at under-20 and under-21 level. He earned his first international youth call up in 2001 by coach Raymond Domenech ahead of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. Diarra played in the first group stage match; a 5–0 hammering of Iran. In the 30th minute of the match against Iran, Diarra was substituted out due to an injury. The injury was deemed severe and Diarra missed the rest of the tournament. France ultimately crashed out of the competition in the quarter-finals losing 3–1 to a Javier Saviola-led Argentina. Diarra's only other confirmed appearance with the under-20 team was in a 1–0 win over Egypt in April 2002. Diarra earned his first call up to the under-21 team in August 2002 for a friendly match against Cyprus. He made his debut in the match as France cruised to a 1–0 victory. Diarra featured regularly within the team as France attempted to qualify for both the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and the football tournament at the 2004 Summer Olympics. France failed to qualify for both competitions, which resulted in the end of Diarra's youth career. He appeared in 10 competitive matches with the team and scored his only goal in a 3–1 UEFA U21 tournament qualification win over Israel. In December 2003, Diarra was called up to the Mali national team to participate in the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations. Diarra turned down the opportunity to represent the nation of his parents in order to continue his career with his home country France. Senior On 13 August 2004, Diarra was named to the senior national team for the first time by Domenech to participate in a friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He did not make his debut in the match, but was named to the team again in October for 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against the Republic of Ireland and Cyprus. Diarra earn his debut cap in the match against Ireland appearing as a substitute for Olivier Dacourt in a 0–0 draw. He featured with the team heavily in World Cup qualification primarily as a substitute for either Patrick Vieira or Claude Makélélé and, following France's qualification for the tournament, was named to the team to participate in the competition. In the competition, Diarra appeared in two matches. He appeared as a substitute for Vieira in the team's final group stage match against Togo and repeated this in