Edmond Fayçal Tapsoba was born on 2 February 1999 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He grew up playing street football in the Karpala district before joining organised teams at 14, and his agent is the former Portugal international Deco. He developed at Salitas and US Ouagadougou before moving to Portugal with Leixões and then Vitória de Guimarães (2017-2020).
On 31 January 2020 Bayer Leverkusen signed him on a five-and-a-half-year deal for around €18 million plus €7 million in performance bonuses. He has since become a defensive cornerstone, scoring his first Bundesliga goal in February 2021 against Augsburg. His most defining campaign came in 2023-24, when Leverkusen won the unbeaten Bundesliga title — their first in over a decade — and reached the Europa League final.
For Burkina Faso, Tapsoba debuted in 2016 and has earned around 50 caps. He represented his country at three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments (2021, 2023, 2025) and was named to the AFCON 2021 Team of the Tournament alongside Blati Touré as Burkina Faso reached the semi-finals.
Standing 1.92 m and right-footed, Tapsoba combines speed, strength, composure and elite passing range — analysts compare him to Jérôme Boateng, while he cites John Stones, Per Mertesacker and Virgil van Dijk as inspirations. He is also a regular penalty-spot taker and dangerous from set pieces.