Daouda Karaboué

About Daouda Karaboué

Daouda Karaboué, born in Abidjan, is a French handball player of Ivorian origin. He plays as a goalkeeper for the French national team and in the French championship at Toulouse Handball.

Daouda Karaboué arrived in France in 1984 with his father. Daouda was barely 10 years old at the time. He was placed in a foster home and could have had questionable associations. However, sports began to play a significant role in his life, and the gymnasium provided him with the most joy. He started practicing handball at the Mandelieu club, which welcomed him because Daouda was considered a “gifted player” with all types of balls. Michel Merra and Ange Bartoli, the two coaches of the club, took Daouda under their wing. “I owe them a lot,” says the Ivorian star today. “They gave me the foundations, in handball and in life.”

After Mandelieu, Daouda Karaboué played from 1993 to 2000 at Montpellier Handball, from 2000 to 2002 in Germany at Vfl Hameln; from 2002 to 2004 in Switzerland at Grasshoppers Zürich. In 2004, he signed his return to France, first at Montpellier Handball and then in 2010 at Toulouse Handball.

With his various clubs, he has won: the French Championship (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010); the French Cup (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010); and the League Cup (2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010). Since 2004, he has been selected 132 times with the French National Handball Team, with which he won the Olympic Games in 2008 and 2012, the World Championship in 2009 and 2011, and the European Championship in 2006 and 2010.