Lassina Traoré

Not to be confused with Lacina Traoré.

Lassina Chamste Soudine Franck Traoré (born 12 January 2001) is a Burkinabé professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ukrainian Premier League club Shakhtar Donetsk and the Burkina Faso national team.

Lassina Traoré

Lassina Traoré with Shakhtar Donetsk in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Lassina Chamste Soudine Franck Traoré
Date of birth	(2001-01-12) 12 January 2001 (age 24)
Place of birth	Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Shakhtar Donetsk
Number	2
Youth career
2012–2017	Rahimo
2017–2019	Ajax Cape Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2019–2021	Jong Ajax	42	(23)
2019–2021	Ajax	22	(9)
2021–	Shakhtar Donetsk	67	(19)
International career‡
2017–	Burkina Faso	30	(14)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 3 August 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 24 March 2025

Club career

Rahimo

Traoré began his football career in the youth ranks of Rahimo in his hometown of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. He was scouted by Ajax and brought to South Africa, where was stalled at the clubs' satellite club Ajax Cape Town until he was old enough to legally transfer to Amsterdam.^[1]

Ajax Cape Town

Shortly after his 18th birthday, Traoré moved to Europe joining Ajax in January 2019, on a three-and-a-half-year contract.^[1] He had previously played for Rahimo in Burkina Faso and was on the books of Ajax Cape Town in South Africa where he finished as top scorer of the reserves team before departing for the Netherlands.^[2]

Ajax

Traoré was named on the bench for the first time in Ajax's fateful second leg defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League on 8 May 2019, before making his debut in the final seconds of their 4–1 win over Utrecht in the league four days later.^[3] He would have to wait over five months for his next first-team appearance as a late substitute in a 4–0 win against Feyenoord on 27 October 2019.^[3]

On 24 October 2020, Traoré scored five goals and assisted a further three in a record-breaking 13–0 league victory over VVV-Venlo.^[4] Three days later, Traoré earned a penalty-kick and scored his first goal in European competition in a 2–2 draw away to Atalanta in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.^[5]

Shakhtar Donetsk

On 18 June 2021, it was announced that Traoré had joined Ukrainian Premier League side Shakhtar Donetsk for a fee of €10 million.^[6] On 22 September, Traoré scored twice in Shakhtar's 3–0 win against rivals Dynamo Kyiv in the 2021 Ukrainian Super Cup.^[7]

International career

Traoré made his international debut for Burkina Faso on 4 May 2017, during a friendly match against Benin.

Playing style

Lassina Traoré is not remarkably tall at 1.83 m, but his muscularity makes him well suited for a physical playing style. As a team player, he is technically competent beyond being a typical ‘target man’.^[8]

Personal life

Traoré's mother was a former professional footballer and captained the Burkina Faso women's national football team.^[3] His cousin, Bertrand Traoré, is also a professional footballer, who plays as a right winger for AFC Ajax.^[3]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 3 August 2025^[9]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Jong Ajax	2018–19	Eerste Divisie	14	8	0	0	—		—		14	8
	2019–20		17	13	0	0	—		—		17	13
	2020–21		11	2	0	0	—		—		11	2
	Total		42	23	0	0	—		—		42	23
Ajax	2018–19	Eredivisie	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2019–20		9	2	2	2	1[b]	0	0	0	12	4
	2020–21		12	7	0	0	6[c]	1	—		18	8
	Total		22	9	2	2	7	1	0	0	31	12
Shakhtar Donetsk	2021–22	Ukrainian Premier League	7	6	—		6[d]	1	1[e]	2	14	9
	2022–23		21	5	—		10[f]	1	—		31	6
	2023–24		16	4	2	0	2[b]	0	—		20	4
	2024–25		22	4	3	1	6[d]	0	—		31	5
	2025–26		1	0	0	0	2[b]	0	—		3	0
	Total		67	19	5	1	26	2	1	2	99	24
Career total			131	51	7	3	33	3	1	2	172	59

1. Includes KNVB Cup, Ukrainian Cup
2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
3. Five appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
5. Appearance in Ukrainian Super Cup
6. Six appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, Four appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

As of match played 24 March 2025^[10]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Burkina Faso	2017	4	3
	2019	4	0
	2020	4	2
	2021	5	2
	2022	0	0
	2023	1	0
	2024	10	4
	2025	2	3
Total		30	14

Scores and results list Burkina Faso's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Traoré goal.

List of international goals scored by Lassina Traoré^[10]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	4 May 2017	Stade du 4 Août, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso	Benin	1–0	1–1	Friendly
2	21 May 2017	Stade de l'Amitié, Cotonou, Benin	Benin	1–1	2–2	Friendly
3				2–1
4	12 November 2020	Stade du 4 Août, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso	Malawi	1–0	3–1	2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
5				2–0
6	5 June 2021	Stade National, Abidjan, Ivory Coast	Ivory Coast	1–0	1–2	Friendly
7	2 September 2021	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh, Morocco	Niger	1–0	2–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	6 June 2024	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	1–2	1–2	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
9	10 June 2024	Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali	Sierra Leone	2–0	2–2	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	10 September 2024	Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali	Malawi	1–0	3–1	2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
11				2–0
12	21 March 2025	Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida, Morocco	Djibouti	4–0	4–1	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
13	24 March 2025	Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau	Guinea-Bissau	1–0	2–1	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
14				2–1

Honours

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 2018–19, 2020–21
• KNVB Cup: 2018–19, 2020–21^[11]

Shakhtar Donetsk

• Ukrainian Premier League: 2022–23, 2023–24
• Ukrainian Cup: 2023–24, 2024–25
• Ukrainian Super Cup: 2021^[7]

Individual

• Eredivisie Player of the Month: October 2020^[12]