Arouna Kone

Arouna Koné is a young Ivory Coast international footballer who features for the Spanish giants Sevilla FC. He plays as a striker and is one of the promising young strikers in Europe.

Arouna Koné started playing footballer at the youth academy of Ivorian side Rio Sport d’Ányama in the capital city of Abidjan and stopped his schooling at the age of 16 to concentrate full-time on his footballing career. He was inducted into Rio’s first team when he was just 17 and helped his club gain promotion to the top flight in native Ivory Coast.

He was transferred to Belgian side Lierse and after one season there he moved to Roda JC in the Netherlands where he was an instant hit and scored 28 goals in 63 appearances for the club in hiw two seasons at Roda. In the summer of 2005 Ducth powerhouse PSV Eindhoven signed Kone for 9.5 million euros.

Kone continued scoring goals for PSV and hit 21 in 53 matches in all competitions and won back-to-back Ducth league championships. In the summer of 2007 he was transferred to Andalucian giants Sevilla FC but not before there was a huge scare on his health when he was struck down with the tropical disease malaria at the end of July 2007.

Arouna Kone though has been unable to repeat his old form at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. He could make only around 20 appearances for the club all season in 2007-2008 and there are floating rumours that he shall be sold to an Italian Serie A club in the summer of 2008.

Arouna Kone is a firmly established Ivory Coast international footballer and featured for his nation at the 2006 Germany World Cup where he featured in all of his nation’s three matches.

Kone comes from a very footballing family. Arouna’s older brother Bakari Koné also plays for the national side as a striker and plies his trade in the French Ligue 1 with OGC Nice. Another brother, Karamoko Koné, is part of the reserve team set up at Arouna’s former club Roda JC.