_1.jpg) Lafont withToulouse in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alban-Marc Lafont[1][2] | ||
| Date of birth | (1999-01-23)23 January 1999 (age 26)[3] | ||
| Place of birth | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | ||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[4] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Panathinaikos (on loan fromNantes) | ||
| Number | 40 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2008–2014 | AS Lattoise | ||
| 2014–2015 | Toulouse | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2018 | Toulouse | 98 | (0) |
| 2018–2021 | Fiorentina | 34 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | →Nantes (loan) | 65 | (0) |
| 2021– | Nantes | 115 | (0) |
| 2025 | Nantes B | 6 | (0) |
| 2025– | →Panathinaikos (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2015 | France U16 | 5 | (0) |
| 2015 | France U17 | 2 | (0) |
| 2016 | France U18 | 4 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | France U19 | 5 | (0) |
| 2017–2019 | France U20 | 7 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | France U21 | 13 | (0) |
| 2025– | Ivory Coast | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 10 October 2025 | |||
Alban-Marc Lafont (born 23 January 1999) is a professionalfootballer who plays asgoalkeeper forGreek Super League clubPanathinaikos, on loan fromLigue 1 clubNantes. Born in Burkina Faso and raised in France, he plays for theIvory Coast national team.
Having progressed through the academy of AS Lattoise, Lafont signed forToulouse in 2014 where he became the youngest goalkeeper ever to play inLigue 1 upon making his debut the following year. He went on to make over 100 appearances for the club across all competitions before joining Fiorentina in 2018. In 2019, he returned to France in a loan deal to Nantes; the deal was made permanent in 2021.
Lafont was born inOuagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to a French father and BurkinabeDyula mother.[5] His parents separated when he was nine years old and Lafont moved to France to live with his father inHerault. His mother remained in Burkina Faso, where she later became a Member of Parliament for thePeople's Movement for Progress in the Burkina Faso National Assembly.[6][7] Lafont comes from a sporting family. His maternal grandfather played football for ten years and later served as president of Ouagadougou Shooting Star while his mother was a member of the national handball team.[6][7] His father also played tennis.[8]
Lafont started his career at amateur side AS Lattoise where he initially began playing as an attacking midfielder, before converting to a goalkeeper.[9] He spent six years with Lattoise before signing with Ligue 1 sideToulouse in 2014.[10]
Lafont spent little more than a year in the academy at Toulouse before clubmanagerDominique Arribagé handed him hisLigue 1 debut on 28 November 2015 againstOGC Nice.[11][12] Upon doing so, he became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in Ligue 1 at the age of 16 years and 310 days, surpassing the record previously held byMickaël Landreau.[13] Having replacedAli Ahamada andMauro Goicoechea as Toulouse's starting goalkeeper, Lafont keptclean sheets in his first two competitive fixtures before finally conceding in a 3–2 loss againstLorient on 5 December 2015. In January 2016, Lafont was named as the 34th best U-20 player in the world by Italian publicationLa Gazzetta dello Sport and featured as one of only two goalkeepers on the list alongsideAC Milan'sGianluigi Donnarumma.[14] Having been 10 points adrift of safety at the time of Lafont's introduction into the first team, Toulouse managed to avoidrelegation on the final day of the season, thanks in part to the eight clean sheets he kept in his 24 appearances for the campaign.[15] He was rewarded for his form on 30 June 2016 when he signed a new contract with Toulouse, extending his stay with the club until 2020.[16]
Lafont retained the number one spot for Toulouse in the following season and started the campaign by keeping a clean sheet againstMarseille on the opening weekend.[17] On 22 October he was named as theman of the match for his performance in Toulouse's 0–0 draw withAngers, with his form in goal earning him his fourth clean sheet in only his tenth league appearance for the campaign.[18] Lafont's previous three clean sheets had come against esteemed opposition in the form of Marseille,Saint-Étienne and defending champions,Paris Saint-Germain.[19] Four days later, Lafont made hisCoupe de la Ligue debut and kept another clean sheet in a 1–0 win overLigue 2 sideAuxerre.[20] He then made his first ever appearance in theCoupe de France on 8 January 2017, starting in a 2–1extra-time defeat to Marseille.[21] The following month, he became the youngest goalkeeper in 30 years to reach 50 Ligue 1 appearances, achieving the milestone in a 0–0 draw with PSG.[22] He ended the campaign with 38 appearances to his name across all competitions, and having kept 11 clean sheets, as Toulouse ended the Ligue 1 season in 13th position.[23]
In February 2018, having continued to impress in goal for Toulouse, Lafont was named by theCIES Football Observatory as the world's second-most promising footballer under the age of 20. Gianluigi Donnarumma was the only player rated higher than him while countryman andGolden Boy winnerKylian Mbappé was ranked third.[24] He made his 100th appearance for the club on 29 April 2018, starting in a 2–1 league defeat toRennes. He kept 12 clean sheets for the season and featured in Toulouse's play-off victory overAjaccio to help the club avoid relegation.[25]
On 2 July 2018, Lafont signed a five-year deal with Italian sideFiorentina for a reported fee €7 million plus bonuses.[26] His debut followed on 26 August when he started in a 6–1 win overChievoVerona on the day of Fiorentina's 92nd anniversary.[27][28] He ultimately made 38 appearances for the season but the campaign was one of indifference, with Lafont's impressive repertoire of saves matched by a string of high-profile errors.[29]
On 29 June 2019, having lost his place toBartłomiej Drągowski, Lafont returned to France where he joinedNantes on a two-season-longloan as a replacement for the departingCiprian Tătărușanu. Nantes also secured an option to sign Lafont permanently for a €7 million transfer fee.[30][31]
On 26 May 2021, Nantes made Lafont's deal a permanent one, triggering his €7 million option to buy clause.[32]
Lafont has representedFrance at various youth levels. He made six appearances for theFrance U16 team and captained the side on three occasions.[13] He then made his debut forFrance U17 on 20 October 2015 againstNorthern Ireland, keeping a clean sheet in the process. Lafont was, however, not selected for France's 2016European Under-17 Championship squad after Toulouse lobbied for him to remain with the club for their last two games of theseason to aid their relegation battle.[33]
In September 2016, Lafont was named in the 20-manFrance U18 squad by managerBernard Diomède for the 2016 Limoges Tournament.[34] He was an ever-present as France ended the tournament on top of the standings having won 2 out of their 3 matches and drawn the other.[35] He was promoted to theU20 side the following year and made his debut againstEngland on 25 March.[36] In May the same year, he was named in the France squad for the2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea.[37] Throughout the tournament, he alternated withPaul Bernardoni as France's starting 'keeper before the nation was eliminated byItaly in the Round of 16.[38]
On 19 September 2022, Lafont received his firstFrance national team call-up for twoUEFA Nations League matches, replacing the injuredHugo Lloris.[39]
In August 2025, Lafont was called up to theIvory Coast national team. He was eligible through his maternal grandfather who was an Ivorian citizen.[40]
On 3 September 2025, Lafont's request to change sports citizenship from French to Ivorian was approved byFIFA.[1]
In January 2016, relatives of Lafont were among the 30 people killed in theOuagadougou attacks when a group of gunmen opened fire in aCappuccino restaurant.[6]
On 25 September 2016, Lafont became the youngest ever footballer to be invited as a guest on French football programmeTéléfoot.[41][42]
Born in Burkina Faso and raised in France, Lafont is also eligible to play for the Ivorian national team, via his maternal grandfather.[43]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Toulouse | 2015–16 | Ligue 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 24 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17 | Ligue 1 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 38 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | Ligue 1 | 38 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 2[c] | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| Total | 98 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 106 | 0 | ||
| Fiorentina | 2018–19 | Serie A | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 38 | 0 | |||
| Nantes(loan) | 2019–20 | Ligue 1 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 0 | ||
| 2020–21 | Ligue 1 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2[c] | 0 | 40 | 0 | |||
| Total | 65 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 69 | 0 | ||||
| Nantes | 2021–22 | Ligue 1 | 38 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 39 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23 | Ligue 1 | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 8[d] | 0 | 1[e] | 0 | 48 | 0 | ||
| 2023–24 | Ligue 1 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 30 | 0 | ||||
| 2024–25 | Ligue 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 115 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 131 | 0 | ||
| Nantes B | 2024–25 | National 3 | 6 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | |||||||
| Panathinaikos(loan) | 2025–26 | Super League Greece | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 3[d] | 0 | – | 10 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 323 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 358 | 0 | ||
Nantes
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