Solo Diabate Explained

Solo Diabate
Position:Shooting guard / point guard
Height Ft:6
Height In:0
Weight Lb:167
League:BAL
Angolan Basketball League
Team:Petro de Luanda
Number:00
Nationality:Ivorian / French
Birth Date:1987 7, df=y
Birth Place:Cocody, Ivory Coast
Draft Year:2009
Career Start:2006
Years1:2006–2009
Team1:JDA Dijon
Years2:2009–2012
Team2:Chorale Roanne
Years3:2012–2013
Team3:SLUC Nancy
Years4:2013–2015
Team4:BCM Gravelines
Years5:2015–2016
Team5:Rouen Métropole
Years6:2016–2017
Team6:MZT Skopje
Years7:2017
Team7:Champagne Châlons-Reims
Years9:2017
Team9:Fujian Lightning
Years10:2018
Team10:Levickí Patrioti
Years11:2018–2019
Team11:SLUC Nancy
Years12:2019–2021
Team12:Fos Provence Basket
Years13:2021
Team13:Zamalek
Years14:2021–2022
Team14:Smouha
Years15:2021
Team15:Al Ittihad
Years16:2022
Team16:US Monastir
Years17:2022–2023
Team17:Petro de Luanda
Years18:2023–2024
Team18:Al Ahly Ly
Highlights:
Years20:2024–present
Team20:Petro de Luanda

Mouloukou Souleyman Diabate (born 21 July 1987), commonly known as Solo Diabate, is an Ivorian basketball player for Petro de Luanda of the Unitel Basket and the Basketball Africa League (BAL). After playing a decade in France and some years in North Macedonia, China and Slovakia, Diabate began his career at the African continent in 2021. He is a two-time BAL champion, with Zamalek in 2021 and US Monastir in 2022.

He also represents the Ivory Coast national team. With Ivory Coast, Diabate has won two silver medals at AfroBasket tournaments in 2009 and 2021.

Professional career

France (2006–2016)

Diabate has played in the French League since 2006. In his career, he played for JDA Dijon Basket, Chorale Roanne Basket, SLUC Nancy Basket, and BCM Gravelines. In 2015, he signed with Rouen Métropole. In the 2015-2016 season, Diabate was the league's assist leader with 6.5 per game to go with his 10.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

MZT Skopje (2017–2018)

On February 16, 2017, Diabate signed with the French team Châlons-Reims, after starting the season with MZT Skopje.[1]

On 4 November 2016, he signed with MZT Skopje Aerodrom.[2] [3] On 13 January 2017, he left MZT Skopje[4] On September 11, 2018, he signed with SLUC Nancy.[5]

Africa (2021–present)

Zamalek (2020–2021)

In August 2021, Diabate signed with Egyptian club Zamalek to play in the 2021 BAL season.[6] He helped Zamalek win the first first-ever championship of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) after winning the finals.[7]

Egypt and US Monastir (2021–2022)

In August 2021, Diabate signed with Smouha to stay in Egypt. On 28 September 2021, Diabate was loaned to Al Ittihad to play in the 2021 Arab Club Basketball Championship.[8] At Ittihad, he replaced the injured Corey Webster.[9]

On 10 February 2022, Diabate signed with US Monastir ahead of the 2022 BAL season.[10] He helped Monastir win the championships by winning the 2022 BAL Finals. Diabate became the first player ever to win two BAL championships.[11]

Petro de Luanda (2022–2023)

In September 2022, Diabate signed a contract for Petro de Luanda in Angola to play in both the Angolan League and BAL.[12] He won the 2023 Angolan Cup with the team,[13] as well as the Angolan Basketball League title.[14]

Al Ahly Benghazi (2023–2024)

Diabate joined Libyan club Al Ahly Benghazi for the 2024 BAL qualification tournaments. On 1 November 2023, Diabate made his debut and recorded 13 points and 9 assists in Al Ahly's 86–77 win over FAP.[15] Diabate helped Al Ahly qualify for their first ever BAL season, which began in April. They reached the finals, in which Diabate scored 20 points but lost to his former team Petro de Luanda, thus missing out on his third championship.[16] He posted BAL career-highs in points (11.3), rebounds (4.7), assists (5.8), steals (1.8) and blocks (0.4),[17] and was named to the BAL All-Defensive First Team after the season.[18]

Return to Petro de Luanda (2024–present)

On 10 August 2024, Petro de Luanda announced that they signed Diabate, who returned after one year.[19]

International career

Diabate was a member of the Ivory Coast national basketball team at the 2007 and 2009 FIBA Africa Championship.[20] In 2009, he helped the team to a surprise silver medal to qualify for the country's first FIBA World Championship in 24 years. On 19 June 2015, Diabate was one of 27 players to be named to the Ivory Coast's preliminary squad for the 2015 Africa Championship by head coach Hugues Occansey.[21]

Diabate played with Ivory Coast at AfroBasket 2021 in Rwanda and got his second silver medal.

BAL career statistics

|-|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2021†|style="text-align:left;"|Zamalek| 5 || 0 || 18.1 || .439 || style="background:#cfecec;"| .591* || .750 || 1.6 || 4.6 || 1.6 || 0.0 || 10.4|-|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2022†|style="text-align:left;"|Monastir| 6 || 3 || 25.3 || .339 || .190 || .889 || 3.2 || 4.0 || 1.3 || 0.0 || 8.3|-|style="text-align:left;"|2023|style="text-align:left;"| Petro de Luanda| 8 || 0 || 21.0 || .400 || .333 || 1.000 || 3.0 || 4.4 || 1.0 || 0.1 || 7.1|-|style="text-align:left;"|2024|style="text-align:left;"| Al Ahly Ly| 10 || 2 || 32.0 || .495 || .304 || .842 || 4.7 || 5.8 || 1.8 || 0.4 || 11.3

Notes and References

  1. News: Souleyman Diabatè inks with Chalons-Reims. 18 February 2017. 16 February 2017.
  2. Web site: Африканецот Диабате е нов член на МЗТ Скопје Аеродром. mztskopjeaerodrom.mk. 4 November 2016.
  3. Web site: Атрактивниот Африканец Диабате го засили МЗТ Скопје. sportmedia.mk. 4 November 2016.
  4. Web site: ОФИЦИЈАЛНО: МЗТ го избрка Диабате, кој е следниот?. sportmedia.mk. 13 January 2017.
  5. Web site: SLUC Nancy reportedly agreed to terms with Souleyman Diabate. sportando.com. 11 September 2018.
  6. Web site: African Basketball News, Scores, Stats, Analysis, Standings . 2024-06-22 . www.afrobasket.com.
  7. News: 18-year-old Mohab Yasser stars as Egypt's Zamalek win first ever BAL title . 31 May 2021 . Olympics.com.
  8. News: FilGoal News Basket . 30 September 2021 . Middle East in 24 Sport English . 27 September 2021 . en-us.
  9. News: Coupe Arabe : Solo Diabaté prêté à l'Ittihad d'Alexandrie . 30 September 2021 . Sport-ivoire.ci . 28 September 2021 . fr.
  10. Web site: سليمان ديباتي نجم المنتخب الإيفواري لكرةالسلة إتحادي . Instagram.com . Union Sportive Monastirienne . 10 February 2022.
  11. News: US Monastir are the 2022 Basketball Africa League Champions . 30 May 2022 . The BAL . en.
  12. Web site: lumanhula . Jose . 2022-09-23 . SOULEYMAN "SOLO" DIABATE É PETROLÍFERO . 2022-09-25 . Petro de Luanda . pt-PT.
  13. Web site: 2023-03-24 . Petro revalida a Taça de Angola de Basquetebol . 2023-04-08 . Jornal de Angola . pt.
  14. Web site: Jornal de Angola - Notícias - Petro de Luanda conquista 16º título . 2023-04-22 . Jornal de Angola . pt.
  15. Web site: Lofton, Diabate lead Al Ahly Benghazi to victory against FAP . 2023-11-02 . FIBA.basketball . en.
  16. Web site: 2024-06-03 . Petro de Luanda beat Al Ahly Ly to win BAL title . 2024-06-06 . ESPN.com . en.
  17. Web site: Souleyman Diabate Player Profile, Al Ahly Benghazi - RealGM . 2024-06-22 . basketball.realgm.com.
  18. C74ZpFsNbjm . thebal . Announcing the 2024 All-BAL Defensive Second Team! . 2024-06-07.
  19. petro_de_luanda. 1822272707011960964 . Tínhamos saudades, Diabaté! Bem-vindo de volta!.
  20. http://libya2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/09/fafcm/player/p/pid/59965/sid/6599/tid/267/profile.html Mouloukou Diabate
  21. Web site: Cote d'Ivoire call up 27 players for Tunisia 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150708135114/http://www.fiba.com/news/cote-divoire-call-up-27-players-for-tunisia-2015. dead. July 8, 2015. FIBA. 31 July 2015.