Pape Diou, "gray eminence of football" and OM, swept away by the coronavirus

Football fans have had a heavy heart since the announcement of the death of Pape Diouf, Tuesday, March 31, from the consequences of the coronavirus. Even if the former president of Olympique de Marseille embodied Marseille, tributes pour in from all over France and the world. Rarely has a sports executive received so much praise.

Pape Diouf, whose real name Madaba Diouf, like his grandfather, was not intended for a football career. Born in 1951 in Abéché in Chad, where his father, a Senegalese soldier, former veteran of the Second World War, was in post, he landed in Marseille at the age of 18. The father wants him to follow the same path. "You should know that my father never went to school. He made his living through the army. It was there that he learned to read and write. For him, when at 17-18 years old, he saw that I was bifurcating studies, he wanted to assure by sending me to France so that I enlist in the army ", had told Pape Diouf in 2009 in the program "We are not lying".

@the team #PapeDiouf pic.twitter.com/ELva2hPhe4

"I only wanted to go home"

But the young man does not have the same aspirations. He does not go to the barracks and finds refuge in a youth center: "Very quickly, the director of the center distinguished me a little. I had stood up to the boss of the place and he made me a sort of pawn in the foyer. I had a single room and I no longer paid for the foyer. I stayed there for eight months. " At the same time, he discovers the Marseille city. But love at first sight is not there, "but rather a huge blow of the blues". "When I arrived, I had only one desire, it was to go back home. Marseille, it is after we get to know the city, get used to it, understand it and understand it. 'love', as he had confided to the newspaper Le Monde.

The Senegalese, freshly arrived in France, thirsts for knowledge and has desires of ENA [the national school of administration]. "It was at random from an article written in the Nouvel Observateur which was devoted to ENA, I had a fascination for this school. I had read that one multiplies the chances by doing Law and Sciences Po This is how I wanted to pursue this sector ", he remembered on the set of" We are not lying ". Pape Diouf passes the entrance exam to Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence, but his passage is not decisive.

From Post to OM

It's a little job at the Post Office that will turn his life upside down. There he met Tony Salvatori, a PTT inspector, freelance in the football section of the local newspaper La Marseillaise. The latter offered to join him and collect the results for Sunday. "The Marseillaise gives him the opportunity later to write a first article on women's basketball, in 1974. Then to become a chronicler of Marseille sports life, therefore OM", describes the journalist Hervé Penot in the Team. It is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.

In 1987, he joined the editorial staff of a new daily newspaper, Le Sport, intended to compete with the Team. But the experience, which allows him to strengthen his links with the Marseille football community, turns out to be short and lasts only one year. Pape Diouf finds himself without work. "At the same time, two men intervened: Joseph-Antoine Bell and Basile Boli [respectively former goalkeeper and former OM defender]. Both wanted me to take care of their careers. I knew the principles and the main lines of the player agent profession. I hesitated, given the reputation of this profession. In the end, I made the decision to do it, "Pape Diouf explained in 2008 in the OM pages. Mag.

The contracts are linked. "Over the years, he will emerge from his all too easily conveyed image, that of the African agent, when he had a number of French players in his portfolio. Grégory Coupet, Sylvain Armand, Jean-Michel Ferri, captain of Nantes , for example, have integrated its structure. Like the Basiles and Roger Boli, Marcel Desailly, Marc-Vivien Foé, Nouredine Naybet, Abedi Pelé, Frédéric Kanouté, Samir Nasri in his early days, Didier Drogba and many others ", underlines l 'Team.

Pope has been my guardian angel throughout my career, a very fine friend.

I will forever miss her unique voice 💙🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/Q7badrw3dV

A figure of OM

In 2004, he wore a new cap, becoming general manager of OM, then president a year later. Until 2009, he managed the club in Marseille. The titles are not there, but thanks to him, patiently build the foundations of the team that was going to finish champion of France in 2010.

The only black leader of a large European football club, Pape Diouf is also a spokesperson when it comes to combating racism. "I am an anomaly because, before me, there is no example, he had declared to the World in 2008. I became symbolic, because I occupy a post which one does not give to the Blacks and the Be careful, this is not a complex of persecution, just the bitter acknowledgment of reality. "

In 2014, following controversial remarks by coach Willy Sagnol on "the typical African player", he stepped up on the antenna of France 24 to denounce with the talent of orator we know him "a society where more and more speech is said to be liberated, where any attitude even the most provocative is admitted ". For him, it is important to remember that "French football would not be absolutely what it is without the contribution of all these people from elsewhere and mainly from Africa".

Marseillais forever

After five years of presidency, Pape Diouf is finally dismissed by the management of OM in 2009. "He left his Marseille scene, without saying a word, but was not done with various obligations, between TVs, creation of a school of journalism in Marseille and multiple appearances in Africa or elsewhere in football seminars ", summarizes the Team.

Always so much appreciated by the inhabitants of Marseille, Pope even tries to increase his popularity in politics. He was a candidate for mayor of Marseille in 2014 at the head of a citizen collective. "I want to turn my back on any political approach, because when a lamppost is broken, it is neither left nor right to try to repair it," he said then. This rather anchored figure on the left only collects around 6% of the votes, but his image will remain unscathed in the eyes of the people of Marseilles.

Olympique de Marseille learned with great sadness of the death of Pape Diouf.

Pope will remain forever in the hearts of Marseillais as one of the great craftsmen of the history of the club.

Our condolences to his family and loved ones.🖤 pic.twitter.com/w9KyE45JMA

More than ever, they are in mourning today. "Pope will remain forever in the hearts of Marseillais and one of the great craftsmen of the history of this club", wrote OM in a press release, announcing a tribute to come on his media. In his native country, the emotion is also strong. The Senegalese president, Macky Sall, did not fail to salute his memory: "I learned with emotion the death of Pape Diouf. I pay tribute to this great figure of sport, this great committed leader and eminence gray of football. To his family, on behalf of the nation, I offer my deepest condolences. "

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