Kalidou Koulibaly Biography, Early Life, Club Career, International Career, Personal Life and Net Worth

Real Name: Kalidou Koulibaly

Birthdate: June 20th, 1991

Birthplace: Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France

Length 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)

Team: Chelsea

Position: Centre back

Nickname: Kaido

Nationality: Senegalese

Kalidou Koulibaly is a professional football player who was born on June 20, 1991. He is the captain of the Senegal national team and plays centre back for the Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal.

The first professional club Koulibaly played for was the French team Metz in 2010. He then moved to the Belgian club Genk in 2012 and won the Belgian Cup in his first season there. He joined Napoli in 2014 and won the Supercoppa Italiana with them. In 2020, he also won the Coppa Italia.

Koulibaly was born in France to Senegalese parents, so he could play for both countries in international competitions. At first, he played for the France national under-20 team. After that, he played his first game as an adult for Senegal in 2015, and he was on the team that went to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

In the following year, he was picked to play for Senegal at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He then led his team to the final of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. In the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Koulibaly and Senegal beat Egypt to win.

Early Life

Koulibaly was born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France, on June 20, 1991. He never took the weekends off for five years while he saved money to take his mother to France. His father worked seven days a week in a cloth mill in Senegal. He says, When you grow up in this area, you see everyone as your brother. He was born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. We are all French, even though some of us are black, white, Arab, African, Muslim, or Christian.

We’re all hungry, so let’s all go eat something Turkish together. Or, let’s eat Senegalese food at my house tonight. We are all the same, but we are different in some ways. Heavily influenced by the multi-cultural nature of his upbringing, Koulibaly says.

When asked about how he got into football, Koulibaly said, I guess I was really upset that all the kids were running around playing football without shoes. For me to play football with my friends, I begged my mom to go to the store and buy shoes for everyone. “Kalidouy

, just take your shoes off,” my mom told me. “Go play with them.” I finally took off my shoes and went to play barefoot with my friends. This is where my football story starts.

When we got back to France, I played every day in the park next to our house. His first football club was SR Saint-Dié, which is in his hometown. Then, for his first job, he went to FC Metz, but was let go when he was fifteen. The club’s Academy Manager, Denis Schaeffer, said that Koulibaly was let go because he was too shy and his level wasn’t quite up to our standards.

Club Career

Early Career

Koulibaly started his career with the youth team of his hometown club SR Saint-Dié. He played for the team for two years in the Championnat de France Amateur 2 before joining the youth program of professional club Metz on July 1, 2009. Koulibaly played for Metz and helped the under-19 team win the Coupe Gambardella in 2009–10. The team beat Sochaux 5–4 on penalties in the final. He also played for the club’s junior team in the Championnat de France junior. He played in 15 games and helped Metz win the league title with 107 points.

Metz

Before the 2010–11 season began, Koulibaly signed his first professional contract, which was for one year. After that, new boss Dominique Bijotat moved him up to the senior team. Koulibaly’s first game as a professional was on August 20, 2010, in a league game against Vannes. He came on as a replacement in a 1-0 win. After that, Koulibaly took over the spot from Nuno Frechaut and became a regular on the first team. He got his first goal for FC Metz in a 3–3 draw with Clermont on April 15, 2011.

Three days later, Koulibaly signed a new three-year deal with the club that kept him there until 2014. By the end of the 2010–11 season, he had played in nineteen games and scored one goal across all categories. Kalidou Koulibaly may have been the player who surprised the most people during his first season at FC Metz, but he wasn’t the player who surprised me the most personally.

I was sure he would get it because he was already acting old enough. Because it’s important for his job, he’s always in a good mood and doesn’t get angry.

He also knows how to keep track of his own matches, which helps him play more consistently. On the other hand, we thought Yeni Ngbakoto was the most nearby, but it took him longer to show up. He had a rough start because he was suspended and then hurt. He took longer to get used to the team. His game wasn’t stable, but he’s gotten better at it over the last few weeks and still needs to win in regularity.

Genk

After agreeing to a four-year deal, Koulibaly joined the Belgian club Genk on June 29, 2012. He made his Genk debut on August 23 in a UEFA Europa League play-off qualifying round match. They lost to Swiss team Luzern 2–1 in the first game of a two-legged match.

After joining the club, he quickly became a regular on the first team, where he mostly played centre back. In the last minute of a game against OH Leuven on November 25, 2012, Koulibaly made a foul in the penalty box. Ibou was able to score the penalty, and Genk and OH Leuven tied 1–1.

Koulibaly scored his first goal for Racing Genk in a 4–2 loss at home to Anderlecht on December 23, 2012. He did this by heading in a corner kick for free to make up for his mistake. He went on to help Genk win the Belgian Cup in 2012–13 after playing the whole game against Cercle Brugge. Koulibaly played in 46 games and scored one goal across all categories by the end of the 2012–13 season.

Napoli

Napoli signed Koulibaly to a five-year deal on July 2, 2014, for a fee of about £6.5 million. President Aurelio De Laurentiis thought Koulibaly would be 1.92/1.93m tall when they met for the first time. He told Koulibaly that he should have been paid less because he was shorter, but Koulibaly told him that he would have shown his worth on the field. His first game was on August 19 in a UEFA Champions League play-off round match against Athletic Bilbao.

Napoli tied 1–1.Napoli lost the second game 3–1, which meant they were out of the competition. Koulibaly played his first game in Serie A, which was the first game of the season against Genoa. He played the whole game, and Napoli won 2–1. He got his first goal for the team in a 3–3 draw with Palermo on September 24.For the first few games of the season, Koulibaly played in all of them. But on December 1, 2014, he was sent off for a second yellow card in a 1–1 draw against Sampdoria.

Chelsea

Koulibaly signed a four-year deal with Premier League club Chelsea on July 16, 2022, for a fee that was said to be around £33 million. On August 6, he played his first game for Chelsea in a 1-0 win over Everton in the league. Koulibaly scored his first goal for Chelsea on his home debut on August 14. He scored with a strong volley in a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the league.

Al-Hilal

The deal for Koulibaly to join the Saudi Professional League team Al-Hilal was made public on June 25, 2023. The price was about £20 million.

International Career

Koulibaly was born and raised in France to Senegalese parents, so he could have been a citizen of either country. From 2011 to 2013, he played for the French under-20 team. During the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, he played six times.

But at the beginning of September 2015, Koulibaly switched teams and joined the Senegal national football team, even though Didier Deschamps wanted to call him up for Les Bleus. He later said, I don’t have any regrets because I want to write the story of the future of Senegal football and I hope I’ll be able to do that. The first game Koulibaly played in was an AFCON qualifier on September 5, 2015, against Namibia. France won 2–0. He played for Senegal in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

He was picked to play for Senegal in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia in May 2018. Koulibaly played in all three games, but Senegal was eliminated in the group stage because of unfair play rules. They were the first team in FIFA World Cup history to be removed in this way.

He was picked to play for Senegal in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in December 2021. As captain, he became the first Senegalese to win the title. He scored the first penalty in the 4–2 win over Egypt in the penalty shootout after the game ended in a tie.

Koulibaly was picked to play for Senegal in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. In the 70th minute of Senegal’s 2–1 win over Ecuador in their last group stage game on November 29, he got his first goal for his country. For Senegal, this goal was the deciding factor in their win, which sent them to the round of 16.

He was put on Senegal’s team in December 2023 for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which had to be moved and was held in the Ivory Coast.

Personal Life

Koulibaly is a native of both France and Senegal. The news came out in May 2019 that Koulibaly had been made a special citizen of Naples. He had already been made an honorary citizen of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in April 2015. He is so well-liked in Naples that someone made a pizza named after him, and Koulibaly has said that he loves the city.

He said that his name comes from the Quran because he is a Muslim. Besides French, Koulibaly also knows English and Italian.

Koulibaly spoke out against racism in Italian football while he was at Napoli. In October 2019, Koulibaly asked the Italian football authorities to stop racism by banning racists from the stadium for life. In January of that year, he had criticized the Italian football leaders for not doing enough to stop racism.

He has done many things to help poor people in Naples and his home country. For example, while on vacation in Senegal in June 2021, Koulibaly worked with local groups to help poor children and arranged for a ship from the port of Naples to bring them toiletries and other necessities.

Koulibaly was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of the Lion by President Macky Sall of Senegal after the country won the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Net Worth

Net Worth: 80 Million Euros (67.2 Million Pounds)

Market Value: €35,000,000 (£29.4,000,000)

People think that the Senegalese centre back is one of the best defenders of our time. After becoming famous at SSC Napoli, he went to England to sign a long-term deal with Chelsea. This will bring his net worth to an amazing €80,000,000 (£67,200,000). The 31-year-old is worth about €35,000,000 (£29,400,000) on the market.

Honours

Genk

Belgian Cup: 2012–13

Napoli

Coppa Italia: 2019–20

Supercoppa Italiana: 2014

Senegal

Africa Cup of Nations: 2021; runner-up: 2019

Individual

CAF Team of the Year: 2018, 2019,2023

Serie A Team of the Year: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18,2018–19

Golden Lion (Senegal Player of the Year): 2017, 2018

Serie A Best Defender: 2018–19

Serie A Player of the Month: September 2021

Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2019

IFFHS CAF Men Team of The Year: 2020

IFFHS CAF Men’s Team of the Decade: 2011–2020

Orders

Grand Officer of the National Order of the Lion: 2022