Lamine Diatta (born 2 July 1975) is a Senegalese former 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 played as a defender. He works as team coordinator of

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, appointed by head coach Aliou Cissé in 2015. During his 14-year professional career, Diatta played for clubs in France, Turkey, England, Scotland, Qatar and Tunisia.

Club career

Born 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 ...

, Senegal, Diatta moved to France when he was only one year old. Before moving to Olympique Lyon in 2004, Diatta played 142 games for Stade Rennais, scoring nine goals in that time. Before his time at Rennes, he was at

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 ...

, but never actually played a game for them. Diatta's first club was

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 ...

. He spent one season there and played 25 games without scoring. In his first year ( 2004–05) with Lyon he played 19 games. During his second year ( 2005–06) at Lyon, he was troubled with injury and only makes 13 appearances also without goals. In August 2006, he left Lyon on free transfer in search for regular team football, settling at

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

. On 7 March 2008, after a week's trial at Newcastle United, Diatta agreed to a short-term deal until the end of the season after buying out his contract at Beşiktaş J.K. The deal was finally confirmed by the club on 14 March after a week of confusion. He made his first team debut for Newcastle as a substitute in a

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 ...

match against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

on 5 April but was released on 15 May. Diatta joined Stoke City on trial in January 2009. On 20 March, however, he signed for

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

on a short-term deal until the end of the season. After just one month, on 25 April, the 33-year-old Senegalese defender left Hamilton to join Al-Ahli Sports Club in Qatar. Without a club since his release from Al-Ahli Sports Club he participated in trials in Singapore without being snapped up by a club. He then joined

Étoile Sportive du Sahel Étoile Sportive du Sahel (), known as ES Sahel or simply ESS for short, is a Tunisian football club based in Sousse in the Sahel, Tunisia, Sahel region of Tunisia. Their home stadium, Sousse Olympic Stadium, has a capacity of 50,000 spectators ...

of the CLP-1 in Tunisia. In December 2011 he signed a short-term deal with Championship team

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

, where fellow countrymen El Hadji Diouf and Habib Beye also played for the club.

International career

Being the

's captain, he has played 71 games for his national side, scoring four goals. He also played in all of Senegal's matches in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

Style of play

Diatta was the holding force in the centre of

's defence, and is also tough in the air, which provides a threat in attacking set-pieces.

Honours

Lyon *

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 ...

: 2004–05, 2005–06 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Senegal *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

runner-up:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diatta, Lamine 1975 births Footballers from Dakar Living people Men's association football central defenders Senegalese men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Senegal men's international footballers Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Toulouse FC players Olympique de Marseille players Stade Rennais FC players Olympique Lyonnais players AS Saint-Étienne players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Newcastle United F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Ligue 1 players Premier League players English Football League players Al Ahli SC (Doha) players Étoile Sportive du Sahel players Süper Lig players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in England Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Tunisia Qatar Stars League players 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen