Frédéric Kanouté

Frédéric Oumar Kanouté (born 2 September 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker for several top-tier clubs in Europe, enjoying his greatest success with La Liga side Sevilla.

Frédéric Oumar Kanouté was born on 2 September 1977 in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône.

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.

Kanouté made 11 appearances for the France national under-21 team, scoring one goal, from 1998 to 1999.

After turning 21 in 1998, Kanouté was not called up for the French national squad in 2000, 2002, or 2004.

Kanouté began his career with Lyon in France before moving to West Ham United of the Premier League in 2000.

In 2000, Kanouté was signed by English Premier League side West Ham United on an initial loan basis.

He formed a solid partnership with Paolo Di Canio and after some promising appearances in the Premier League, Hammers manager Harry Redknapp made his move permanent.

Kanouté had varying success at the Boleyn Ground, often praised for his ability, but also criticised for his laid back attitude.

West Ham were relegated at the end of the 2002-03 season.

Kanouté was bought by Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £3.5 million on 5 August 2003.

He scored on his debut on 23 August, the winner in a 2-1 home league victory over Leeds United, nine minutes after coming on for Bobby Zamora.

Despite playing for France U-21, Kanouté was a member of the Malian squad which reached the semi-finals of the 2004 African Cup of Nations and also featured in their selections for the tournament in 2006 and 2010.

His first season was interrupted by a call-up for the 2004 African Cup of Nations for Mali.

Tottenham tried to stop him going by asking FIFA whether Kanouté was eligible to play for Mali after representing France at Under-20 level.

Kanouté was unable to cement himself as a regular at White Hart Lane, as Robbie Keane and Jermain 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.

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.

Kanouté was sold to Sevilla on 17 August 2005 for €6.5 million.

After a spell at their London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Kanouté moved to Spanish club Sevilla where he won two consecutive UEFA Cups in 2006 and 2007 in addition to various other European and domestic honours and remains the club's highest-scoring foreign player.

He was a second-half substitute for the club in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final against Middlesbrough and scored in the 89th minute as Sevilla won 4–0.

In the 2006-07 UEFA Cup, Kanouté's first games for Sevilla against Tottenham Hotspur led to him scoring a penalty at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in a game marred by crowd trouble, and a goal at White Hart Lane, leaving the final aggregate score 4–3 to Sevilla.

Sevilla's title challenge that year ultimately unravelled and Real Madrid took the title, with Kanouté's side in third.

Kanouté was named the 2007 African Footballer of the Year, the first player born outside Africa to win the award.

After that, he was a consistent member of the team, 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 season, Kanouté received two yellow cards for fouls against Valencia and was sent off in first half stoppage time.

His international career ended in 2010 with a total of 38

caps and 23 goals.

On 22 October 2011, during the 2011–12 season, Kanouté received two yellow cards against FC Barcelona for kicking the ball off the penalty spot, when Lionel Messi was due to take it.

The second yellow was for an altercation between Kanouté and Cesc Fàbregas.

He joined Beijing Goan in June 2012.

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.

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.

On 29 June 2012, Kanouté signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan.

On 18 July 2012, he scored his first two goals in his team's 6–0 victory against Qingdao Jonoon in the Chinese FA Cup.

In May 2013, Kanouté scored a brace in a Super League fixture against Tianjin Teda.