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'Bakari Koné' (born September 17, 1981 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) is an Ivorian football striker who plays for the Côte d'Ivoire national team and French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice.
Like many other Ivorian stars, he began his career in the famed youth academy at ASEC Abidjan in his home country. His next club was Al-Ittihad in Qatar, but he didn't rise to fame until the 2003/04 season, when he joined FC Lorient. Koné scored 10 goals the first season, and his 24 goals the following season earned him the ''Player of the Year'' title in the Ligue 2. Koné, however, was ready to move to a bigger club, and in 2005 chose the Cote D'Azur based Ligue 1 side OGC Nice.

Contents

2006 African Cup of Nations

FIFA World Cup 2006

Family

Transfer Talk

External Links

2006 African Cup of Nations

Koné was part of the Ivorian team for the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. He scored a vital equaliser against Cameroon in the quarter-final. His team won the penalty shootout 12-11. However, in the final, he was one of two Ivorian players to have his penalty saved as the Ivorians lost to hosts Egypt.

FIFA World Cup 2006

Koné was selected as part of the Ivorian side for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He was given the number 14 shirt, and played his first match for Côte d'Ivoire against the Netherlands on 16 June, 2006. He scored his first FIFA World Cup goal in that match, where Côte d' Ivoire lost 2-1. Koné's long range goal came after a magnificent run which got ITV commentator John Helm excited, yelling "Can he finish? Can he finish? What a goal!".

Family

He has nine brothers and five sisters.
He is the older brother of fellow Ivorian international Arouna Koné, who is a striker for Spanish La Liga club Sevilla.
He also has another brother who plays football, Karamoko Koné, who is part of the reserve team setup at Dutch Eredivisie club Roda JC.

Transfer Talk

In October 2006 Koné was quoted saying that he was interested in plying his trade in the English Premiership. Reportedly, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger referred to the striker as a 'phenomenon', leading to speculation that Koné would soon be leaving his Cote D'Azur based club for England.
In summer 2007 it was reported that Koné was unhappy at Nice and was seeking a move away. However eventually he signed a new contract, keeping him at the Stade Municipal du Ray until June 2009.

External Links

★ Koné mulls over England move

★ Profile on ESPN

★ Profile on Yahoo World Cup site

★ Goal against Netherlands at the 2006 World Cup (video)