Introduction
Cheick Tidiane Diabaté (born 25 April 1988) is a Malian international football player who currently plays for Metz on loan from Turkish club Osmanlıspor in Süper Lig.
Club career
Bordeaux
Diabaté was promoted to the senior squad of Bordeaux for the 2008–09 season following a successful season in the CFA, where he made 35 appearances and scored 18 goals. Due to a surplus of more experienced strikers, manager Laurent Blanc loaned him out to the Corsica-based and Ligue 2 club AC Ajaccio to get more playing time.
Ajaccio (loan)
Diabaté made his debut for Ajaccio in their opening match loss to Châteauroux playing the full 90 minutes. In the second match, he proved beneficial to the club scoring a brace in their 3–1 win over Stade Reims. Three weeks later, he scored another brace, this time in a 4–0 thrashing of Vannes. The following three weeks, he scored one goal in each match with Ajaccio earning wins over Brest and Clermont and drawing with Nîmes.
Diabaté's positive play continued throughout the season scoring important game-winning goals against Guingamp, Lens, Angers, and Boulogne. He also scored a goal in the annual Derby Corse against Bastia with the match finishing in a 1–1 draw. Diabaté finished the season with 14 goals, a team high and 4th among Ligue 2 topscorers, helping the club stave off relegation on the final day of the season.
Diabaté's play with Ajaccio earned him a contract extension with his parent club agreeing to remain in Bordeaux until June 2013.
Nancy (loan)
Despite returning to Bordeaux on 1 July, on 20 July, he was sent on loan again, this time to fellow Ligue 1 club AS Nancy. The striker has spent most of the stint playing in the reserves only featuring twice with the senior team.
Return to Bordeaux
Diabaté had an excellent 2013–14 season in Ligue 1 with Bordeaux, scoring goals against Toulouse FC, FC Lorient, and a brace against Sochaux taking his tally to 8 goals in 19 Ligue 1 outings as well as 2 goals in the French Cup.
Metz (loan)
On 30 January 2016, Diabaté joined Metz on loan from Osmanlıspor for the second half of the season.
International career
Diabaté started out with Mali's national under-17 team where they participated in the 2005 African U-17 Championship. He scored a goal in each of their group stage matches but Mali failed to advance to the knockout round. Less than a month after the tournament, he would get his senior debut against Liberia in a 2006 World Cup qualifier where they won 4–1. He came on as an 85th-minute substitute for Dramane Coulibaly. Diabaté was a member of the Mali side that earned third place at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. He finished the tournament as one of the top scorers, having netted 3 goals in total, including two in the third place play-off against Ghana on 11 February 2012.
Career statistics
- As of match played 21 December 2016.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Ajaccio | 2008–09 | 30 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 14 |
| Nancy | 2009–10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bordeaux | 2010–11 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 6 |
| 2011–12 | 26 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 8 | |
| 2012–13 | 23 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 35 | 18 | |
| 2013–14 | 25 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 12 | |
| 2014–15 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 9 | |
| 2015–16 | 23 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 16 | |
| Total | 127 | 50 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 5 | 152 | 66 | |
| Osmanlıspor | 2016–17 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 6 |
| Career total | 167 | 64 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 6 | 202 | 86 | |
International goals
- Scores and results list Mali's goal tally first.
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 18 November 2008 | Stade Robert Diochon, Rouen, France |  Algeria | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2. | 26 March 2011 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali |  Zimbabwe | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 3. | 10 August 2011 | Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet, Manastir, Tunisia |  Tunisia | 4–2 | 4–2 | Friendly |
| 4. | 3 September 2011 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali |  Cape Verde | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 5. | 2–0 | |||||
| 6. | 8 October 2011 | Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Monrovia, Liberia |  Liberia | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 7. | 5 February 2012 | Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville, Gabon |  Gabon | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2012 Africa Cup of Nations |
| 8. | 11 February 2012 | Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea |  Ghana | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2012 Africa Cup of Nations |
| 9. | 2–0 | |||||
| 10. | 8 October 2012 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali |  Botswana | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 11. | 13 October 2012 | Lobatse Stadium, Lobatse, Botswana | Botswana | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 12. | 13 June 2013 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali |  Benin | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 13. | 5 March 2014 | Stade Municipal Saint-Leu.-la-Forêt, Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, France |  Senegal | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 14. | 7 September 2014 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali |  Malawi | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 15. | 11 November 2015 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali | Botswana | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Honours
- Bordeaux
- Coupe de France: 2012–13
- Mali
- Africa Cup of Nations Third Place: 2012, 2013