 Kanouté in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Frédéric Oumar Kanouté | ||
| Date of birth | (1977-09-02)2 September 1977 (age 48) | ||
| Place of birth | Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, France | ||
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–2000 | Lyon | 40 | (9) |
| 2000 | →West Ham United (loan) | 8 | (2) |
| 2000–2003 | West Ham United | 76 | (27) |
| 2003–2005 | Tottenham Hotspur | 60 | (14) |
| 2005–2012 | Sevilla | 209 | (89) |
| 2012–2013 | Beijing Guoan | 34 | (10) |
| Total | 427 | (151) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–1999 | France U21 | 11 | (1) |
| 2004–2010 | Mali | 38 | (23) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Frédéric Oumar Kanouté (born 2 September 1977) is a former professionalfootballer who played as astriker for several top-tier clubs in Europe, enjoying his greatest success withLa Liga sideSevilla. Kanouté was named the 2007African Footballer of the Year, the first player born outside Africa to win the award.
Kanouté began his career withLyon in France before moving toWest Ham United of thePremier League in 2000. After a spell at theirLondon rivalsTottenham Hotspur, Kanouté moved to Spanish club Sevilla where he won two consecutiveUEFA Cups in 2006 and 2007 in addition to various other European and domestic honours and remains the club's highest-scoring foreign player. He joinedBeijing Goan in June 2012.[2][3][4]
Despite playing forFrance U-21, Kanouté was a member of theMalian squad which reached the semi-finals of the2004 African Cup of Nations and also featured in their selections for the tournament in 2006 and 2010. His international career ended in 2010 with a total of 38caps and 23 goals.
Frédéric Oumar Kanouté[5] was born on 2 September 1977[6] inSainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône.[5]
Kanouté's talents as astriker 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 sideOdra Wodzisław.[citation needed]
In March 2000, Kanouté was signed by English Premier League sideWest Ham United from Olympique Lyonnais on an initial loan basis.[7] After nine first-team appearances in which he scored two goals, he signed permanently in May 2000 on a four-year contract for a reported fee of £4 million.[8] Kanouté made 84 league appearances for West Ham, scoring 29 goals.[9] The club were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2002–03 season.[10]
Kanouté was bought byTottenham Hotspur for a fee of £3.5 million on 5 August 2003.[11] He scored on his debut on 23 August, the winner in a 2-1 home league victory overLeeds United, nine minutes after coming on forBobby Zamora.[12]
His first season was interrupted by a call-up for the2004 African Cup of Nations forMali. Tottenham tried to stop him going by askingFIFA whether Kanouté was eligible to play for Mali after representing France at Under-20 level.[13]
Kanouté was unable to cement himself as a regular at White Hart Lane, asRobbie Keane andJermain Defoe were preferred. He became a less prolific goalscorer and instead was involved in attacks by setting up various goals with runs at the defence and creating space for other attacking players.[citation needed]
Kanouté was sold toSevilla on 17 August 2005 for €6.5 million.[14] He was a second-half substitute for the club in the2006 UEFA Cup Final againstMiddlesbrough and scored in the 89th minute as Sevilla won 4–0.[15]
In the2006-07 UEFA Cup, Kanouté's first games for Sevilla against Tottenham Hotspur led to him scoring a penalty at theRamón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in a game marred by crowd trouble, and a goal atWhite Hart Lane, leaving the final aggregate score 4–3 to Sevilla.[citation needed]
Sevilla's title challenge that year ultimately unravelled andReal Madrid took the title, with Kanouté's side in third.[16] After that, he was a consistent member of the team, helping Sevilla qualify for aUEFA Cup position in 2008 and aChampions League direct qualification in 2009.[citation needed]
On the first day of the2009–10 season, Kanouté received twoyellow cards for fouls againstValencia and was sent off in first half stoppage time.[citation needed]
On 22 October 2011, during the2011–12 season, Kanouté received two yellow cards againstFC Barcelona for kicking the ball off the penalty spot, whenLionel Messi was due to take it. The second yellow was for an altercation between Kanouté andCesc Fàbregas.[17] Kanouté's farewell season in Spain was plagued with injuries as he participated in 26 matches, scoring four goals and assisting two others – he left at the end of his contract in the summer of 2012.[18] Kanoute became an iconic figure at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, netting 136 goals in 290 matches as helped the club to win two UEFA Cups, one UEFA Super Cup, two Copa del Rey trophies and one Spanish Supercup.[18]
On 29 June 2012, Kanouté signed a one-and-a-half-year contract withChinese Super League sideBeijing Guoan.[18][19] On 18 July 2012, he scored his first two goals in his team's 6–0 victory againstQingdao Jonoon in theChinese FA Cup. In May 2013, Kanouté scored a brace in a Super League fixture againstTianjin Teda.[citation needed]
Kanouté made 11 appearances for theFrance national under-21 team, scoring one goal, from 1998 to 1999.[20] After turning 21 in 1998, Kanouté was not called up for theFrance national team 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 forMali rather than for France. Kanouté was joint top goal scorer for Mali at the2004 African Cup of Nations. Kanouté scored four goals in four matches helping Mali to the semi-finals, where they lost toMorocco.[citation needed]
In October 2007, Kanouté, along with Mali international teammateMamady Sidibé, were attacked by irate Togolese fans after they knockedTogo out of theAfrican Cup of Nations qualifier.[21] Frederic Kanoute announced his retirement from international football following Mali's elimination from the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.[22]
In 2001, Kanouté was described byThe Irish Times in 2001 as "highly skilful, quick-footed, quick-witted and with an eye for the spectacular."[23] Upon signing for Sevilla in 2005, the club's sporting director,Monchi, described Kanouté with the following words: "He's tall, good in the air, skilful and strong and can play up front orjust behind the lead striker."[24] Throughout his career he was also known for his eye for goal.[25] In 2020, Chris Howie ofbeIN Sports described Kanouté as a "tall, languid, graceful [...] striker," also labelling him a "late bloomer."[26]
He has been practicingIslam since he was around the age of 20. He refused to wear a Sevilla shirt bearing the name of club sponsor888.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 US$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.[27] Kanouté helped raise over $1m in a crowdfunding campaign to build the mosque.[28]
Kanouté insists his faith has never presented itself as a problem in his relationship with the coaching staff, teammates or fans. He has stated that "Islam has helped me to be this way, so this is normal. It's a path you take to keep you calm, to help you think about the place you live in, to love your neighbour. It's strange when I hear about all these problems of terrorism because it's the opposite of what I understood for Islam."[29]
He observes fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan. He has stated that "I can keep fasting in Ramadan even when I am playing...it is sometimes harder to keep the fast because here in the south of Spain it is very hot, but I can do it, thank God."[30]
After scoring a goal in a January 2009 Copa Del Rey match againstDeportivo La Coruña, Kanouté lifted his jersey and displayed a black shirt underneath emblazoned with the word "Palestine". The action was interpreted byBBC sources[31] as a protest against theIsraeli Army operation in theGaza 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.[31]
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.[32]This is now the well established Sakina Children's Village. Kanouté talks about his Foundation and the Village in the book,How to do good: Essays in Building a Better World, published in December 2016.[33] He also took part in a speaker tour inspired by the book in 2017, speaking in Oslo, Stockholm, Paris and London alongside other humanitarians and philanthropists.[34][35]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Lyon | 1997–98 | French Division 1 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | – | 29 | 8 | |
| 1998–99 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[c] | 1 | – | 12 | 3 | |||
| 1999–2000 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5[d] | 0 | – | 20 | 1 | |||
| Total | 40 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 3 | – | 61 | 12 | |||
| West Ham United (loan) | 1999–2000 | Premier League | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 2 | ||
| West Ham United | 2000–01 | Premier League | 32 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 14 | ||
| 2001–02 | 27 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 28 | 12 | ||||
| 2002–03 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 17 | 5 | ||||
| Total | 84 | 29 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 92 | 33 | ||||
| Tottenham Hotspur | 2003–04 | Premier League | 27 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 31 | 12 | ||
| 2004–05 | 32 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 2 | – | – | 41 | 9 | ||||
| 2005–06 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 60 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 4 | – | – | 73 | 21 | ||||
| Sevilla | 2005–06 | La Liga | 32 | 6 | 2 | 2 | – | 11[c] | 6 | – | 45 | 14 | ||
| 2006–07 | 32 | 21 | 5 | 4 | – | 10[c] | 4 | 1[e] | 1 | 48 | 30 | |||
| 2007–08 | 30 | 16 | 1 | 1 | – | 9[f] | 6 | 2[g] | 3 | 42 | 26 | |||
| 2008–09 | 34 | 18 | 6 | 3 | – | 2[c] | 2 | – | 42 | 23 | ||||
| 2009–10 | 27 | 12 | 5 | 1 | – | 7[f] | 2 | – | 39 | 15 | ||||
| 2010–11 | 28 | 12 | 5 | 1 | – | 9[h] | 6 | 1[i] | 2 | 43 | 21 | |||
| 2011–12 | 26 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | 2[j] | 1 | – | 31 | 8 | ||||
| Total | 209 | 89 | 27 | 15 | – | 50 | 27 | 4 | 6 | 290 | 137 | |||
| Beijing Guoan | 2012 | Chinese Super League | 10 | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 12 | 3 | ||
| 2013 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 0 | – | 7[k] | 1 | – | 34 | 10 | ||||
| Total | 34 | 10 | 5 | 2 | – | 7 | 1 | – | 46 | 13 | ||||
| Career total | 427 | 151 | 44 | 24 | 12 | 4 | 75 | 31 | 4 | 6 | 602 | 216 | ||
| Mali[36] | ||
| Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 11 | 7 |
| 2005 | 3 | 0 |
| 2006 | 3 | 2 |
| 2007 | 3 | 2 |
| 2008 | 9 | 6 |
| 2009 | 6 | 4 |
| 2010 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 38 | 23 |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition | Scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1, 2 | 26 January 2004 | Bizerte, Tunisia |  Kenya | 3–1 | 2004 African Cup of Nations | 2 |
| 3 | 30 January 2004 | Tunis, Tunisia |  Burkina Faso | 3–1 | 2004 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
| 4 | 7 February 2004 | Tunis, Tunisia |  Guinea | 2–1 | 2004 African Cup of Nations | 1 |
| 5 | 19 June 2004 | Bamako, Mali |  Zambia | 1–1 | 2006 World Cup and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 6 | 18 August 2004 | Colombes, France |  Congo Kinshasa | 3–0 | Friendly | 1 |
| 7 | 5 September 2004 | Bamako, Mali |  Senegal | 2–2 | 2006 World Cup and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 8 | 28 May 2006 | Bondoufle, France |  Morocco | 1–0 | Friendly | 1 |
| 9 | 16 August 2006 | Narbonne, France |  Tunisia | 1–0 | Friendly | 1 |
| 10 | 25 March 2007 | Bamako, Mali |  Benin | 1–1 | 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 11 | 12 October 2007 | Lomé, Togo |  Togo | 2–0 | 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 12 | 21 January 2008 | Sekondi, Ghana | Benin | 1–0 | 2008 Africa Cup of Nations | 1 |
| 13, 14 | 7 June 2008 | N'Djamena, Chad |  Chad | 2–1 | 2010 World Cup qualifier | 2 |
| 15, 16 | 14 June 2008 | Omdurman,Sudan |  Sudan | 2-3 | 2010 World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 2 |
| 17 | 22 June 2008 | Bamako, Mali | Sudan | 3–0 | 2010 World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 18 | 11 February 2009 | Bois-Guillaume, France |  Angola | 4–0 | Friendly | 1 |
| 19 | 28 March 2009 | Omdurman, Sudan | Sudan | 1–1 | 2010 World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 20 | 21 June 2009 | Bamako, Mali | Benin | 3–1 | 2010 World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 21 | 11 October 2009 | Bamako, Mali | Sudan | 1–0 | 2010 World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier | 1 |
| 22 | 10 January 2010 | Luanda, Angola | Angola | 4–4 | 2010 Africa Cup of Nations | 1 |
| 23 | 18 January 2010 | Cabinda, Angola |  Malawi | 3–1 | 2010 Africa Cup of Nations | 1 |
Lyon
Sevilla[18]
Individual
Mali squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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