Issouf Ouattara (born 7 October 1988) is a Burkinabé 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

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...

, Ouattara began his career in Etoile Filante Ouagadougou. In July 2008 he signed with Portugal's

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pe ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, and played his first game on 30 August in a 1–0 home loss against

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football ...

where he came on as a second-half substitute. He contributed with 26 matches (one goal) as the club promoted back to the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

, but appeared significantly less in the following year. In September 2011, after spending the 2010–11 season on loan to C.D. Trofense– second level, less than one third of the matches played – Ouattara left Leiria and signed for

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 12 April 1937 and currently plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football. The Sta ...

in the French

division three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

. In the following campaign he moved teams and countries again, joining Bulgaria's

PSFC Chernomorets Burgas PSFC Chernomorets Burgas () or simply Chernomorets () was a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas. The club never won any major competition, its most notable achievement being a second-place finish in the UEFA Intertoto Cup competitio ...

after a period of trial. In his only full season in the country, Ouattara was voted his club's ''Best Foreign Player'' in a poll conducted in its official website, earning over 1,000 votes. He was released in late 2013.

International career

Ouattara made his debut for

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

not yet aged 19, helping to a 1–1 home draw against

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

on 24 March 2007 for the

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated with the Confede ...

qualifiers. He was selected for the 2013 edition of the tournament on 8 January, playing against

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

in the quarter-finalsJonathan Pitroipa headed the winner in extra-time to send Burkina Faso into the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.
;

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 3 February 2013 in an eventual runner-up finish for the nation. :''Scores and results list Burkina Faso's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ouattara goal.''

References

External links