Wesley Tidjan Fofana (born 17 December 2000) is a French 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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 Chelsea and the

France national team 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 America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Early and personal life

Fofana was born in

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 ...

, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. His father is Ivorian, whereas his mother is French. One of six children, he started playing football at the age of six playing for Repos Vitrolles. Fofana is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. On 22 April 2021, he was substituted on the hour mark during Leicester's 3–0 win against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, while Fofana was daytime fasting for the month of the Muslim

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

. In the next match against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, the game was paused after the half-hour mark for Fofana and

Cheikhou Kouyaté Cheikhou Kouyaté (born 21 December 1989) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for the Senegal national team. He most recently played for Premier League club Nottingham Forest. Kouyaté move ...

to have some fluids to end their fast. Fofana showed his support for the

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

after winning the 2021 English FA Cup Final by waving a large flag of Palestine, along with fellow

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

teammate

Hamza Choudhury Hamza Dewan Choudhury (; born 1 October 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or right-back for club Sheffield United, on loan from Leicester City. Born in England, he plays for the Bangladesh national team. ...

, during their team celebrations that took place amidst the 2021 Palestinian-Israeli clashes in May 2021.

Club career

Saint-Étienne

Having been in the youth system since 2015, Fofana signed his first professional contract with

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 ...

on 15 May 2018. He made his debut for the club in a 3–0 league win over

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 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

on 2 October 2020, signing a five-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Saint-Étienne was reported as up to £36.5 million. On 15 May 2021, he played in the 2021 FA Cup Final, which Leicester won 1–0 for his first career honour in England. He and teammate

both celebrated draped in the

flag of Palestine The flag of the State of Palestine () is a Triband (flag)#Tricolour, tricolour of three equal horizontal stripes—black, white, and green from top to bottom—overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the Hoist (flag), hoist. It displays the Pa ...

, during the

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis The 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, sometimes called the Unity Intifada, was a major outbreak of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that mainly commenced on 10 May 2021, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. I ...

. On 21 May 2021, Fofana won Leicester City's Young Player of the Season award after being voted by the club's supporters. On 4 August 2021, during a pre-season friendly against

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

, Fofana suffered a broken leg following a challenge by

Fer Niño Fernando "Fer" Niño Rodríguez (born 24 October 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Burgos CF. Club career Villarreal Niño was born in Rota, Andalusia, and joined Villarreal CF's academy in 2016 from Balón ...

. On 17 March 2022, Fofana played his first match since his injury, scoring in a 2–1 defeat to

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

which secured Leicester's progress to the next round on a 3–2

aggregate score There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

Chelsea

On 31 August 2022, Fofana joined Premier League club Chelsea on a seven-year contract for a reported initial fee of £70 million, plus £5 million in add-ons. After signing for Chelsea, Fofana criticised his former club Leicester City, accusing them of issuing "false and misleading comments" during his protracted transfer. On 3 September, he made his debut for the club in a 2–1 win at home against

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 ...

in the Premier League. He scored his first goal for Chelsea on 5 October in a Champions League 3–0 victory against

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

, but suffered a major

knee injury In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

after 38 minutes, forcing him to be substituted off, and was ruled out until February 2023. Fofana returned from injury on 18 February 2023, in a 1–0 home defeat against

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. He scored his first ever Premier League goal against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

on 4 March, in a 1–0 home victory. On 18 July 2023, Chelsea revealed that Fofana had suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

(ACL) and had undergone a surgery. In late November 2023, it was announced that Fofana had been cleared to resume training following his recovery from the ACL injury. However, he was unable to feature in any match during the 2023–24 season due to his injury.

International career

In March 2023, Fofana received his first call-up to the France senior national team for the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

matches against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. However, he was forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury. He made his debut three months later in a 3–0 victory over Gibraltar.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Saint-Étienne *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Leicester City *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Chelsea FC *

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

: 2024–25 Individual * IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team: 2020

References

External links

Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fofana, Wesley 2000 births Living people Footballers from Marseille French men's footballers French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Black French sportspeople French Muslims Men's association football central defenders AS Saint-Étienne players Leicester City F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Championnat National 3 players Championnat National 2 players Ligue 1 players Premier League players France men's under-21 international footballers France men's international footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century French sportsmen