Yacouba Sylla

Club

Botoșani

Position

Defensive Midfield

Nationality

Mali

Date of birth

1990-11-29

Birthplace

Étampes, France

Height

184 cm

Weight

78.46kg

Shirt number

25

Yacouba Sylla (born 29 November 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Romanian Liga I club FC Botoșani. Born in France, he represented France as a youth international before switching to Mali at senior level.

Sylla was born in France but has Malian heritage, which meant that he was eligible to represent either France or Mali. He made one appearance for France's under-21 team on 24 March 2011, in a 3–2 friendly victory over Spain. Sylla was a late substitute for Antoine Griezmann and played the final few minutes of the game.

Following his move to Aston Villa and positive form towards the end to the 2012–13 season, Sylla was called up to represent Mali for the first time. He first played in an unofficial friendly against the national team of Brittany, France, a side not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA on 28 May 2013. Mali lost 1–0.

Sylla's official, full international début for Mali came on 9 June 2012 in a 1–1 FIFA World Cup qualification draw with Rwanda. Sylla replaced Wolverhampton Wanderers player Tongo Doumbia in the 70th minute. Sylla started and played the full 90 minutes in Mali's 2–2 draw with Benin seven days later, but Mali were unfortunately eliminated from the competition.

Sylla is the older brother of the France youth international Moussa Sylla.