Pape Diouf: Marseille's Fearless Leader who Changed French Football Forever

Pape Diouf. (Getty Images)
Pape Diouf. (Getty Images)
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Pape Diouf: Marseille's Fearless Leader who Changed French Football Forever

Pape Diouf. (Getty Images)
Pape Diouf. (Getty Images)

It is difficult to write about the importance of one man at the time of untold tragedy. Paying particular attention to one person who has died after contracting coronavirus may seem arbitrary, almost cruel, or even myopic while tens of thousands are dying. Yet, the life of Pape Diouf is one that deserves recognition.

Born in Chad to Senegalese parents, Diouf moved to Marseille at the age of 18, ostensibly to become a soldier, but he was eager to forge his own path and make the most of the opportunities that could be found in France. To his parents’ chagrin, he started working in a post office, abandoning his studies for a position that was more immediately lucrative. His journey helped form his tough and even blunt approach. When he became a football agent, it made him not only an influential figure but one who was also infinitely relatable.

Diouf worked for years as a journalist in the south of France, covering Marseille for La Marseillaise, first as a freelancer and then as the paper’s lead reporter, before joining the ill-fated national daily Le Sport. After Le Sport went bankrupt, Diouf used his connections with Marseille players to begin work as an agent. He would go on to become a revolutionary figure in the world of sports, a true groundbreaker at a time when agents were not nearly as powerful as they are now.

Basile Boli and Joseph-Antoine Bell, both of whom played for Marseille at the time, were his first clients. The club were on the cusp of both their greatest success, winning the Champions League in 1993, and their greatest ignominy, when they were stripped of their league title that season, having bribed Valenciennes FC to throw a league match in the buildup to the final. Boli had been the hero of that European final win against Milan and his own story, having come from the Ivory Coast at a young age to find success in France, made Diouf seem like a father figure to the defender. “I can’t even speak,” said Boli when he heard that Diouf had died. “He’s not a friend – he was a big brother to me. All my children, my father and my mother knew him, loved him.”

With the success of his clients at Marseille – the title that was taken from them in 1993 would have been their third in a row – Diouf’s star quickly rose. Grégory Coupet, Marcel Desailly and Bernard Lama soon appointed him as their agent. Diouf’s intelligence and charisma helped him grow in standing among France’s power brokers. He understood that the game was becoming global and, with players such as Didier Drogba, Laurent Robert and Desailly impressing abroad, his reach extended, especially to England, where he and Arsène Wenger did much to bring French talent to a wider audience.

The Marseille owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus hired Diouf to work as the club’s sporting director in 2004, as much for his connections as his recruiting ability. When manager José Anigo resigned later that year, Diouf was appointed president, replacing the embattled Christophe Bouchet. With his own client, Drogba, having been sold to Chelsea in the summer of 2004, Marseille were always going to struggle for goals, but it was a particularly difficult time for the club. Lyon’s hegemony made Marseille’s underperformance especially galling. Despite their struggles, Diouf took things in his stride, even as the club cycled through three managers that season.

The next season, 2005-06, offered hope. The results were not much better – the club finished fifth for a second campaign running – but the arrivals of Franck Ribéry and Mamadou Niang, as well as the emergence of Samir Nasri (another of Diouf’s clients) augured well for the future. Diouf’s other signings during his tenure included Steve Mandanda and Hilton, showing his lasting influence on the game in France even today. But there were also missteps in the form of flair players such as Karim Ziani and Bakari Koné.

He also made headlines that season with the “Match of the Minots” at the Parc des Princes. Marseille and PSG have one of France’s most fiercely contested rivalries and on the occasion, Diouf, who was at odds with France’s governing body, the LFP, over security at the match and the number of places away fans would be afforded, sent a reserve side, who famously earned a scoreless draw. He did not endear himself to the powers that be in France in that episode, but he became a near-immediate legend at Marseille.

However, pressure continued to mount as the seasons passed without a trophy and the club chose to cut ties with Diouf in the summer of 2009, even though he had helped steer them to second place – just three points short of the title – that season. Despite his own lack of success, there is no denying that Diouf put the foundations in place for Marseille’s title the following year and their stirring run to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2012. He was later indicted (and acquitted) for improper dealings regarding player transfers, but there is no doubting the long shadow he cast over France’s most popular club.

Mathieu Valbuena, who won the league with Marseille in 2010, was impressed by Diouf’s immense aura. “He had an incredible presence,” said Valbuena. “He had broad shoulders. For me, he is the best president in Marseille’s recent history. When he left in 2009, he left the club in a very good state. He was close to the players, the employees. He knew how to get his messages across, to be sharp.”

After leaving Marseille, Diouf worked at a journalism college in Marseille and stood for an election in the city as well. His massive personality and outspoken approach did him no favors in either of these endeavors as he continued to show the world that, even away from football, he could be as brazen as the young man who had dared to disobey his parents’ wishes for him to be a soldier.

Again, his death is one of many in the world at the moment, but for a man for whom race, class, or social standing were no obstacle, and for whom no opponent seemed too big, it is only fitting that we note the passing of Pape Diouf by honoring him for what he was: a principled, fearless and forthright individual whose ambitions and influence on the game knew no limit.

The Guardian Sport



Liverpool Restore 12-point Lead as Jota Seals Win over Everton

Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Diogo Jota shoots at goal REUTERS/Phil Noble
Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Diogo Jota shoots at goal REUTERS/Phil Noble
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Liverpool Restore 12-point Lead as Jota Seals Win over Everton

Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Diogo Jota shoots at goal REUTERS/Phil Noble
Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Everton - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 2, 2025 Liverpool's Diogo Jota shoots at goal REUTERS/Phil Noble

Liverpool continued their march towards the Premier League title with a 1-0 victory over Everton in a scrappy Merseyside derby as Diogo Jota slotted home the winner in the second half on Wednesday.

The champions elect, with 73 points after 30 games, restored their 12-point lead over second-placed Arsenal while Everton, whose nine-game league unbeaten ended, are 15th on 34 points.

Everton's Beto had an early goal chalked off for offside and missed a sitter before Jota broke the deadlock in the 57th minute with his first goal in two-and-a-half months. Anfield erupted when Luis Diaz back-heeled the ball into Jota's path and the Portuguese forward beat a tackle before firing into the net, Reuters reported.

"Massive, of course," Jota said summing up the win. "Not only because it is a derby, but because of the (first game since the) international break. It was important to start with three points and hopefully that gives us momentum for the rest of the season."

Liverpool fans thought Everton should have been reduced to 10 men after 11 minutes following a fierce tackle by defender James Tarkowski on Alexis Mac Allister, but Everton's captain was only shown a yellow card.

The teams had met in an explosive derby in February that ended 2-2, with Tarkowski equalising deep in stoppage time in a chaotic game that featured four red cards, including one to Liverpool manager Arne Slot.

While Liverpool are unbeaten in 26 league games, they went into last month's international break on a negative note after being eliminated by Paris St Germain in the Champions League and losing to Newcastle United in the League Cup final.

Slot's men looked sluggish and disjointed on Wednesday and Everton could have gone ahead when Beto raced away from defender Virgil van Dijk and beat goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher before hitting his shot against the post.

Kelleher started in goal for Liverpool, with regular starter Alisson recovering from a concussion suffered on international duty with Brazil.

The heated mood in Anfield was cranked up another notch with the contentious early tackle. Tarkowski won the ball but his studs-up follow-through caught Mac Allister square in the calf. VAR confirmed the decision of a yellow card, which gave the centre back the joint most yellow cards without being sent off in Premier League history, with 63.

"I thought at the time that it was a brilliant tackle for a derby game," Everton boss David Moyes said.

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on the Sky Sports commentary that Tarkowski was very lucky to escape a red card for a tackle that was a "potential leg breaker".

"We were playing against Everton, they make it very difficult for you," Van Dijk said. The games we have played against each other over the years have always been tough.

"They have a certain way of playing and you have to be ready for it. The first half wasn't our greatest but we kept a clean sheet and obviously Jota made a fantastic goal. Three points and we move on."

Moyes remained without a victory at Anfield in 22 games leading Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham United as well as his current team.

"Liverpool were the better team, there's no doubt about that," Moyes said.

"But I don't like the goal, I think the goal was offside. I'm really surprised it wasn't given. Or maybe I'm not surprised. I don't think many managers come here and think that they get loads of decisions at Anfield generally."