Boubacar "Copa" Barry (born 30 December 1979) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having begun his career at ASEC Mimosas, he moved to France in 2001, where he played for Rennes' reserve team. In 2003, he joined Belgian side Beveren where he stayed four years. He then spent ten years at K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen amassing 239 league appearances. At international level, he played for the Ivory Coast national team before his retirement from international football in March 2015, but continued to play for his club, Lokeren. Exactly four years after his international retirement, Barry retired also professionally as a player in March 2019.

Boubacar Barry
Barry playing for Ivory Coast in 2012
Personal information
Full name Boubacar Barry[1]
Date of birth (1979-12-30) 30 December 1979 (age 44)[2]
Place of birth Marcory, Ivory Coast
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2001 ASEC Mimosas 17 (0)
2001–2003 Rennes B 23 (0)
2003–2007 Beveren 107 (0)
2007–2017 Lokeren 239 (1)
2017–2018 OH Leuven 0 (0)
Total 386 (1)
International career
2000–2015 Ivory Coast 82 (0)
Managerial career
2018–2019 OH Leuven (goalkeeping coach)
2021–2022 Gent U21 (goalkeeping coach)
2023– Lokeren-Temse (goalkeeping coach)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Ivory Coast
Africa Cup of Nations
Runner-up 2006
Runner-up 2012
Winner 2015
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Barry scored a penalty for Lokeren in the 2011–12 season, in a 4–0 win against Westerlo. He won the Belgian Cup with Lokeren in the same season as well as in the 2013–14 season.[4]

When his contract at Lokeren ran out, he was signed by Belgian First Division B team Oud-Heverlee Leuven, where he was part of the squad during the 2017–18 and 2018–19 season as backup goalkeeper, but was effectively employed as goalkeeping coach.

He retired from playing on 2 March 2019, although at that point in time he had not played a match for over two years.[5][6]

International career

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Barry was called up to the 2006 World Cup as part of the Ivory Coast national team. He appeared in the final group match against Serbia and Montenegro on 22 June 2006, which Ivory Coast won 3–2.[7]

He started all three matches for the Ivory Coast in Group G in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[8] He earned clean sheets against Portugal[9] and North Korea.[10]

He was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Elephants' 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign as they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the second round, following an injury-time defeat to Greece.[11]

2015 Africa Cup of Nations

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Barry was called up to the Ivory Coast squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea. He was benched for most of the tournament in favour of his younger teammate Sylvain Gbohouo, but went on to play in the final following Gbohouo's injury in the semi-final.[12] It was his second appearance in the showpiece event having been in goal in the 2012 final against Zambia; a match that the Ivory Coast lost 7–8 on penalties after the game finished 0–0.[13] The 2015 final finished goalless after normal and extra-time, and Barry emerged as the hero by saving two penalties and scoring the winning penalty, overcoming a cramp in the process.[4][14][15]

A month later, on 2 March 2015, he retired from international football.[16]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League[a] Cup Europe[b] Other[c] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Beveren 2003–04[17] Belgian Pro League 31 0 31 0
2004–05[17] 12 0 6 0 18 0
2005–06[17] 27 0 27 0
2006–07[17] 32 0 32 0
Total 102 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 108 0
Lokeren 2007–08[17] Belgian Pro League 23 0 23 0
2008–09[18] 31 0 31 0
2009–10[18] 19 0 1 0 20 0
2010–11[18] 32 0 1 0 33 0
2011–12[18] 27 1 5 0 32 1
2012–13[18] 27 0 2 0 3 0 32 0
2013–14[18] 31 0 6 0 37 0
2014–15[18] 16 0 3 0 6 0 25 0
2015–16[3][18] 7 0 0 0 7 0
2016–17[17] 26 0 2 0 28 0
Total 239 1 20 0 9 0 0 0 268 1
Career total 341 1 20 0 15 0 0 0 376 1
  1. ^ Includes Belgian Pro League playoffs.
  2. ^ Includes the Europa League.
  3. ^ Includes Belgian Super Cup.

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[19]
National team Year Apps Goals
Ivory Coast 2000 1 0
2001 1 0
2002 0 0
2003 0 0
2004 0 0
2005 2 0
2006 5 0
2007 7 0
2008 13 0
2009 7 0
2010 9 0
2011 5 0
2012 12 0
2013 11 0
2014 8 0
2015 1 0
Total 82 0

Honours

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Lokeren[4]

Ivory Coast

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "List of Players" (PDF). Confederation of African Football (CAF). Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  2. ^ "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Boubacar Barry". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d Rudin, David (11 February 2015). "Boubacar Barry, hero of the stupid game". Medium - Howler Magazine. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Copa beëindigt carrière als doelman" [Copa ends career as goalkeeper]. ohleuven.com. 2 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Boubacar Barry: Ivorian Nations Cup winning keeper retires from football". BBC Sport. 3 March 2019.
  7. ^ "CÔTE D'IVOIRE 3–2 SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO". FIFA. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  8. ^ "IVORY COAST". FIFA. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  9. ^ "World Cup 2010: Ivory Coast and Portugal play out cagey stalemate". The Guardian. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  10. ^ "World Cup 2010: North Korea v Ivory Coast – as it happened". The Guardian. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Greece qualified for the last 16 of a World Cup for the first time with a dramatic victory against Ivory Coast". BBC. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  12. ^ "TP Mazembe's Ivorian keeper Gbohouo in Qatar for surgery". BBC. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Zambia gain redemption to stun Ivory Coast in Africa Cup of Nations". The Guardian. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  14. ^ "Ivory Coast 0–0 Ghana (9–8 on penalties)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  15. ^ "Africa Cup of Nations: Barry dedicates win to past players". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  16. ^ "Ivory Coast hero Boubacar Barry announces international retirement". The Guardian. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d e f "Boubacar Barry » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h "B. Barry". Voetbal International (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  19. ^ Boubacar Barry at National-Football-Teams.com
  20. ^ "Boubacar BARRY" (in French). Abidjan.net. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
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