Aboubacar Mé Diomandé (7 May 1988 – 9 August 2019) was an Ivorian

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

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 ...

Club career

Mé Diomandé began his career with

Académie de Sol Beni ASEC Mimosas (short for Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas; ) is an Ivorian professional Association football, football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ''ASEC Abidjan'', especially in international club compet ...

and was promoted to the first team in January 2005. In January 2007, he was on trial at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

and then moved in July 2007 to

Stella Club d'Adjamé Stella Club d'Adjamé is an Ivorian football club based in Abidjan. History It was founded in 1953 in a fusion between ''Red Star'', ''Etoile d'Adjamé'' and ''US Bella''. They play at the Stade Robert Champroux. Former players * Kouame Desr ...

International career

He was nominated for the Tournoi de l'UEMOA 2007 for

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 ...

. Diomandé played for ''the Elephants'' at the

2009 African Nations Championship The 2009 African Nations Championship, also known as CHAN 2009 for short, was the inaugural edition of the biennial association football tournament organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF featuring national teams consisting of player ...

, here he represented the team as captain.

Death

On 9 August 2019, Diomandé was found dead on railway tracks on the Mumbai-Howrah route in Janjgir-Champa district of

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. His mutilated body was recovered from the tracks near Baradwar railway station. According to Sub-divisional Officer of Police (SDOP)

Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...

area Udyan Behar, the player was identified through the mobile recovered from near his body. The police were able to identify the player through the identification documents which were in the mobile. After investigation, the police concluded that the player would have landed in the country on 8 August 2019 and was travelling to join his new teammates in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. The further conclusions detail the midfielder to have fallen from the train. The police tried to look for missing bags from the trains at

Howrah station Howrah railway station (also known as Howrah Junction) is a railway station located in the city of Howrah, of Kolkata Metropolitan Area, West Bengal, India. It is the largest and busiest railway complex in India, as well as one of the busie ...

but weren't successful in finding any.

References

1988 births 2019 deaths Ivorian men's footballers ASEC Mimosas players Footballers from Abidjan Stella Club d'Adjamé players Expatriate men's footballers in India Men's association football midfielders Railway accident deaths in India Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in India Ivorian expatriate men's footballers 2009 African Nations Championship players Ivory Coast men's A' international footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Beerschot A.C. players 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen {{Côted'Ivoire-footy-bio-stub