Solo Diabate

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.

Solo Diabate

No. 00 – Petro de Luanda
Position	Shooting guard / point guard
League	BAL Angolan Basketball League
Personal information
Born	(1987-07-21) 21 July 1987 (age 37) Cocody, Ivory Coast
Nationality	Ivorian / French
Listed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight	167 lb (76 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	2009: undrafted
Playing career	2006–present
Career history
2006–2009	JDA Dijon
2009–2012	Chorale Roanne
2012–2013	SLUC Nancy
2013–2015	BCM Gravelines
2015–2016	Rouen Métropole
2016–2017	MZT Skopje
2017	Champagne Châlons-Reims
2017	Fujian Lightning
2018	Levickí Patrioti
2018–2019	SLUC Nancy
2019–2021	Fos Provence Basket
2021	Zamalek
2021–2022	Smouha
2021	→Al Ittihad
2022	US Monastir
2022–2023	Petro de Luanda
2023–2024	Al Ahly Ly
2024–present	Petro de Luanda
Career highlights and awards
2× BAL champion (2021, 2022) BAL All-Defensive First Team (2024) Tunisian League champion (2022) Tunisian Cup winner (2022) Angolan League champion (2023) Angolan Cup winner (2023) Pro A assists leader (2016)
Medals Men's basketball Representing  Ivory Coast AfroBasket 2009 Libya 2021 Rwanda

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

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an BAL championship	*	Led the league

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2021†	Zamalek	5	0	18.1	.439	.591*	.750	1.6	4.6	1.6	0.0	10.4
2022†	Monastir	6	3	25.3	.339	.190	.889	3.2	4.0	1.3	0.0	8.3
2023	Petro de Luanda	8	0	21.0	.400	.333	1.000	3.0	4.4	1.0	0.1	7.1
2024	Al Ahly Ly	10	2	32.0	.495	.304	.842	4.7	5.8	1.8	0.4	11.3

References

1. "Souleyman Diabatè inks with Chalons-Reims". 16 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
2. "Африканецот Диабате е нов член на МЗТ Скопје Аеродром". mztskopjeaerodrom.mk. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
3. "Атрактивниот Африканец Диабате го засили МЗТ Скопје". sportmedia.mk. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
4. "ОФИЦИЈАЛНО: МЗТ го избрка Диабате, кој е следниот?". sportmedia.mk. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
5. "SLUC Nancy reportedly agreed to terms with Souleyman Diabate". sportando.com. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
6. "African Basketball News, Scores, Stats, Analysis, Standings". www.afrobasket.com. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
7. "18-year-old Mohab Yasser stars as Egypt's Zamalek win first ever BAL title". Olympics.com. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
8. "FilGoal | News | Basket". Middle East in 24 Sport English. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
9. "Coupe Arabe : Solo Diabaté prêté à l'Ittihad d'Alexandrie". Sport-ivoire.ci (in French). 28 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
10. "🏀 سليمان ديباتي نجم المنتخب الإيفواري لكرةالسلة إتحادي 👏". Instagram.com. Union Sportive Monastirienne. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
11. "US Monastir are the 2022 Basketball Africa League Champions". The BAL. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
12. lumanhula, Jose (2022-09-23). "SOULEYMAN "SOLO" DIABATE É PETROLÍFERO". Petro de Luanda (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-09-25.
13. "Petro revalida a Taça de Angola de Basquetebol". Jornal de Angola (in Portuguese). 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
14. "Jornal de Angola - Notícias - Petro de Luanda conquista 16º título". Jornal de Angola (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-22.
15. "Lofton, Diabate lead Al Ahly Benghazi to victory against FAP". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
16. "Petro de Luanda beat Al Ahly Ly to win BAL title". ESPN.com. 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
17. "Souleyman Diabate Player Profile, Al Ahly Benghazi - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
18. @thebal (2024-06-07). "Announcing the 2024 All-BAL Defensive Second Team!" – via Instagram.
19. @petro_de_luanda (August 10, 2024). "Tínhamos saudades, Diabaté! Bem-vindo de volta!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
20. Mouloukou Diabate Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine at FIBA.com
21. "Cote d'Ivoire call up 27 players for Tunisia 2015". FIBA. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.