Mouloukou Souleyman Diabate (born 21 July 1987), commonly known as Solo Diabate, is an Ivorian basketball player for Petro de Luanda of the Unitel Basket and the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Each season typically r ...

(BAL). After playing a decade in France and some years in North Macedonia, China and Slovakia, Diabate began his career at the African continent in 2021. He is a two-time BAL champion, with

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

in 2021 and US Monastir in 2022. He also represents the Ivory Coast national team. With Ivory Coast, Diabate has won two silver medals at

AfroBasket The AfroBasket (alternatively known as the FIBA Africa Championship, FIBA African Championship, or FIBA AfroBasket) is the men's basketball continental championship contested by the senior national teams of Africa Africa is the world's s ...

tournaments in 2009 and 2021.

Professional career

France (2006–2016)

Diabate has played in the French League since 2006. In his career, he played for

JDA Dijon Basket Jeanne d'Arc Dijon Basket, commonly known as JDA Dijon Basket or simply Dijon, is a professional basketball club from the city of Dijon, France. The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the French first tier division. The club has won the Frenc ...

Chorale Roanne Basket Chorale Roanne Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Roanne, France. The club plays in the first division LNB Pro A. Their home arena is Halle André Vacheresse. The club was founded in 1937 and the team's colors are blue and w ...

SLUC Nancy Basket Stade Lorrain Université Club Nancy Basket, commonly referred to as SLUC Nancy Basket, is a French professional basketball club based in Nancy. The club currently competes in the LNB Pro A, the top league in France, and holds two league titles. S ...

, and

BCM Gravelines Basket Club Maritime Gravelines-Dunkerque, commonly referred to as BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque, is a French professional basketball club based in Gravelines. They currently play in the Pro A, the highest professional league in France. The team forme ...

. In 2015, he signed with Rouen Métropole. In the 2015-2016 season, Diabate was the league's assist leader with 6.5 per game to go with his 10.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

MZT Skopje (2017–2018)

On February 16, 2017, Diabate signed with the French team Châlons-Reims, after starting the season with

MZT Skopje MZT Skopje Aerodrom () is a basketball club based in Skopje, North Macedonia. The club competes in the Macedonian League and ABA League. The club's home ground is Jane Sandanski Arena, but due to small capacity, the matches in the ABA League an ...

. On 4 November 2016, he signed with

MZT Skopje Aerodrom MZT Skopje Aerodrom () is a basketball club based in Skopje, North Macedonia. The club competes in the Macedonian League and ABA League. The club's home ground is Jane Sandanski Arena, but due to small capacity, the matches in the ABA League an ...

. On 13 January 2017, he left

On September 11, 2018, he signed with

SLUC Nancy Stade Lorrain Université Club Nancy Basket, commonly referred to as SLUC Nancy Basket, is a French professional basketball club based in Nancy. The club currently competes in the LNB Pro A, the top league in France, and holds two league titles. S ...

Africa (2021–present)

Zamalek (2020–2021)

In August 2021, Diabate signed with Egyptian club

to play in the

2021 BAL season The 2021 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 1, was the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Established as a joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA, the BAL is the highest tier continental leag ...

. He helped Zamalek win the first first-ever championship of the

(BAL) after winning the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Egypt and US Monastir (2021–2022)

In August 2021, Diabate signed with

Smouha Smouha () is an upper-class district in the centre of Alexandria, Egypt. It is home to the Security Directorate of Alexandria and the Smouha Sporting Club, Smouha's central roundabout (Victor Emmanuel Square) connects between other areas in Alexa ...

to stay in Egypt. On 28 September 2021, Diabate was loaned to Al Ittihad to play in the

2021 Arab Club Basketball Championship The 2021 Arab Club Basketball Championship () was the 33rd season of the Arab Club Basketball Championship. The tournament started on 29 September 2021 and ended on 9 October 2021. The entire tournament was held in Alexandria, Egypt, as all games ...

. At Ittihad, he replaced the injured Corey Webster. On 10 February 2022, Diabate signed with US Monastir ahead of the

2022 BAL season The 2022 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 2, was the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 2 March 2022 and ended with the Finals on 28 May 2022. The group phase was played in the Dakar Arena in Dakar and ...

. He helped Monastir win the championships by winning the

2022 BAL Finals The 2022 BAL Finals was the championship game of the 2022 BAL season, the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The final was played in the BK Arena in Kigali on 28 May 2022, between Angolan club Petro de Luanda and Tunisian club ...

. Diabate became the first player ever to win two BAL championships.

Petro de Luanda (2022–2023)

In September 2022, Diabate signed a contract for Petro de Luanda in Angola to play in both the Angolan League and BAL. He won the 2023

Angolan Cup Angolan may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Angola *Angolan people; see Demographics of Angola *Angolan culture *Angolar Creole *Something of, from, or related to the historical Bantu Kingdom of Ndongo *A resident of: **Angola, New Y ...

with the team, as well as the

Angolan Basketball League The Angolan Men's Basketball League, (in Portuguese: ''Campeonato Nacional de Basquetebol em Séniores Masculinos''), for sponsorship reasons known as the Unitel Basket, is the top tier men's basketball league in Angola. C.D. Primeiro de Agosto ( ...

title.

Al Ahly Benghazi (2023–2024)

Diabate joined Libyan club Al Ahly Benghazi for the 2024 BAL qualification tournaments. On 1 November 2023, Diabate made his debut and recorded 13 points and 9 assists in Al Ahly's 86–77 win over FAP. Diabate helped Al Ahly qualify for their first ever BAL season, which began in April. They reached the

, in which Diabate scored 20 points but lost to his former team Petro de Luanda, thus missing out on his third championship. He posted BAL career-highs in points (11.3), rebounds (4.7), assists (5.8), steals (1.8) and blocks (0.4), and was named to the BAL All-Defensive First Team after the season.

Return to Petro de Luanda (2024–present)

On 10 August 2024, Petro de Luanda announced that they signed Diabate, who returned after one year. He reached a record-extending fourth final with Petro, but lost to Al Ahli Tripoli. Diabate was however given the

BAL Sportsmanship Award The Basketball Africa League Manute Bol Sportsmanship Award is an annual Basketball Africa League (BAL) award given to the player "for exemplifying ideals of sportsmanship on the court with ethical behavior, fair play, and integrity". The award ...

International career

Diabate was a member of the

Ivory Coast national basketball team The Ivory Coast men's national basketball team is the men's basketball side that represents Ivory Coast in international competition. The team competes regularly in the African Championship and is administered by the Fédération Ivoirienne de ...

at the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2009 FIBA Africa Championship AfroBasket 2009 was the 25th FIBA Africa Championship, played under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, the basketball sport governing body, and the African zone thereof. At stake were the three berths allocated to Afri ...

. In 2009, he helped the team to a surprise silver medal to qualify for the country's first

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

24 years 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

. On 19 June 2015, Diabate was one of 27 players to be named to the Ivory Coast's preliminary squad for the 2015 Africa Championship by head coach

Hugues Occansey Hugues Occansey (born 18 December 1966 in Moyeuvre-Grande, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South ...

. Diabate played with Ivory Coast at

AfroBasket 2021 FIBA AfroBasket 2021 was the 30th edition of the FIBA AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was hosted by Rwanda for the first time. It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 20 ...

in Rwanda and got his second silver medal.

BAL career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

† , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 0 , , 18.1 , , .439 , , style="background:#cfecec;", .591* , , .750 , , 1.6 , , 4.6 , , 1.6 , , 0.0 , , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

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 ...

† , style="text-align:left;", Monastir , 6 , , 3 , , 25.3 , , .339 , , .190 , , .889 , , 3.2 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , , 0.0 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", Petro de Luanda , 8 , , 0 , , 21.0 , , .400 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 3.0 , , 4.4 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, style="text-align:left;", Al Ahly Ly , 10 , , 2 , , 32.0 , , .495 , , .304 , , .842 , , 4.7 , , 5.8 , , 1.8 , , 0.4 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, style="text-align:left;", Petro de Luanda , 10, , 1 , , 20.0 , , .379 , , .053 , , 1.000 , , 2.2 , , 3.6 , , 2.3 , , 0.7 , , 11.7 , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diabate, Solo 1987 births Living people ABA League players BCM Gravelines players Champagne Basket players Chorale Roanne Basket players Ivorian expatriate basketball people in France Ivorian men's basketball players JDA Dijon Basket players KK MZT Skopje players US Monastir basketball players Point guards SLUC Nancy Basket players Basketball players from Abidjan Zamalek SC basketball players 2010 FIBA World Championship players 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Fos Provence Basket players Al Ittihad Alexandria Club basketball players 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Al Ahly Benghazi basketball players Hefei Storm players 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen