Mamadi Keita

Mamadi 'Mo' Keita (born 14 November, 1989 in Conakry, Guinea) is German midfielder currently playing for Hamburger SV with kit number 25. He plays as a central midfielder.

Early Life
Keita grew up in a quarter called Coleah in Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, but left to a town called Man in the Ivory Coast at the age of 5, staying there with his mother, his father and his other three wives, and his 10 brothers and sisters. A few years later, however, his mother moved back to Guinea and prepared herself to head to Europe to give me a real chance in life to succeed. He stated himself: "From this point my childhood started to become more difficult being without my mother. At this age I didn’t know if I’ll ever see her again. And it took quite a while until we met again. It was a big surprise when I came home from playing football with my friends one late evening during the summer of 1998 and my mother was waiting for me. We both cried!" His mother had returned from Germany and re-married. The next period was crucial for Keita. He travelled through West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast) with his mother and step-father, getting to know the latter well, and describing him as "warm-hearted and I liked him from the very first day. I knew I could trust him and he would always be there for me!" He gave his step-father the nickname 'Papi'.

However, his mother and step-father returned to Germany soon after, but stayed in contact with him. A year later, a friend of his parents' arrived after school to bring him to Abidjan, the former capital city of the Ivory Coast. He says: "I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to my friends." Arriving late in the night, he took a plane back to Guinea where he stayed with his grandmother while his papers were sorted out so that he could arrive in Germany in the summer of 2001.

Club Career
After arriving in Germany, he lived in Ossendorf, which was a district of Cologne. He said about it: "For the very first time I had my own room and bed. I fell in love with the city from the beginning. It’s a great place and in my eyes together with Conakry, the best city in the world!" His step-father spent as much time as possible going to play football with him, as he had no friends, and even arranged a trial for Mamadi at his favourite football club, 1.FC Köln, because he not only saw potential in Mamadi, but also wanted him to make new friends. At 1.FC Köln, Keita met Bashir Kaba who was also from Guinea and played for 1.FC Köln's youth team. Keita says of Kaba: "He was a real friend and helped us a lot."

After a few weeks on trial, FC Köln accepted him into the club, and on the 11th November 2001 Keita played his first game, against Borussia Mönchengladbach. He says: "What I didn’t know at that time was that this is a real derby and a very special day in Cologne (beginning of Carneval, the best time of the year)." The final result was 3:3, but Keita was injured after just 20 minutes. It was certainly not a dream start, but Keita said: "After a few games I was really flying and progressed quickly." One of his most memorable goals was a scissor-kick against 1. FC Kaiserslautern at the Franz-Kremer Stadion in Cologne. He scored a hat-trick against Manchester City F.C. in the Nike Cup but the game ended 3:3.

Upon transferring to Blackburn Rovers F.C., Keita said: " The time with FC Köln was a great time despite some troubles, I nearly enjoyed every minute and was very sad to leave them for Rovers, even so I thought it was the best step to take at this time, and so far didn’t regret it. I was attracted by the prospect of playing in England as I like English football and think it really suits my style of playing. Quick and strong!" Keita suffered an injury early on in his time at Blackburn, and although he signed a professional contract in 2007, he was unable to break into the first team and so he signed with Hamburger SV on 31st January 2008, for two-and-a-half years.

Hamburg's Director of Sport Dietmar Beiersdorfer said of Keita: "Mamadi is a former Germany youth international who will firstly be integrated with our reserve team. At the same time, he will be a potential first-team player too."

Personal
Keita says that listening to music is his favourite way of relaxing preferably hip hop or R&B. His favourite footballer is Diego Maradona, but he thinks Zinedine Zidane is the greatest of all time. His favourite actor is Will Smith, and his favourite PlayStation game is GTA. He shares a deep bond with poor children in Africa, having seen it first-hand as a child. He hopes to pass on his determination, unwavering hope, and love for football to the poor children, and has dedicated his website to "those who love youth football and are interested in following the dream of a young boy from Africa."

He says the best player he has ever played with/against is of Borussia Dortmund.

Charities
Keita has started a charity called Aissata Trust for poor children in Africa.

Honours
(Taken from http://www.mamadi-keita.com/english/factsandfigures.php)
*Won the “Nachwuchscup League” at U13 Level in 2002
*Won the County Cup FVM (FA MiddelRhine) in 2002
*Met with Rudi Völler and Michael Skibbe during an Adidas campaign called “Be a champ” in the capacity of an 'outstanding talent' in 2002
*Runners-up in “Nachwuchscup League” at U-15 level in 2004
*Won the German finals of the Nike Cup in 2004
*Skippered the team that reached the semi-finals of the Nike Cup World Finals in Manchester in 2004
*Won 'Most Valuable Player' award 4 times during World Finals of Nike Cup in 2004
*Played regularly for County Selection FVM in 2002-2005
*Scored the winner in the County Cup FVM final at U-17 level in 2005
*Debuted for the German U-16 side against Luxembourg (after getting German passport) in 2005
*Was awarded best player on several international tournaments e.g. Donzdorf, Ketsch, Bingen, Aarberg during spell with 1. FC Köln

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