display

Former Senegalese international Papa Bouba Diop has died at the age of only 42.

This was confirmed by the world football association Fifa.

The former midfielder lost the battle to a rare disease at home.

Diop had made 63 appearances for his country in his career, in which he scored eleven goals.

In his home country he was particularly popular because of the 1-0 winner against France at the 2002 World Cup.

"My goal against Les Bleues has shaped my life forever," said Diop, remembering his brilliant moment two years ago.

The big favorite around superstar Zinédine Zidane was eliminated in the preliminary round, Senegal reached the quarter-finals in its first World Cup participation.

Diop celebrates one of his goals in the jersey of FC Fulham

Source: Action Images / Andrew Couldridge

display

As a robust midfielder, Diop earned the nickname “The Wardrobe” in the Premier League.

Fulham FC, where he played from 2004 to 2007, paid tribute to him on Twitter: “The news of Papa Bouba Diop's death shook us.

Rest in peace, wardrobe. ”In Europe, Diop also played for Xamax Neuchâtel, Grasshoppers Zurich, RC Lens, FC Portsmouth and most recently until 2013 for Birmingham City.

Same illness as Stephen Hawking

The beefy midfielder had suffered from Charcot's disease, a disease of the central and peripheral nervous system, for years.

According to the German Society for Muscle Sick Diseases, the disease, also known as Lou Gehrig Syndrome, causes progressive degeneration of motor neurons.

Half of those affected usually die three years after the onset of the disease.

Because Charcot's disease attacks the muscles, the sick suffer from numerous disabilities and can no longer take care of themselves in the long run.

However, physicist Stephen Hawking suffered from the disease for decades.

Here you will find content from Twitter

In order to interact with or display content from Twitter and other social networks, we need your consent.

Activate social networks

I consent to content from social networks being displayed to me.

This allows personal data to be transmitted to third party providers.

This may require the storage of cookies on your device.

More information can be found here.

Diop is also mourned in the Bundesliga.

“Rest in peace, Papa Bouba Diop.

We will always remember your winning goal in the 2002 World Cup opening match, ”tweeted Bayern's central defender Jérôme Boateng.