Xavier Laglais Kouassi (born 28 December 1989) is an Ivorian 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 ...

who plays as a defender who plays for

Pau FC Pau Football Club (, Bearnese ), known simply as Pau, is a French professional association football club based in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, capital of Béarn. They compete in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Pau FC were found ...

in the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, 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 Ligu ...

. He spent most of his career in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 seaso ...

with

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpor ...

and two spells at Sion. He made 215 total appearances in the competition and won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference ...

with Sion in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. He also played in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

for the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Kouassi earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the

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

against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in August 2011.

Club career

Early career

Born in San-Pédro, Kouassi began his career at local side Séwé Sports before moving to Servette FC in the

in 2009. He made his professional debut on 1 November that year, playing the full 90 minutes of a goalless away draw with

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Sta ...

. On 16 July 2013, Kouassi transferred to

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

of the same league, on a three-year deal. He played five of six matches as they won the

in 2014–15, including the 3–0 final win over

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

on 7 June.

New England Revolution

Kouassi joined the

on 1 February 2016, joining as a

designated player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

effective from July. However, a major injury to his right knee ruled him out for over a year, and he did not debut for his new team until 19 March 2017 in a 2–1 loss to

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the leag ...

; though used for only 45 minutes per game in pre-season due to this injury, he made it to 79. He was praised for his performance by head coach

Jay Heaps John Franklin "Jay" Heaps (born August 2, 1976) is an American former soccer player who currently serves as president and general manager of Birmingham Legion FC. He is a former head coach for the New England Revolution in Major League Socce ...

and teammate

Scott Caldwell Scott Caldwell (born March 15, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer. Career Youth, college and amateur Caldwell spent a year with the New England Revolution academy, making six ap ...

. On 1 June 2017, Kouassi scored his only goal for the Revs in a 2–2 draw with

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

. In September, he received straight red cards in heavy away losses to

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began p ...

(7–0) and

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the ...

(6–1), in the 16th and 11th minutes of the respective games.

Return to Sion

Kouassi returned to Sion on 15 February 2018, the last day of Switzerland's transfer window. In February 2020, before the Super League was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, he was sent off in consecutive matches against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles ...

and

Neuchâtel Xamax FCS Neuchâtel Xamax Football Club Serrières or Neuchâtel Xamax FCS () is a Swiss football club based in Neuchâtel. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal, founded in 1906 and Swiss champions of 1916, and FC Xamax foun ...

. The latter dismissal earned him a public criticism by club owner

Christian Constantin Christian Constantin (born 7 January 1957) is a Swiss architect. He is the owner and president of Swiss football club FC Sion. He bought the club, which had previously neared bankruptcy and was relegated from the Swiss Super League, in 2003. Duri ...

, who considered it to have "murdered" the entire team's efforts. Club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Kouassi and eight other players were sacked by Sion on 20 March 2020, having refused a pay-cut amidst the pandemic.

Neuchâtel Xamax

On 16 June 2020, Kouassi signed for

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (Fra ...

Pau FC

On 13 September 2020, Kouassi signed for

International career

Kouassi earned one

for the

on 10 August 2011. He replaced

Gervinho Gervais Yao Kouassi (born 27 May 1987), known as Gervinho, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club Aris and the Ivory Coast national team. Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumo ...

in the last minute of a 4–3 friendly win over

at the

Stade de Genève Stade de Genève, also called Stade de la Praille, is a stadium in Lancy, Canton of Geneva. It has a capacity of 30,084. Overview The stadium was completed in 2003 by Zschokke Construction S.A. after nearly three years of construction. Normally ...

, the home of his then-club Servette.

Honours

FC Sion *

: 2014–15

References

External links

Xavier Kouassi profile
at football.ch * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kouassi, Xavier Living people 1989 births People from San-Pédro, Ivory Coast Ivorian footballers Association football defenders Ivory Coast international footballers Swiss Super League players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS) Ligue 2 players Servette FC players FC Sion players New England Revolution players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players Pau FC players Ivorian expatriate footballers Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in France