Banfa Diakité (born 7 October 1997) 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

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 ...

club

Blagnac Blagnac (; ) is a Communes of France, commune of the greater Toulouse area in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in southwestern France. The city hosts the aviation museum Aeroscopia. It is the third-largest suburb of the city o ...

Career

Diakité was born in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

in southern France, and played junior football with Toulouse AC and

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional association football, football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France, French football. Toulouse plays it ...

. However, he was released for being too small and subsequently played one season with

Muret Muret (; in Gascon Occitan ''Murèth'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Muretains''. It is an outer suburb of the ci ...

in the

Division d'Honneur Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

before joining

Balma Balma (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in southwestern France. It is east of Toulouse. The name of the town comes from the old Provençal dialect, Provençal word meaning "cave" or "gr ...

in 2015. During his first season with Balma, he scored six goals in 25 league appearances in the

CFA 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football ...

. His performances attracted the attention of several professional teams, and in June 2016 it was announced that he had been signed by

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

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

. However, the transfer eventually fell through and Diakité returned to Balma for the 2016–17 season. He ended that campaign with an identical record to the previous year of six goals in 25 league matches. During the summer of 2017, Diakité again courted interest from a number of Ligue 2 clubs. He had trials with

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

and

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

before joining

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

on a two-year contract in May 2017. He made his professional debut in the 4–1 defeat to

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 ...

on 25 August 2017, coming on as a second-half substitute for Antoine Leautey. On 11 November 2017, Diakité scored his first goal for Niort in a 5–1 win over

Tournefeuille Tournefeuille (; Languedocien: ''Tornafuèlha'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It is the second-largest suburb of the city of Toulouse, and is adjacent to it on the west side. It is a member of the Toul ...

in the seventh round of the

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 ...

. Diakité signed for

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient Provinces of France, province of Bresse (). I ...

on 12 June 2018. On 3 December 2021, he signed for

Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...

. In June 2023, he moved to

Personal life

Born in France, Diakité is of Guinean descent.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diakite, Banfa 1997 births Living people Footballers from Toulouse French men's footballers French sportspeople of Guinean descent Men's association football midfielders AS Muret players Balma SC players Chamois Niortais FC players Football Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas 01 players US Quevilly-Rouen Métropole players Bourges Foot 18 players Blagnac FC players Championnat National 3 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen