Boubacar Barry

Ivorian retired footballer

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.

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. 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.

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

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