Kalidou Koulibaly (born 20 June 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal and captains the Senegal national team.
Koulibaly began his professional club career with French team Metz in 2010, before moving to Belgian club Genk in 2012, winning the Belgian Cup in his first season. He joined Italian team Napoli in 2014, where he won the Supercoppa Italiana title; he also won the Coppa Italia in 2020.
As Koulibaly was born in France to Senegalese parents, he was eligible to represent both nations at international level, and initially played for the France national under-20 team. He later made his senior debut with Senegal in 2015, and was a member of the Senegal squad that took part at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. He was named to the side that represented Senegal at the 2018 FIFA World Cup the following year, and subsequently helped his team to the final of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Koulibaly and Senegal won the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, beating Egypt in the final.
Early life
Koulibaly was born on 20 June 1991 to Senegalese parents in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France. His father worked in a textile mill in Senegal for seven days a week and never took weekends off for five years before he saved enough money to take his mother to France. He grew up in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, revealing that: "When you grow up in this environment, you see everyone as your brother. We are black, white, Arab, African, Muslim, Christian, yes — but we are all French. We are all hungry, so let’s go have a Turkish meal together. Or tonight, let’s all go to my house and eat Senegalese food. Yes, we have differences, but we are all equal." Koulibaly says his upbringing was "heavily influenced by the multi-cultural nature" growing up.
Koulibaly revealed that he first started playing football, saying: "All the kids were running around playing football with no shoes, and I was really upset by this, I guess. My mom says that I was begging her to go to the store and buy shoes for everybody, so I could play football with them. But my mother said, “Kalidou, just take your shoes off. Go play like they do.” In the end, I threw off my shoes and went to play barefoot with my cousins — and this is where my football story begins. When we got back to France, I was playing every day in the little park by our house." His footballing career began with local club SR Saint-Dié. He then joined FC Metz in his first spell but was subsequently released at fifteen, which according to the club's Academy Manager, Denis Schaeffer, Koulibaly was let go "because he was too introverted, and his level was a little below our expectations."
Club career
Early career
Koulibaly began his career playing for his hometown club SR Saint-Dié's youth team; he spent two seasons playing for the club's team in the Championnat de France Amateur 2, before joining the youth academy of professional club Metz on 1 July 2009. While at Metz, Koulibaly helped the club's under-19 team win the 2009–10 Coupe Gambardella after the team defeated Sochaux 5–4 on penalties in the final. He also played for the club's amateur team in the Championnat de France Amateur appearing in 15 matches as Metz were crowned champions of the league finishing with 107 points.