Abdoulaye Diallo

1.1. Birth and early training

Abdoulaye Diallo was born on 30 March 1992, in Reims, France. He began his football journey as a youth player at his hometown club, Stade Reims. In 2004, at the age of 12, Diallo was selected to attend the renowned INF Clairefontaine academy, a national football center known for developing top French talents. He spent three years at Clairefontaine, where he trained rigorously during the weekdays while continuing to play for Stade Reims on the weekends. Notably, he was the youngest player in his class and the only one born in 1992.

1.2. Youth academy (Clairefontaine and Rennes)

Before concluding his tenure at INF Clairefontaine, Diallo agreed to join the nationally recognized youth academy of Stade Rennais on an `aspirant` (youth) contract. Rennes had been closely scouting the young goalkeeper since 2004, recognizing his potential. He officially joined Rennes in 2007 and quickly became one of several internationally recognized youth talents at the club, including players such as Elliot Sorin, Wesley Yamnaine, Jérémy Helan (who later played for Manchester City), Abdoulaye Doucouré, and Axel Ngando.

Diallo initially joined Rennes' under-18 team, which competed in the Championnat National under-18 league. In the 2007-08 Championnat National U18 season, Rennes finished in fourth place, narrowly missing out on the playoffs. During the 2008-09 season, Diallo earned a spot on the club's Coupe Gambardella team, as Rennes sought to defend their title from the previous season. In this tournament, the goalkeeper made three appearances, conceding four goals before Rennes was eliminated in the Round of 16 by Le Havre.

2.1. Stade Rennais

For the 2009-10 season, Diallo was promoted to Rennes' Championnat de France amateur team. He made his debut for the CFA team on 15 August 2009, securing a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory over US Sénart-Moissy. After appearing in four more matches for the CFA team, Diallo received his first call-up to the senior team on 20 November 2009. Manager Frédéric Antonetti brought him into the squad for a league match against Le Mans, to cover for the injured backup goalkeeper Cheikh N'Diaye. Antonetti notably preferred the 17-year-old Diallo over more experienced third and fourth-choice goalkeepers, Patrice Luzi and Florent Petit. Diallo was on the bench for the Le Mans match, which Rennes won 2-1.

The following week, on 29 November 2009, Diallo was named the starting goalkeeper for Rennes' league match against Lyon, just an hour before kick-off, after starting goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez sustained an injury the previous day. At only 17 years old, Diallo played the entire 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw, making several spectacular saves, including a crucial one against a shot by Bafétimbi Gomis in the 88th minute. On 18 April 2010, Diallo signed his first professional contract with Rennes, agreeing to a three-year deal. He remained with Rennes for several seasons, winning the Coupe de France with the club in the 2018-19 season.

2.2. Loan spells

To gain more first-team experience, Abdoulaye Diallo was sent on loan to other clubs. From 2013 to 2015, he played for Le Havre in Ligue 2, where he made a significant number of appearances, including 16 league appearances in the 2013-14 season and 34 league appearances in the 2014-15 season, along with one League Cup appearance, totaling 51 matches. In the 2016-17 season, he was loaned to Turkish club Çaykur Rizespor, where he played 19 matches in the Süper Lig.

2.3. Gençlerbirliği

On 28 June 2019, following his various loan spells and continued presence at Rennes, Diallo made a permanent move to Turkish club Gençlerbirliği. During his time there in the 2019-20 Süper Lig season, he made 4 league appearances and 1 National Cup appearance, totaling 5 matches for the club.

2.4. Nottingham Forest

After being released from Gençlerbirliği, Abdoulaye Diallo joined EFL Championship side Nottingham Forest on 14 September 2020. He was part of the squad for the 2020-21 Championship season, though he did not make any appearances for the first team during his tenure at the club.

3.1. Youth national teams

Diallo began his international journey representing France at the youth level. He played for the France U-19 and France U-20 national teams. With the U-19 squad, he played 10 matches. A significant achievement during this period was winning the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship with France U-19. He also made 10 appearances for the U-20 national team.

3.2. Senegal national team

Despite being born in France and representing French youth teams, Abdoulaye Diallo later switched his international allegiance to Senegal, the country of his parents' birth. He received his first call-up to the Senegal national team in March 2015 for friendly matches against Ghana and Le Havre on 28 March and 31 March 2015, respectively.

In May 2018, Diallo was named in Senegal's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia. He also participated in two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, playing in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. In the 2019 tournament, Senegal reached the final, with Diallo being part of the squad that finished as runner-up. Overall, he earned 17 caps for the Senegal national team between 2015 and 2018 (or 2019, depending on the source's update date), without scoring any goals.

4.1. Club

4.2. International