Birth Date:09 January 1999

Birth Place:Paris

Nationality:France

Height:181

Weight:75

Preferred Foot:Right

At AC Milan since:2024

Youssouf Fofana was born in Paris on 10 January 1999 to a family of Ivorian and Malian origins. His early footballing development happened at Red Star and Drancy, before he joined the youth section at RC Strasbourg. He made his professional debut with Strasbourg in August 2018 and then won his first major honour: the Coupe de la Ligue in 2018/19. Fofana spent two-and-a-half seasons in Alsace, where he gained Europa League experience and made a total of 41 professional appearances, scoring four goals. A classic box-to-box central midfielder, Fofana's main attributes are his physicality and work-rate in defence, though he is able to get forward and join the attack too.

In the 2020 January transfer window, he left Strasbourg to sign for Monaco, making his debut for the club in Ligue 1 against Nîmes. He quickly became a key player for the Monegasque side, making 175 appearances and scoring seven goals between 2020 and 2024, and he even featured in the Champions League. Thanks to his good performances in the Principality, Fofana broke into the France set-up after playing international youth football. He made his debut for Les Bleus in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup, in which he played in six games out of seven (including the final against Argentina). In November 2023, he scored his first full international goal in EURO 2024 qualifying. To date (August 2024), he has won 21 caps and scored three goals for his country.