Jules Koundé

Jules Olivier Koundé (born 12 November 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for La Liga club Barcelona and the France national team.

Early life
Jules Olivier Koundé was born in Paris and grew up in Landiras, Gironde. His father is Beninese and Koundé holds citizenship of both Benin and France. His uncle Charles Tokplé is a former footballer who played for the Togo national team.

Koundé grew up with his mother. He has stated that during his youth, he struggled with his temper after poor performances from his local team, expressing "I'd be in a foul mood all weekend: atrocious behaviour. I got into such a rage that I ended up kicking my poor mum."

Bordeaux


Koundé started in his first team debut for Bordeaux in the 2–1 Coupe de France away loss to Granville in the round of 64 on 7 January 2018, playing the full 90 minutes of normal time and the full 30 minutes of extra time. He made his Ligue 1 debut for Bordeaux in a 1–0 away win over Troyes on 13 January 2018. On 10 February 2018, Koundé scored the opening goal of a 3–2 Ligue 1 home win over Amiens; it was his first career Ligue 1 goal and his first competitive goal for Bordeaux's first team.

Sevilla
On 3 July 2019, he signed for Spanish club Sevilla. The transfer fee paid to Bordeaux was reported as €25 million. In his first season at Sevilla, he helped the club win the UEFA Europa League for a record sixth time and was named in the competition's team of the season.

Barcelona
On 29 July 2022, Barcelona announced an agreement with Sevilla for the transfer of Koundé. Koundé missed Barcelona's first match of the La Liga season against Rayo Vallecano as the club could not register him as they were over the league's salary cap limit. He also missed Barcelona's second league match against Real Sociedad on 21 August for the same reason. Kounde was registered with La Liga on 26 August and made his official debut for the club two days later in a 4–0 win over Real Valladolid at the Camp Nou.

International career
Koundé was a member of France's squad for the group stage of the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, starting in central defence in all three matches and captaining the team in the 2–0 win against Russia.

On 18 May 2021, Koundé was selected by Didier Deschamps as part of the 26 players that formed the France national team for UEFA Euro 2020. He made his debut on 2 June 2021 in a pre-tournament friendly against Wales, coming on as a substitute for Benjamin Pavard at half-time. He made one appearance at Euro 2020, playing the full match against Portugal in Group F.

On 10 October 2021, Koundé started and played the whole match as France defeated Spain 2–1 in the 2021 UEFA Nations League final.

Koundé was a member of France's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup where he started five of the team's seven matches at right back as they finished as runners-up to Argentina.

In May 2024, Koundé was named in France's squad for UEFA Euro 2024. At the tournament, he started all six matches for France at right-back, and was named man of the match in their 1–0 victory over Belgium in the round of 16.

Personal life
Koundé has French and Beninese nationality.

Honours
Sevilla
 * UEFA Europa League: 2019–20

Barcelona
 * La Liga: 2022–23
 * Supercopa de España: 2023

France
 * UEFA Nations League: 2020–21
 * FIFA World Cup runner-up: 2022

Individual
 * UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2019–20
 * La Liga Team of the Season: 2021–22, 2022–23