Kaba Diawara (born 16 December 1975) is a football manager and former player who played as a striker. Diawara played for French teams Sporting Toulon,

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 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 ...

and Arles-Avignon, for English clubs

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and for clubs in Spain and Turkey. Diawara was born in France and represented the country at under-21 level before playing senior international football for

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

Club career

Beginnings in France

Born in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

, Var, Diawara at first played in 1993 for

and then journeyed to

a year later. With Bordeaux, he played in the 1997 Coupe de la Ligue Final. After six years at the club, he moved to

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

in January 1999. Six months after he left Bordeaux they won the 1999 Division 1 title.

Premier League

He made his debut for Arsenal on 31 January 1999 in a league match against Chelsea. He went on to make 15 appearances for Arsenal, 12 of which were in the league, but failed to score as Arsenal were involved in an ultimately unsuccessful title race with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Return to France

During the summer of 1999, Diawara returned to France and signed for

. He stayed at Marseille for six months and in January 2000 he signed for club rival

Paris St 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 ...

with whom he played in the 2000 Coupe de la Ligue Final.

Return to England

In the summer of 2000, he was linked with a return to England with Premier League side Everton, however they re-signed

Duncan Ferguson Duncan Cowan Ferguson (born 27 December 1971) is a Scottish football coach and former player. He began his career at Dundee United in 1990, and moved to Rangers in 1993 for what was then a British transfer record fee. He spent the remainder o ...

instead. However, he did return to England when in August 2000 he joined Division One side

on loan. At Blackburn, he scored his first and only goal in English football, in a League Cup tie with

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. After his loan at Blackburn finished, he then joined Premier League side

on loan for the rest of the 2000-01 season.

Later career

After returning to Paris St Germain, he had further loan spells at

Racing Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

and

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

team

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

. At Gaziantepspor he got little playing time. As such, in January 2008, he signed a six-month contract with fellow Turkish side Ankaragücü. In August 2008, he moved to

Alki Larnaca Alki Larnaca (, ''ALKI Larnakas'') was a Cypriot football club based in the town of Larnaca. The club was founded in 1948 and it was dissolved on the 6th of May 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours were blue and red. They reached th ...

of Cyprus. He was eventually released by Larnaca in December of that year. Diawara then signed for French side Arles-Avignon on a free transfer in 2009. At Avignon, Diawara went on to bring an end to his playing days.

International career

Diawara played for the French national U-21 team, but chose to represent

at senior level. Diawara was then called up to Guinea's squad for the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split in ...

. Guinea went on to the quarterfinals of the tournament against where Diawara scored in an eventual 3–2 defeat to Senegal.

Coaching career

In October 2021, Diawara was named as head coach of the Guinea national football team, replacing former French international

Didier Six Didier Six (born 21 August 1954) is a French football manager and former player, who most recently worked as manager of the Guinea national football team until October 2021. A gifted but inconsistent winger, Six had a rather nomadic career, pl ...

Personal life

After retirement, Diawara became a football pundit with French network Canal +.

Honours

Bordeaux *

Division 1 Division 1 or Division One may refer to: Association football * Azadegan League, the second-tier professional football league in Iran * Brisbane Premier League Division 1, the second-tier professional football league in Brisbane, Queensland, Austr ...

: 1998–99 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1996–97 Paris Saint-Germain *

runner-up: 1999–2000

References

External links