Djigui Diarra

Djigui Diarra (born 27 February 1995) is a Malian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Tanzanian Premier League club Young Africans and the Mali national team. He also represented his country at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where they achieved a third-place finish.

International career

Youth

Diarra was set to represent his country at the 2015 African U-20 Championship, but broke his hand during a CAF Champions League match against AS GNN, and was ultimately not selected for the squad.

In May 2015, he was named in Mali's squad to represent the national under-20 team at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. Diarra, the team captain, blocked nine shots, including a penalty, in their quarterfinal match against Germany. They eventually won by penalty shootout, by a score of 4–3.

They were eliminated in the semifinals by Serbia, but defeated Senegal in the third-place match.

Additionally, he earned three caps with the Mali under-23 national team during the 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in late 2015, recording one shutout.

Senior

Diarra was called up to the Mali national team for the 2016 African Nations Championship qualification, and made his senior international debut during the preliminary round, in a 3–1 victory against Guinea-Bissau on 5 July 2015. He also appeared in a 2–1 victory against Mauritania on 18 October. With these victories, Mali qualified for the 2016 African Nations Championship, held in Rwanda. Diarra was once again named to the 23-man squad, and recorded three shutouts in six matches while Mali reached the finals, where they lost 3–0 to DR Congo.^[11] Diarra was named to the Tournament XI as a substitute.