Mamadou Lamine Camara (born 1 January 2004) is a Senegalese 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

and the Senegal national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Diouloulou Diouloulou is a small town and commune in the Bignona Department of the Ziguinchor Region of southwestern Senegal. In 2002, the town had a population of 2,725. The village of Diouloulou was the capital of the rural community of Diouloulou and o ...

, Camara played for Galaxy FA in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, followed by

Casa Sports Casa Sports de Ziguinchor is a Senegalese professional football club based in Ziguinchor. They play in the top division in Senegalese football. Their home stadium is Stade Aline Sitoe Diatta. It is the most popular sports club in Casamance, th ...

, before joining

Génération Foot Académie Génération Foot, also called Association Sportive Génération Foot is an association football club founded in 2000 in Dakar, Senegal. The Stade Lat-Dior, which has a capacity of 8,712, is their home stadium. History Académie Génér ...

in November 2019.

Metz

In February 2023, Camara signed for French side

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

on a three-and-a-half-year deal. On 15 April, he made his debut, coming off the bench in the 89th minute, in a 3–0 victory over

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 ...

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 ...

. In his second match for the club, a 3–1 win at

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, Camara assisted a goal for

Koffi Kouao Koffi Franck Kouao (born 20 May 1998) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a left-back or centre-back for French club Metz. Club career Kouao made his professional debut in the Segunda Liga for Vizela on 28 January 2017 in a gam ...

before being sent off in the 79th minute for tripping

Mathieu Cafaro Mathieu Cafaro (born 25 March 1997) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Paris FC. Club career Toulouse Cafaro is a youth product of Toulouse. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 10 September 2015 against Bastia. On ...

. After serving a suspension, Camara made two more appearances as a substitute as Metz gained promotion to

with a third-placed finish. Camara became a regular in the Metz team upon their return to Ligue 1 and, on 22 October, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 away defeat against

. The goal was scored from his own half, as he hit a first-time strike from a distance of over Monaco goalkeeper

Philipp Köhn Philipp François Köhn (born 2 April 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ligue 1 club Monaco. Born in Germany, he represented both his country of birth and Switzerland at youth level. Personal life He was born in D ...

after dispossessing Youssouf Fofana. After finishing in 16th place in

, Metz faced Saint-Étienne in a two-legged play-off. Camara assisted

Ismaël Traoré Ismaël Abdul Rahman Roch Traoré (born 18 August 1986) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club FC Metz, Metz. Born in France, he played for the Ivory Coast national football team, Ivory Coast natio ...

's goal in the away leg and scored the opening goal in the home leg but this was not enough to stop Metz from losing 4–3 on aggregate and being relegated back to Ligue 2.

Monaco

On 30 July 2024, Camara joined Ligue 1 club

for a transfer fee of €15 million, signing a five-year contract. On 17 August, Camara made his debut for Monaco in a 1–0 win over Saint-Étienne at the

Stade Louis II The Stade Louis II (, ), or simply Louis II is a stadium located in the Fontvieille district of Monaco, near the border with Cap-d'Ail commune of France. It serves primarily as a venue for Athletics and football, being the home of AS Monaco ...

in the team's opening fixture of the 2024–25 season. In the following match, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win over

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and was later sent off after being shown two yellow cards. He made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut in a 2–1 win over

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

during the

league phase League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

on 19 September.

International career

Camara represented the Senegalese national team at the

2022 African Nations Championship The 2022 African Nations Championship, known as the 2022 CHAN for short and the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes, was the 7th edition of the biennial association football tournament organ ...

, where he was named best young player of the group stage. He went on to score the only goal of the quarter-final against

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

from a penalty kick. In the 2022 African Nations Championship final, he played the full 120 minutes against host nation

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and was one of five Senegalese players to score in the penalty shootout as Senegal won their first

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship and commonly abbreviated as CHAN, is a biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of Afri ...

. Camara was then called up to the Senegalese under-20 side for the 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations. He was named Player of the Tournament as Senegal were crowned champions with a perfect record, winning all six matches without conceding a goal.

Senior

In September 2023, Camara was called up to the senior Senegal team for the first time by coach

Aliou Cissé Aliou Cissé (born 24 March 1976) is a Senegalese professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Libya national team. Cissé is best known for captaining the Senegal team which reached the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations ...

. He made his debut in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

, scoring the third goal of a 4–0 win in Dakar. In December 2023, he was named in Senegal's squad for the postponed

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

held in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. In the team's opening match against

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, he scored two goals as Senegal won 3–0. He went on to play the full match against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and the first 87 minutes of the round of 16 match, where Senegal were defeated 5–4 in a penalty shootout by host nation and eventual winners

Style of play

Camara's style of play draws comparisons to the greats such as

N'Golo Kanté N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad and the France national team. He is known for his work rate and defensive acumen. Kanté is widely ...

and

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. A deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay through short and calm passe ...

. He's a versatile box-to-box player with a powerful presence in midfield, excelling in ball recovery while showcasing precise passing and offensive flair. His free-kick-taking ability is akin to

James Ward-Prowse James Michael Edward Ward-Prowse (born 1 November 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club West Ham United. Originally a member of Southampton's youth teams, Ward-Prowse made his first-team debut ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Camara goal.''

Honours

Senegal U20 *

U-20 Africa Cup of Nations The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known for short as the U-20 AFCON and for sponsorship purposes as TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, previously known as the African Youth Championship and the African U-20 Championship, is the biennial int ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* U-20 West B Zone Tournament:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Senegal *

COSAFA Cup The COSAFA Cup (known fully as COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup) is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of Sout ...

third place:

Individual *

Player of the Tournament:

Young Player of the group stages:

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

Profile
at the AS Monaco FC website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Camara, Lamine 2004 births Living people Sportspeople from Ziguinchor region Senegalese men's footballers 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen Senegal men's international footballers Senegal men's A' international footballers Senegal men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders 2022 African Nations Championship players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 (Senegal) players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 3 players Casa Sports players Génération Foot players FC Metz players AS Monaco FC players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Monaco