Lassina Diabaté

Lassina Diabaté

Personal information
Date of birth	(1974-09-16) September 16, 1974
Place of birth	Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire
Height
Position(s)	Centre-back/defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	CS Louhans-Cuiseaux
Youth career
	Olympique Alès
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992-1993	Olympique Alès	?	(?)
1993-1995	FC Bourges	?	(?)
1995-1997	FC Perpignan	50	(1)
1997-2001	Bordeaux	91	(2)
2001-2002	Auxerre	23	(0)
2002-2003	Portsmouth	16	(0)
2004	Ajaccio	13	(0)
2004-2005	Sint-Truiden	20	(0)
2005-2006	Lausanne-Sport	14	(0)
2007	Cannes
Total		227	(3)
International career
2002-2003	Côte d'Ivoire
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lassina Diabaté (born September 16, 1974 in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire) is a former Ivorian football player. He played for Côte d'Ivoire and a few clubs in Europe.

Diabaté played for several clubs in France, including Perpignan, Bordeaux and Auxerre.

He was a participant at the 1998, 2000 and 2002 African Cup of Nations. He is best known for wearing fluorescent orange soccer boots, before such designs became fashionable. Diabaté was signed by Portsmouth in October 2002. During his time in England with Portsmouth his manager Harry Redknapp described him as being "as hard as iron" and said: "I wouldn't want to be a striker playing against him, he is a wonderfully aggressive player who controls the midfield for us". He made 25 league appearances during Portsmouth's 2002/03 season after which they were promoted to the Premier League.

He often struggled with injuries at various points in his career, which limited the amount of time he spent at each club. He failed to score a single goal in the last 7 years of his career.

External links

• Lassina Diabaté at National-Football-Teams.com