Frédéric Kanouté

Frédéric Kabubaliche Kanouté

Personal information
Full name	Frédéric Oumar Kanouté
Date of birth	2 September 1977 (1977-09-02) (age 33)
Place of birth	Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, France
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Sevilla
Number	12
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2000	Lyon	40	(9)
2000–2003	West Ham United	84	(29)
2003–2005	Tottenham Hotspur	60	(14)
2005–	Sevilla	154	(71)
National team‡
1998–2001	France U21	1	(0)
2004–2010	Mali	38	(23)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 05 May 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 24 January 2010

Frédéric Oumar Kanouté (born 2 September 1977 in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône) is a French-born Malian footballer who currently plays for Sevilla in the Spanish La Liga, and is known for his pace, strength, and technique. On 2 February 2008, Kanouté was named the 2007 African Footballer of the Year and is the first foreign-born player to win it.^[1]

Club career

Lyon

Kanouté's talents as a striker were first noticed by his local team, Olympique Lyonnais, and he joined them as an apprentice in 1997. He made his debut in the Intertoto Cup against Polish side Odra Wodzisław.

West Ham United

Kanouté joined West Ham United, making 84 league appearances and scoring 29 goals. His good form there attracted the interest of clubs such as Aston Villa, who were hopeful of signing the striker until he pledged his future to the Hammers.^[2]

Tottenham Hotspur

His speed and awareness attracted interest from Tottenham Hotspur, who bought him at the end of the 2002–03 season. Kanouté enjoyed mixed success at Tottenham, where he scored on his debut with an acrobatic volley, with occasional flashes of brilliance marked by apparent pique when he preferred the African Cup of Nations over the Premiership and went AWOL from Tottenham's 2005 summer tour to Mauritius.

Sevilla

Kanouté was sold to Sevilla on 17 August 2005 for €6.5 million.^[3] He was a second half substitute for the club in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final against Middlesbrough and scored in the 89th minute. Sevilla won 4–0.

Kanouté's first games for Sevilla against Tottenham Hotspur led to his scoring a (somewhat controversial) penalty at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in a game marred by crowd trouble, and an excellent goal at White Hart Lane, leaving the final aggregate score 4–3 to Sevilla.

The 2006–07 season has proved his most productive and has earned him much praise for the prominent role he has played in leading Sevilla's surprising charge on three fronts. Challenging for the Copa del Rey 2006–07, where they played Getafe in the final, as well as the UEFA Cup and La Liga. The previous year's UEFA Cup had featured just a cameo appearance for him in a comfortable victory, although he grabbed a late goal. Nonetheless, he secured his first honour of the season on 16 May with Sevilla's victory over Espanyol on penalties, after a 2–2 draw after extra time. Kanouté had seemingly retained the title for Sevilla with his extra-time goal (his fourth of the tournament) to make it 2–1, but a late equalizer prompted penalties. Kanouté scored the first in a 3–1 penalty triumph.

Sevilla's title challenge that year ultimately unravelled and Real Madrid took the title, with Kanouté's side in third.^[4] Since then, Kanouté has been a consistent — if not explosive — member of the club, helping Sevilla qualify for a UEFA Cup position in 2008 and a Champions League direct qualification in 2009.

On the first day of the 2009–10 campaign, Kanouté got two yellow cards for bad fouls against Valencia and was sent off in first half stoppage time.

International career

While playing for Lyon, Kanouté joined the French under-21 team.^[5] After turning 21 in 1998, Kanouté was not called up for the French national squad in 2000, 2002, or 2004. In 2004, FIFA changed its rules to allow a footballer to play for the national team of the country in which his mother or father was born. Although eligible for either, Kanouté elected to play for Mali rather than for France. Kanouté was joint top goal scorer for Mali at the 2004 African Cup of Nations. Kanouté scored four goals in four matches helping Mali to the semi-finals, where they lost to Morocco.

In October 2007, Kanouté, along with Mali international teammate Mamady Sidibe, were attacked by irate Togolese fans after they knocked Togo out of the African Cup of Nations qualifier.^[6] Frederic Kanoute announced his retirement from international football following Mali's elimination from the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.^[7]

Personal life

Kanouté and his wife Fatima live in Seville, Spain with their two children.

Kanouté has been practicing Islam since he was around the age of 20. He refused to wear a Sevilla shirt bearing the name of club sponsor 888.com, due to the fact the website is used for gambling, which is against the principles of Islam; this meant that the club had to give him a brand-free jersey every match. The company, however, agreed to excuse him from their publicity campaigns in return for Kanouté wearing the sponsored kit, which was part of the players' contractual duties. In 2007, Kanouté paid more than $700,000 out of his pocket to buy a mosque in Seville. The contract on the premises had expired and the mosque was due to be sold. The Islamic community of Spain confirmed it had requested Kanouté's aid after the mosque was put up for sale.^[8]

Kanouté has also showed interest in a variety of humanitarian causes. In 2006, he launched an appeal to establish a "Children's Village" in Mali.^[9] And after scoring a goal in a 7 January 2009 Copa Del Rey match against Deportivo La Coruña, Kanouté lifted his jersey and displayed a black shirt underneath emblazoned with the word "Palestine". The action was interpreted by BBC sources^[10] as a protest against the massive Israeli army invasion into the Gaza Strip ongoing at that time. Kanouté was cautioned with a yellow card for displaying a political message, and subsequently fined around $4,000 by the league.^[10]

Club career statistics

Correct as of 19 April 2010.

Honours

Sevilla

• UEFA Cup: 2006, 2007
• Copa del Rey: 2007, 2010
• UEFA Super Cup: 2006
• Supercopa de Espana: 2007

Personal

• African Footballer of the Year: 2007

References

External links

• Frédéric Kanouté - FIFA competition record
• ESPN Soccernet Frédéric Kanouté Career Statistics
• Frédéric Kanouté career stats at Soccerbase
• Kanoute interview, Show Racism the Red Card campaign.
• FootballDatabase provides Frédéric Kanouté's profile and stats
• Real Madrid keen on Sevilla ace Kanoute
• Latest speculation about transfers
• Muslim footballer saves Spanish mosque
• Portrait of Frédéric Oumar Kanouté: Not Your Average Footballer

Mali Squads Mali squad – 2004 African Cup of Nations 1 Mahamadou Sidibè • 2 Diamoutèné • 3 Diawara • 4 A. Coulibaly • 5 Thiam • 6 Diarra • 7 Mamady Sidibé • 8 B. Touré • 9 Abouta • 10 S. Coulibaly • 11 D. Sidibé • 12 Keita • 13 Kone • 14 D. Coulibaly • 15 Demba • 16 Bathily • 17 S. Traoré • 18 Sissoko • 19 Kanouté • 20 D. Traoré • 21 M. Traoré • 22 Tangara • Coach: Stambouli Mali squad – 2008 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Mahamadou Sidibè • 2 Koné • 3 Tamboura • 4 A. Coulibaly • 5 Diamoutene • 6 Diarra • 7 Mamady Sidibé • 8 B. Touré • 9 A. Sidibé • 10 D. Traoré • 11 D. Sidibé • 12 Keita • 13 Diallo • 14 Diakite • 15 Kanté • 16 Diakite • 17 S. Traoré • 18 Dembélé • 19 Kanouté • 20 M. Sissoko • 21 Dissa • 22 O. Sissoko • 23 M. Coulibaly • Coach: Jodar Mali squad – 2010 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Sidibè • 2 Berthé • 3 Tamboura • 4 Sow • 5 Diamoutene • 6 Diarra • 7 N'Diaye • 8 Diallo • 9 Bagayoko • 10 Maiga • 11 Samassa • 12 Keita • 13 Soumaré • 14 A. Traoré • 15 B. Traoré • 16 Diakité • 17 M. Traoré • 18 M. Sissoko • 19 Kanouté • 20 Fané • 21 Yatabaré • 22 O. Sissoko • 23 Maïga • Coach: Keshi