Mababa Diouf, known as Papa Diouf[1] or Pape Diouf (18 December 1951 - 31 March 2020) was a football journalist, agent, and later president of Olympique de Marseille from 2005 to 2009.[2]
A descendant of a Senegalese military family, Pape Diouf arrived in France at the age of 18. After studying political science, he worked, during the 1970's and 1980's, as a sports journalist, maintaining a football column in newspaper La Marseillaise, which focused on Marseille sports life, including Olympique de Marseille. In the late 1980s, he joined the daily Le Sport, which was supposed to compete with L'Équipe, but ultimately failed.
Connected with various individuals in the football world, he then became a football agent for several players in the 1990's until 2004. That year, he joined the Olympique de Marseille club as general manager and later became the chairman of the executive board. He was appointed president in 2005, being the first and only black president of a French professional club to this day. He remained in this post for four years, before being ousted in 2009 following internal disagreements. Although the club did not win any trophies under his presidency, they remained in the top five of the French Championship standings and regained stability despite a difficult financial period. He later took part in the creation of a journalism school in Marseille and in conferences on football, switching between France and Senegal. He died[3] in Dakar at the age of 68, victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
Biography
Early life
Pape Diouf was born in Abéché in Chad, then still a French colony, where his military father, Demba Diouf,[5] of Senegalese origin, standard bearer of the Free French and Gaullist Forces during World War II, was responsible for the garage of the French army in Fort-Lamy (today N'Djamena). His mother's name was Aminata, the second wife of his polygamous father and he came from a family of eight children. His first name Mababa was in tribute to his grandfather, who in diminutive becomes Papa or Pape.
When he was six months old, his parents returned to Senegal, the country of his ethnically Serer and Muslim[6] family. He lived with his uncle Jean Paul, by African tradition, in Richard Toll (the sugar bastion of Senegal), then in Mauritania, where he completed his schooling from 6 to 10 years. Diouf then returned to Dakar for his entry into elementary school. He spent two years at the Saint-Michel then enrolled in the Sacré-Cœur middle school, both belonging to the same Catholic school group. At the age of 17, his father decided to send him to Marseille at the end of his second year to take his baccalaureate.
Sport journalist
Pape Diouf arrived in Marseille at the age of 18, with a paternal injunction to become a soldier like his father, but Pape did not want to, and chose to pursue his own interests and career. At the same time as his studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence,[7] he began working in the French administration of postal services and telecommunications (PTT),[8] and eventually abandoned his studies. One of his colleagues at PTT was Tony Salvatori, several times champion of France and international spearfishing, who helped him become a freelance writer for the newspaper La Marseillaise. Shortly after, he was hired full time, with his main focus becoming the coverage of news regarding Olympique de Marseille. Twelve years after entering the newspaper, he joined the national sports daily Le Sport, launched in September 1987 by Xavier Couture, with the intent of competing with L'Équipe. However, on 29 June 1988, after 249 issues, Le Sport ceased its daily publications and closed (temporarily) due to lack of readers, prompting Diouf to pursue a different direction in his career.
In 2004, Pape Diouf joined Marseille as general manager in charge of sports affairs. After the departure of Christophe Bouchet in the fall of 2004, he was appointed chairman of the management board of Marseille by the club's supervisory board, forming a triumvirate with Vivian Corzani and Philippe Meurice, in charge of the administrative and financial aspects of the club, respectively. In 2005, he became president of Marseille under the influence of the majority shareholder, Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
In 2006, he was at the origin of a controversial decision to field an Marseille B-team against rivals Paris Saint-Germain on the 30th (out of 38) round of the Ligue 1 championship. Prior to the game, PSG had allocated OM away fans only half the usual number of tickets, selling the other half to their own fans, meaning proximity between the two groups of fans at the Parc des Princes, which raised security concerns. As a boycott to denounce the non-compliance by the PSG security services with security standards concerning the reception of Marseille supporters, Diouf ordered then OM manager Jean Fernandez to play a reserve team. This decision incurred wrath of the French public, the Professional Football League and the exclusive broadcaster of the championship, Canal+, but it also allowed him to form a "sacred union" with the Olympian supporters. The match ended with an unexpected 0-0 draw. It is widely remembered as the "Match des Minots", meaning "Match of Kids" in French, due to the young age of most of the OM starters.
During his tenure as president, Marseille experienced a consistent progress in the French hierarchy (fifth in 2005-2006, then second in 2006-2007, third in 2007-2008, and second in 2008–2009), qualifying very regularly for the Champions League. He also reached the final of the Coupe de France twice in a row - losing in 2006 against Paris Saint-Germain and in 2007 against Sochaux.
He holds the distinction of being the only black leader of a club playing in the first division throughout Europe. In a 2008 interview, he commented on the observation, stating: “I am the only black president of a club in Europe. It is a painful observation, like European and, above all, French society, which excludes ethnic minorities.”
Due to repeated absences from the Marseille supervisory board as well as conflicts with the president of this board, Vincent Labrune, Robert Louis-Dreyfus decided to separate from Pape Diouf on 17 June 2009 after more than four years of presidency.
He is generally considered one of the major players in the renewal of Marseille at the end of the 2000s, having brought back and then maintained the club for three years in the Champions League.
He was indicted in 2016 for abuse of corporate assets and criminal association in a case related to the transfers of certain players. His indictment was quashed and he was placed under the status of assisted witness in 2018.
After OM
From 2010 on, Pape Diouf became shareholder of the European Communication School and the European Institute of Journalism in Marseille, alongside Jean-Pierre Foucault. In an interview in April 2011, he declared that he did not particularly reject the world of football despite his dismissal from Olympique de Marseille, and added that football was no more corrupt than the world of politics, health or cinema. In 2012, he was named Knight of the Legion of Honour by president François Hollande. The badges were presented to him by the President on 9 October 2013, during a collective ceremony.
At the end of 2013, he was approached to lead a list during the 2014 municipal elections in Marseille.[9] Courted by the PS and EELV, he finally took the head of the “Changer la Donne” (meaning "Be a Game Changer" or "Make a Difference") list made up of members of the Sursaut, a collective comprising environmental dissidents and associations, and personalities from civil society. In this context, he directed a cli in which he expressed his ideas and his dissatisfaction with the political and social situation in Marseille. Its list ended in 5th position with 5.63% of the votes.
Sports betting ambassador
From 2011, following the opening of the online betting market in France, Pape Diouf also worked alongside Bernard Laporte and Claude Droussent for L'Officiel des Paris en ligne (OPL) as an expert on sports betting for football, with a regular sports column on the sport and predictions on the matches.
Death
After contracting COVID-19, Pape Diouf was hospitalized in Dakar, Senegal, at the Fann Hospital, specializing in infectious and tropical diseases and placed on respiratory assistance. His condition deteriorated, preventing his planned transfer by medical plane to Nice. He died on the evening of 31 March 2020, at the age of 68. He was buried the next day in the Muslim cemetery of Yoff.[10]
Titles
Knight of the Legion of Honour, 13 July 2012.
Works
De but en blanc, Éditions Hachette Littératures, (2009).
Olympique de Marseille, also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM, is a French professional football club based in Marseille that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Founded in 1899, the club has won nine league titles, ten Coupe de France titles, three Coupe de la Ligue titles, three Trophée des Champions titles, a national record of one UEFA Champions League and a joint national record of one UEFA Intertoto Cup. Additionally, Marseille has played in three UEFA Europa League finals. In 1993, coach Raymond Goethals led the team to become the first and only French club to win the UEFA Champions League, defeating Milan 1–0 in the final, the first under the UEFA Champions League branding of the tournament. In 2010, Marseille won its first Ligue 1 title in 18 years under the management of former club captain Didier Deschamps.
El Hadji Ousseynou Diouf is a Senegalese former professional footballer. Throughout his career, Diouf played as a winger or a forward.
Papa Bouba Diop was a Senegalese professional footballer. His preferred position was as a defensive midfielder, but he could also play as a centre-back, where he played at Lens. Diop was considered a physically strong and aggressive player. His playing style, position, and ability drew comparisons to former France holding midfielder Patrick Vieira.
Djibril Cissé is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward.
Lamine Diatta is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defender. He works as team coordinator of Senegal, appointed by head coach Aliou Cissé in 2015.
Bruno Jean Cornil Metsu was a French footballer and football manager. During his senior playing career from 1973 to 1987, he played for seven different clubs in France.
Association Sportive et Culturelle Jeanne d'Arc or ASC Jeanne d'Arc for short is a Senegalese football club based in Dakar. It was founded in 1923 and one of the oldest in the country. They play at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor. The club currently plays in National 1. Since 1975, the club is second with the most championship titles numbering ten, one less than ASC Diaraf. The total honors that Jeanne d'Arc has won is 25, second after Djaraf.
Basile Boli is a former professional footballer who played as a defender, and a current television sports presenter. He spent the majority of his career with Auxerre and Marseille before ending his career with spells at Scottish club Rangers, at Monaco, and at Japanese side Urawa Reds. Born in Ivory Coast, he made 45 appearances and scored one goal representing the France national team.
Pape Amodou "Modou" Sougou is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a right winger.
Gunnar Andersson was a Swedish footballer who played as a striker. He is widely considered one of Olympique de Marseille's best strikers, and is the highest scorer of the club. Born in Sweden, he played for the France national football B team once.
Diouf or "Joof" is a Serer surname. Notable people with the name include:
Le Classique is the rivalry between French professional football clubs Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille. The duo are the two most successful clubs in French football, and the only French teams to have won major European trophies. Therefore, the fixture is the biggest rivalry in France.
Joof or Diouf is a surname that is typically Serer. This surname is also spelt Juuf or Juf.
Ismaïla Sarr is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for Premier League club Crystal Palace and the Senegal national team.
Boubacar Bernard Kamara is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Aston Villa and the France national team. Mainly a defensive midfielder, he can also play as a centre-back.
Pape Alassane Gueye is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Villarreal. Born in France, he plays for the Senegal national team.
Pape Cheikh Diouf known by his stage name Pape Diouf, is a musical artist from Dakar, Senegal.
Events in the year 2020 in Senegal.
Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke Dieng is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Angers, on loan from Ligue 2 club Lorient, and the Senegal national team.
Iliman Cheikh Baroy Ndiaye is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Everton. Born in France, he plays for the Senegal national team.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
