Cheick Oumar Dabo (born 12 January 1981 in

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger River ...

) is a

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

an football player.

Club career

Bucheon SK

Dabo joined

Bucheon SK Jeju United Football Club (Hangul: 제주 유나이티드) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeju Province that competes in the K League 1, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has been known as the ''Yuko ...

in 2002. One of very few Africans playing in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Dabo earned a spot in the K-League All-Stars Soccer in 2002 and 2003, scoring in both games. He was selected for the team in 2004 as well, though was an unused substitute in that game. In the All-Stars Soccer, he played against

Lee Dong-Gook Lee Dong-gook (, ; born 29 April 1979) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is a record scorer in the K League 1, and had brief spells in Europe with Werder Bremen and Middlesbrough. He also played for ...

and

Lee Young-Pyo Lee Young-pyo ( ko, 이영표; ; born 23 April 1977) is a retired South Korean professional footballer who played as a right-footed left back. Lee was recognized for his speed and dribbling skills. His former manager Martin Jol once called hi ...

(in 2002) who both went on to play in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in England.

JS Kabylie

Dabo would go on to score a penalty against

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

in his debut for JS Kabylie. In the

CAF Champions League 2006 The 2006 CAF Champions League was the 42nd edition of the CAF Champions League, the Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was started on 17 February 2006 with a preliminary r ...

Dabo scored 3 goals, 2 of which were against

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

. It was in the

. In the

CAF Champions League 2007 The 2007 CAF Champions League was the 43rd occurrence of the CAF Champions League, the most prestigious club football competition in Africa. Étoile du Sahel of Tunisia became champions for the first time, beating Al Ahly SC of Egypt 3–1 in a ...

he scored 2 goals against OS Balantas of

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

. He scored twice against Mangasport of

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

and once in the away leg (3–1 loss) and once in the home leg (3–0 win). He scored once against Cotonsport of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

and had an assist on the other to send

Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of the ...

to the Quarterfinals. He now has 5 goals in the

. He was voted player of the month in February, March, April and May in the

Algerian Championnat National The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 ( ar, الرابطة الجزائرية المحترفة الأولى لكرة القدم); known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat Natio ...

and eventually was voted

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the league. Dabo ended as the top scorer in the League with 17 league goals in 27 appearances (2 as a sub). He was the first foreign player ever to be top scorer in Algeria. On 1 July it was announced that Dabo will join

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...

in France's

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, 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 Ligu ...

, he will join them after his last match with JSK, against

ES Sahel Es, ES, or similar may refer to: Arts and entertainment * An alternate name for the musical note#Accidentals, musical note E♭ (E-flat) * ''E's'', a manga series by Satoru Yuiga * Es (film), ''Es'' (film), the German title of ''It'', a 1966 West ...

in the Champions League. Shortly after this announcement, Dabo was given the captain's armband for JSK's match against

FAR Rabat Association sportive des Forces armées royales (, ar, الجمعية الرياضية للقوات المسلحة الملكية), commonly known as AS FAR ( ar, نادي الجيش الملكي), is a professional sport club based in Morocco's ...

, which was his last match in which he scored twice. Dabo was the first ever non-Algerian to be captain for JSK.

Le Havre

Dabo made his debut for

on 20 August 2007, coming on as a sub for

Nikola Nikezić Nikola Nikezić ( cyrl, Никола Никезић, ; born 13 June 1981) is a Montenegrin former professional footballer. Club career He also played for Domžale and Gorica in the Slovenian PrvaLiga and FK Budućnost Podgorica and FK Sutjeska ...

against

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

. He scored his first goal and got his first assist in the same game, after coming on as a sub against

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the '' Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsic ...

on 28 September. Le Havre were champions of

in 2007/08, Dabo's first year, but Dabo only made six appearances that season, scoring one goal. Despite having scored one goal and getting one assist in 180 minutes for Le Havre in 2007, Dabo was never again given a chance to prove himself and was released in the summer of 2010 after three loans, two of which could be considered successful.

Tours

Dabo was loaned to

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

side

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metr ...

on 29 January 2008 after a lack of first team opportunities at

. He scored on his debut in a 4–2 win against

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 ...

. Dabo's five game scoring streak near the end of the season helped Tours to a 2nd-place finish in 2007/08 to ensure their promotion back to

. Despite interest from Tours and Dabo, Dabo did not make the move to Tours in the summer of 2008, due to Dabo's high price tag set by president of Le Havre, Jean-Pierre Louvel.

Niort

Dabo was again loaned to a

side on 29 August 2008. This time it was

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) 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 ...

. He made his debut against

in a 3–3 draw on 12 September, coming on in the 46th minute for Romain Jacuzzi. He had a rough time for the next few months with a combination of playing more on the wing while dealing with a foot injury and then eventually injuring his ankle and needing

arthroscopic surgery Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the ...

to repair it. He finished the season with two goals and Niort were relegated.

El Jadida

Despite scoring three goals (and one assist) in three matches for Le Havre's reserves at the start of the 2009–10 season, Dabo was not considered for Le Havre's senior team. On 14 December 2009, Difaa El Jadida signed the

an forward on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for DHJ on 13 February in an

African Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

match against OS Balantas, and scored twice in the return leg two weeks later. Dabo scored on his league debut for DHJ against FAR Rabat on 18 February 2010. At the end of the season, Dabo scored four league goals and four goals in the Champions League to total eight goals in seventeen matches for DHJ, who finished third. When combined with his goals for Le Havre's reserves, he scored eleven goals in twenty matches in 2009–10.

Alahly Benghazi

Dabo joined Al Ahly Benghazi of the

Libyan Premier League The Libyan Premier League ( ar, الدوري الليبي الممتاز) is the men's top professional football division of the Libyan football league system. Administered by the Competition Organizing Committee in the Libyan Football Federati ...

in the summer of 2010 after leaving Le Havre. He scored on his debut against Al Hilal on 18 August.

Clubs

He played for Konate then for Djoliba in

's capital, Gençlerbirliği in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

and then

in the

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

. He left

Dubai Club Dubai Cultural Sports Club () was a football club based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In 2017 merged with Al Shabab to join Al-Ahli to rebrand the club into Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC. History The club was relegated in 2007 to the UAE ...

, in the

UAE League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...

in the summer of 2006, and he joined

International career

Dabo was in

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

Squad in 2002 (the year Mali hosted the tournament). He came on for Mali in the 79th minute for

Mamadou Bagayoko Mamadou Bagayoko (born 21 May 1979) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in France, he represented Mali at international level. Club career Bagayoko was born in Paris. His debut at senior level came in 1999 for ...

in their 0–1 loss to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

. Dabo's great play for

earned him a call up to the national team for their African Nations Cup Qualifier against

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

on 3 June 2007 and against

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

on 16 June 2007. Dabo started both matches.

International goals

Honors

*K-League All-Star: 2002, 2003 *Algerian Championnat National Top Scorer: 2006/07 *Algerian Championnat National Most Valuable Player: 2006/07 *Ligue 2 Champion: 2007/08 (only made 6 appearances)

Additional Links

~~Official Fan Site~~
– ~~Site dedicated to Dabo in English and French.~~ (site moved to Facebook)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dabo, Cheick Oumar 1981 births Living people Malian footballers Malian expatriate footballers Mali men's international footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Jeju United FC players Dubai CSC players JS Kabylie players Le Havre AC players Tours FC players Chamois Niortais F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Morocco Süper Lig players K League 1 players Ligue 2 players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in South Korea Malian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in Algeria Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi players Expatriate footballers in France Malian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Djoliba AC players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Footballers from Bamako Men's association football forwards UAE Pro League players 21st-century Malian people