Aboubacar Keita

Columbus Crew

On January 22, 2019, Keita was announced as the 12th Homegrown Player signing in Columbus Crew history. Keita had attended his first Crew game at the age of 12 and, as a Crew Academy player, had previously trained with the first team. In a bid to get acclimated to the professional game, Keita was sent on loan to USL League One club Richmond Kickers on March 6, 2019. The loan was for the duration of the 2019 USL League One season, with Columbus able to recall him at any point during the year. Keita made his professional debut on April 27 versus Chattanooga Red Wolves, coming on in the 77th minute to help Richmond see out a 1–0 victory. After suffering an injury during the U20 World Cup, Keita returned to Columbus from his loan to Richmond. On July 3, he made his debut for Columbus with a midweek start against Real Salt Lake. Keita would go on to make 10 appearances throughout the season for Columbus. Before COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the initial start to the 2020 MLS season, Keita started and played 90 minutes in one of Columbus's first two games. Keita went on to make a total of 13 appearances for Columbus during the Covid-shortened 2020 season, 12 appearances during the regular season and 1 appearance during the playoffs. Keita was part of the team that won MLS Cup 2020. Keita made his debut for Columbus during the 2021 season by starting in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League game against Real Estelí; helping Columbus to a 1–0 win.

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After earning previous camp call-ups for the United States U17, U18, and U19 national teams, Keita earned his first youth caps with the United States U20 team in March 2019. In the team's final camp ahead of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, he came off the bench against France on March 22 and provided Christian Cappis with a match-tying assist in second-half stoppage time; Keita also started three days later against Japan. On May 10, he was named to the final roster for the tournament by head coach Tab Ramos. Keita started all five games for the United States, playing every minute of the tournament until being subbed off in the 86th minute of the team's quarterfinal match against Ecuador. Throughout the tournament, he was noted to be sound defensively but struggled with distribution.

As of match played on 11 May 2025

Although he was born in New York City, Keita was raised in Guinea, moved to Westerville, Ohio, at the age of 10 and attended Westerville North High School. As a sophomore, he was named Honorable Mention All-Ohio Capital Conference while primarily playing as a forward. He joined the Crew Academy in 2016, playing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy for the U16/17 and U18/19 teams and scoring once in 43 appearances. Keita also trained with the Crew's first team and played against Charleston Battery at the 2018 Carolina Challenge Cup. In January 2018, Keita took part in his first international camp, training with the United States U19 team Later that month, he committed to play collegiately at the University of Virginia.