22 Facts About Pape Diouf

Mababa Diouf, known as Papa Diouf or Pape Diouf was a football journalist, agent, and later president of Olympique de Marseille from 2005 to 2009.

Pape Diouf was appointed president in 2005, being the first and only black president of a French professional club to this day.

Pape Diouf remained in this post for four years, before being ousted in 2009 following internal disagreements.

Pape Diouf later took part in the creation of a journalism school in Marseille and in conferences on football, switching between France and Senegal.

Pape Diouf died in Dakar at the age of 68, victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pape Diouf was born in Abeche in Chad, then still a French colony, where his military father, Demba Diouf, 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.

Pape Diouf lived with his uncle Jean Paul, by African tradition, in Richard Toll, then in Mauritania, where he completed his schooling from 6 to 10 years.

Pape Diouf then returned to Dakar for his entry into elementary school.

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.

However, on 29 June 1988, after 249 issues, Le Sport ceased its daily publications and closed due to lack of readers, prompting Pape Diouf to pursue a different direction in his career.

Subsequent to this setback, Pape Diouf organized jubilees for players in Africa, including Roger Milla, Eusebio and Boubacar Sarr.

In 2004, Pape Diouf joined Marseille as general manager in charge of sports affairs.

Pape Diouf reached the final of the Coupe de France twice in a row - losing in 2006 against Paris Saint-Germain and in 2007 against Sochaux.

Pape Diouf holds the distinction of being the only black leader of a club playing in the first division throughout Europe.

Pape Diouf 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.

Pape Diouf was indicted in 2016 for abuse of corporate assets and criminal association in a case related to the transfers of certain players.

Pape Diouf's indictment was quashed and he was placed under the status of assisted witness in 2018.

From 2010 on, Pape Diouf became shareholder of the European Communication School and the European Institute of Journalism in Marseille, alongside Jean-Pierre Foucault.

From 2011, following the opening of the online betting market in France, Pape Diouf worked alongside Bernard Laporte and Claude Droussent for L'Officiel des Paris en ligne as an expert on sports betting for football, with a regular sports column on the sport and predictions on the matches.

Pape Diouf's condition deteriorated, preventing his planned transfer by medical plane to Nice.

Pape Diouf died on the evening of 31 March 2020, at the age of 68.

Pape Diouf was buried the next day in the Muslim cemetery of Yoff.