Adama Traoré (footballer, born 1990)

Adama Traoré (born 3 February 1990) is an Ivorian[3] professional footballer who plays for A-League club Melbourne Victory as a left back. Traoré is a dual national, possessing both an Ivorian passport and an Australian passport.

Adama Traoré

Adama Traoré playing for Melbourne Victory in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Adama Traoré
Date of birth	3 February 1990
Place of birth	Bondoukou, Ivory Coast[1]
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[2]
Position(s)	Left back / left midfield / left winger
Club information
Current team	Melbourne Victory
Number	3
Youth career
2002–2004	Celtic Football Academie
2005–2006	ÉF Yéo Martial
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2008	ÉF Yéo Martial
2009–2012	Gold Coast United	69	(3)
2012–2014	Melbourne Victory	46	(1)
2014–2015	Vitória de Guimarães	15	(0)
2015–2017	Basel	58	(1)
2017–2019	Göztepe	27	(0)
2019–	Melbourne Victory	23	(0)
National team^‡
2007	Ivory Coast U-17	1	(0)
2006–2007	Ivory Coast U-19	1	(0)
2007–2009	Ivory Coast U-20	5	(1)
2015–	Ivory Coast	12	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 August 2020 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10 September 2019

Club career

Adama Traoré training with Melbourne Victory FC in 2013.

Traoré began his career in his native Ivory Coast. He played for Ecole de Football Yéo Martial. He later signed a three-year contract with former A-League club Gold Coast United, after impressing in trial matches. Gold Coast United invited him for a trial after having watched highlights of his performances at the 2007 Toulon Tournament.[4][5]

In 2010, Traore stated the move to the former A-League club Gold Coast United was a stepping stone in his ambitions of playing club football internationally. Due to Gold Coast United having its A-League license revoked,[6] it was announced on 15 March 2012 that Traore had signed a two-year contract with A-League club Melbourne Victory.[7] Traore made his debut for the Victory in their Round 1 clash with cross-town rivals Melbourne Heart, an encounter which the Victory lost 2–1. On 9 March 2013, Traore suffered a high grade, high ankle ligament rupture which sidelined him for the rest of the 2012–13 season.[8][9]

After Clive Palmer's club collapsed Adama Traore signed with Melbourne Victory – and stated his desire to play for Australia's national team.[10]

In May 2014, Traoré's contract with Melbourne expired after declining renewals in hopes of pursuit a career in Europe.[11][12]

The most prestigious award given to a Melbourne Victory player, the Victory Medal, was awarded to Adama Traore at the end of season awards ceremony on 10 May 2014.[13]

On 14 June 2014, it was announced that Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães had signed Traoré on a multi-year deal.[14]

But after spending just six months in Portugal, Traoré joined FC Basel on 10 January 2015 signing a three and a half year contract.[15] He made his team debut on 22 February 2015 in the 2–4 away defeat against Young Boys as he was substituted in during the 67th minute.[16]

The season 2014–15 was a very successful one for Basel. The championship was won for the sixth time in a row that season[17] and in the 2014–15 Swiss Cup they reached the final, but finished as runners-up, losing 0–3 to FC Sion in the final. Basel entered the Champions League in the group stage and reached the knockout phase. But Basel then lost to Porto in the Round of 16. In the second half of the season Basel played a 31 matches (18 Swiss League fixtures, 3 Swiss Cup, 2 Champions League and 8 test matches). Under trainer Paulo Sousa Traoré totaled 17 appearances, 12 League, 2 Cup and 3 in test games.[18]

Traoré scored his first Swiss Super League goal in a 3–0 win against FC Sion on 1 August 2015.[19] Under trainer Urs Fischer Traoré won the league]] championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season[20] and at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season for the third time. For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total.[21] They also won the Swiss Cup for the twelfth time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in the club's history.[22]

He joined Göztepe S.K. on August 14, 2017.[23] In October 2018 he damaged knee ligaments and was ruled out for the rest of the season.[24]

On 12 September 2019, Traoré rejoined Melbourne Victory on a one year contract.[25][26]

International career

Traoré has had spells with the Ivory Coast U-17, Ivory Coast U-19, and Ivory Coast U-20, playing a total of seven games for his country, scoring only one goal. He has played two games in the CAF-organised 2007 African Youth Championship (versus Congo and The Gambia) which doubled as a qualifier for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[27][28] During the same year, Traoré also participated in the Toulon Tournament and the UEMOA Tournament.

After arriving in Australia, Traoré stated that he would like to play for the Socceroos.[29] However it later became clear that this was impossible as he had represented Ivory Coast at youth level.[30][31] Under the regulations of FIFA, a player's national allegiance cannot change after they have represented their country of origin at national youth level unless the player held dual nationality upon their original call-up.[31]

Traoré has also previously been selected for the senior national team to play against Senegal. However, having not yet played a game he has not received a full international cap, he turned down the opportunity to play this game as he had the ambition to play for the Socceroos.

Traore was called up by Ivory Coast for the first time on 7 November 2014 for their matches against Sierra Leone and Cameroon but did not play.[32] He was again called up for the match on 6 September 2015 against Sierra Leone in the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt (Nigeria) for an Africa Cup of Nations qualification game. Traoré made his national team debut in the starting eleven, but was substituted out after he injured himself. The match ended in a goalless draw.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 6 December 2020

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Gold Coast United	2009–10	A-League	11	0	–		–		–		0	0	11	0
	2010–11		29	2	–		–		–		2	0	31	2
	2011–12		27	1	–		–		–		0	0	27	1
	Gold Coast United Total		67	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	69	3
Melbourne Victory	2012–13	A-League	22	0	–		–		–		0	0	22	0
	2013–14		24	1	–		–		4	0	2	0	30	1
	Melbourne Victory Total		46	1	0	0	0	0	4	0	2	0	52	1
Vitória de Guimarães	2014–15	Primeira Liga	15	0	2	0	1	0	–		–		18	0
	Vitória de Guimarães Total		15	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	18	0
Basel	2014–15	Swiss Super League	11	0	2	0	–		0	0	–		13	0
	2015–16		24	1	2	0	–		4	0	–		30	1
	2016–17		23	0	3	1	–		6	0	–		32	1
	FC Basel Total		58	1	7	1	0	0	10	0	0	0	75	2
Göztepe	2017–18	Süper Lig	19	0	0	0	–		–		–		19	0
	2018–19		8	0	0	0	–		–		–		8	0
	Göztepe Total		27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	0
Melbourne Victory	2019–20	A League	23	0	–		–		8	0	-		31	0
	2020–21		0	0	0	0	–		-		-		0	0
	Melbourne Victory Total		23	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	31	0
Career total			236	5	9	1	1	0	22	0	4	0	272	6

International

As of match played 10 September 2019

Ivory Coast national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2015	1	0
2016	4	0
2017	6	0
2018	1	0
2019	0	0
Total	12	0

Honours

Club

Basel

• Swiss Super League: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
• Swiss Cup: 2016–17;[22] runner up: 2014–15

International

Ivory Coast

• UEMOA Tournament: 2007[33]

Individual

• Melbourne Victory Player of the Year: 2013–14[34]

References

1. Iain Strachan (28 September 2013). "Top 15 A-League players: No. 12 Adama Traore". Goal.com.
2. "Adama Traore". Melbourne Victory FC. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
3. Phakaaathi. "Toure left out of Ivory Coast squad".
4. "35ème Festival Foot "Espoirs"" (in French). Festival Foot Esports. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.
5. "Sport". goldcoast.com.au.
6. "Clive Palmer reveals Gold Coast United A-League licence revoked by Football Federation Australia".
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. Melbourne Victory. "Melbourne Victory Home". Melbourne Victory.
9. "FourFourTwo". FourFourTwo.
10. "Soon-to-be Aussie Adama Traore ready to solve Socceroos' left-back conundrum". NewsComAu.
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. "Melbourne Victory suffers a blow with gun left-back Adama Traore quitting the A-League club".
13. Melbourne Victory. "Melbourne Victory Home". Melbourne Victory.
14. "Adama Traoré reforça defesa". Vitória S.C. (in Portuguese). 14 June 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
15. FC Basel 1893 (2015). "FCB verpflichtet Linksverteidiger Adama Traore" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
16. Marti, Caspar (2015). "Zu harmloser FCB verliert in Bern 2:4". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
17. Marti, Caspar (2015). "Der Meisterfreitag im bunten Zeitraffer" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
18. Zindel, Josef (2015). Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2050-4.
19. Meister, Remo (2015). "Toller Sieg, schöne Tore – der FCB schlägt Sion 3:0". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
20. Marti, Casper (2016). "Es ist vollbracht ! Der FCB ist zum 19. Mal Meister". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
21. Marti, Casper (2017). "Der Saisonabschluss im Zeitraffer". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
22. "Swiss football: FC Basel wins 3-0 over Sion in Geneva; police extra vigilant after game". allaboutgeneva.com. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
23. "Every done deal you might have missed from Monday – August 14".
24. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45785562
25. "Victory re-sign former fan favourite Adama Traore". The World Game. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
26. "Adama Traore returns to A-League's Victory". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
27. "Technical Details – Congo – Côte d'Ivoire". CAFU20.com. Confederation of African Football. Archived from the original on 29 May 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
28. "Technical Details – Côte d'Ivoire – Gambia". CAFU20.com. Confederation of African Football. Archived from the original on 29 May 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
29. http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/07/31/243755_gold-coast-soccer.html
30. "Adama Traore not an option for Socceroos". Goal.com.
31. "FourFourTwo". FourFourTwo. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013.
32. FIFA.com. "Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) – FIFA.com".
33. "Tournoi de l'UEMOA 2007". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
34. "Traore wins Victory medal". The World Game. 10 May 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2016.

External links

• Profile on the Swiss Football League homepage
• Melbourne Victory profile
• Adama Traoré at Soccerway