeat against

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, he was replaced by

Florin Berenguer Florin Berenguer-Bohrer (born 1 April 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Australian club Brisbane Roar. Club career Berenguer trained at the youth academy of Sochaux. He began his senior career ...

after 70 minute. On 19 September, Bakayoko played his first match as a starter in Ligue 2, a 1–0 away defeat against

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, he was replaced by

Thomas Robinet Thomas Robinet (born 18 August 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Dutch club Almere City. Career Robinet's youth career started at FCO Chandieu, before spending five years with Lyon and then spending time at ...

in the 74th minute. On 6 February 2018, Bakayoko played his first match in

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

as a substitute replacing

Florian Martin Florian Martin (born 19 March 1990) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Career Martin started his career with FC Lorient, Lorient, but did not break into the first team and joined USJA ...

in the 34th minute of a 4–1 home defeat against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

. On 6 April he scored his first professional goal, as a substitute, in the 89th minute of a 3–2 home win over

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

Loan to St. Gallen

On 17 July 2018, Inter announced that they had loaned out Bakayoko to Swiss club

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. It is the oldest football club in continental Europe after Kjøbenhavns Boldklub. The tea ...

for the whole 2018/19 season. Bakayoko had a good season with the Swiss side, playing 34 games for the club in that season, many of them on the right back although his normal position was on the wing. At the end of the season it was confirmed, that Bakayoko would stay one more season at the club, still on loan from Inter.

Red Star Belgrade

On 22 December 2020, Bakayoko signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Serbian club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

Loan to Novi Pazar

On 7 February 2022 Bakayoko was loaned to Serbian Superliga side

Novi Pazar Novi Pazar ( sr-cyr, Нови Пазар) is a List of cities in Serbia, city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inha ...

until the end of 2021–22 season. The loan fell through and he did not appear for Novi Pazar.

Cheonan City FC

On 21 March 2023, Bakayoko joined

Cheonan City FC Cheonan City FC () is a South Korean association football, football club based in Cheonan that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of Korea Republic football league system, South Korean football. They play their home games at the 26,000 c ...

of South Korean

K League 2 The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

Casertana

On 24 August 2024, Bakayoko signed a two-season contract with Casertana in Italian

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

Personal life

Bakayoko is born in France and is of Ivorian descent.

Honours

Club

Inter Milan Primavera *

Coppa Italia Primavera The Coppa Italia Primavera (Italian for Spring Italian Cup) is an Italian football competition played by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972–73 season. Due to sponsorshi ...

: 2015–16 * Campionato Primavera: 2016–17 Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

(2):

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

(2):

, 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakayoko, Axel 1998 births Living people Footballers from Paris French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Inter Milan players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players FC St. Gallen players Red Star Belgrade footballers FK Novi Pazar players Cheonan City FC players NK Tabor Sežana players Ligue 2 players Swiss Super League players K League 2 players Slovenian Second League players Men's association football wingers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland French expatriate sportspeople in Serbia French expatriate sportspeople in South Korea French expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia 21st-century French sportsmen