El Hadji Ousseynou Diouf (; born 15 January 1981) is a Senegalese former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
. Throughout his career, Diouf played as a winger or a
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
.
Having started his professional football career in France with Sochaux,
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
side
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
prior to the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
and went on to have a memorable tournament. He has also played in England's top flight for
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
,
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
with
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
. In 2011, he joined
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
side Doncaster Rovers but was released at the end of the 2011–12 season following the club's relegation. He then moved to Leeds United where he spent two seasons. During his nine-year international career, he scored 21 goals in 69 caps, and also garnered considerable notoriety for a series of controversial incidents.
Early life
Born in
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
, Senegal, Diouf came from a Serer background of the noble
Diouf family
Joof (English spelling in the Gambia) or Diouf (French spelling in Senegal and Mauritania) is a surname that is typically Serer.
This surname is also spelt Juuf or Juf (in the Serer language). They are the same people. The differences in spel ...
.
Club career
Early career
Diouf started his career in France with Sochaux-Montbéliard. He made his debut appearance in a 2–1 win against Bastia on 12 November 1998, before moving to
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
for the 1999–2000 season. He moved to Lens the following season, spending two years at the
Pas-de-Calais
Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
.
Liverpool
In early June 2002 he was reportedly linked with the English club
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
who had also just signed his club and international compatriot
Salif Diao
Salif Alassane Diao (born 10 February 1977) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
Diao moved from Senegal to France when he was seventeen and started his career at Monaco with whom he helped with ...
. The news initially broke following his Man of The Match performance in the opening
FIFA World Cup 2002
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
1-0 group game vs France, who were the defending World and European Champions and one of the favourites to win the 2002 tournament. Lens initially denied that the signing had been made, but it was finally confirmed on 2 June with an estimated price tag of £10m. His continued impressive performances in the World Cup for Senegal, where they reached the quarter finals, led to much excitement prior to his arrival in England. Diouf was the striker that manager Gérard Houllier hoped would take the Premier League title from
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
, after Liverpool had finished in second place the previous season.
Diouf won praises for his early games for Liverpool including his first game at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
where he scored two goals, his first for the club, in a 3–0 win against
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
on 24 August 2002. He started the
2003 Football League Cup Final
The 2003 Football League Cup Final was a association football, football match played between Liverpool F.C., Liverpool and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United on 2 March 2003 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of th ...
as Liverpool defeated
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
.
Liverpool fans had to wait until March 2003 for Diouf's next goal for Liverpool. That occurred in a 2–0 win against
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
, in a game where he scored once and provided the assist for the second. The next game saw Diouf play in a
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
match against
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
at Parkhead which finished 1–1. The game marked a watershed in his career when, in the 87th minute, he spat at a Celtic fan, causing crowd disturbances and Diouf to be interviewed by the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
. He received a two match ban and was fined two weeks wages with Liverpool making a donation of £60,000 to a
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
charity of Celtic's choice.
Diouf failed to score for the remainder of the 2002–03 season or at all in the 2003–04 season which saw him pick up 13
yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...
and one
red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction.
Red card may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers
* Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...
which came on 7 January 2004 when he was sent-off in a 1–0 away win against Chelsea for fouling Adrian Mutu. By then he had become unpopular due to both his attitude and his lack of goals. Jamie Carragher later said of him "''He has one of the worst strike rates of any forward in Liverpool history. He's the only no. 9 ever to go through a whole season without scoring, in fact he's probably the only no. 9 of any club to do that. He was always the last one to get picked in training''." At the beginning of the 2004–05 season he was loaned to
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
. At the end of the season-long loan — and after scoring a mere six goals in 80 appearances with only three in the
league
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
— Diouf left Liverpool signing permanently for Bolton in the summer of 2005.
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
bought Diouf from Liverpool for an undisclosed fee at the start of the 2005–06 season, after they had loaned the player for the 2004–05 season. On 15 September 2005, Diouf scored Bolton's first ever goal in a European competition against
Lokomotiv Plovdiv
PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...
in a
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
match at the Reebok Stadium. Bolton went on to win the game 2–1. He was largely successful at Bolton and became a fans' favourite due to his flair and direct running. Diouf confirmed in an interview with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
that he would be leaving Bolton at the end of the 2007–08 season and that his goal against
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
on 3 May marked his last appearance at the Reebok Stadium.
Sunderland
Diouf signed for
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
on 28 July 2008, after Bolton agreed to a transfer fee of £2.63m. He signed a four-year contract at the
Stadium of Light
The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...
after undergoing a medical. Diouf said that he was happy to join Sunderland. Then-manager
Roy Keane
Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...
stated he was happy that Diouf had joined Sunderland saying: "El Hadji has always been the kind of player opposition teams and supporters hate. That's why we're delighted to now have him in our squad." Diouf made a promising start for Sunderland but failed to score in any of his sixteen appearances.
Blackburn Rovers
Diouf signed for Blackburn Rovers for a £2 million fee on 30 January 2009, signing a three-and-half-year deal after just six months at the Stadium of Light, rejoining former Bolton manager Sam Allardyce at the club. He was given the number 18 shirt and scored his first goal for the club against
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
at
Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...
on 11 March 2009 in a 2–1 win. During the summer transfer window, Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce revealed that Diouf was acquired for £1 million. Diouf scored his first home goal for Rovers at
Ewood Park
Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...
in the club's 3–1 victory over
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
on 12 September 2009. On 2 January 2010, he was sent off in a 3–1 defeat to
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
in the third round of the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
. On 21 March 2010, Diouf scored the equalising goal against Chelsea in a 1–1 draw at Ewood Park which opened up the 2010 title race. He started the next two Premier League games against Birmingham and Burnley; he then made his fortieth appearance for the club at
Fratton Park
Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history.
The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...
playing against bottom-of-the-league side
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
in a 0–0 draw on 3 April. By the end of the 2009–10 season, he had made 27 appearances, scoring three goals.
On 20 August 2011, Blackburn manager
Steve Kean
Stephen Kean (born 30 September 1967) is a Scottish football coach and former player, who is currently the academy director at Hibernian. Kean played as a winger for clubs in the lower divisions of Scottish, English and Portuguese leagues i ...
confirmed that Diouf was not in his first-team plans, and that he expected him to leave before the end of the 2011–12 transfer window. On 31 August 2011, Blackburn terminated Diouf's contract by mutual consent. He had fallen out with manager Kean after returning late for pre-season training.
Loan to Rangers
On the last day of the 2011 January transfer window, Diouf joined
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
champions
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. He made his debut on 2 February, coming on as a 20th-minute substitute for injured teammate
Lee McCulloch
Lee Henry McCulloch (born 14 May 1978) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is the first team assistant manager at Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.
McCulloch was capped on eighteen occasions by the Sc ...
during a 1–0 win over Hearts at Ibrox. He made his first start for Rangers four days later in a 2–2 draw with
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
in the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Sporting CP in the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
, netting the opening goal of the game with a header in the 20th minute. He then scored his second goal for Rangers on 13 March in a Scottish Premier League match with
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
, again scoring the first goal as Rangers won 2–1. In March 2011 Diouf was part of the Rangers team that won the
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
. Diouf also collected an SPL winners medal as Rangers performed a comeback from two points behind Celtic to win the league by one point.
Doncaster Rovers
In October 2011, Diouf was handed a trial by West Ham United and their manager, Sam Allardyce, his manager at both Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers. On 28 October it was announced that Diouf would not be joining the club because of a lack of fitness and his bad reputation. Allardyce later confirmed that the depth of feeling amongst fans was taken into account in his decision not to sign the player.
On 31 October 2011, Diouf signed for Doncaster Rovers on a three-month contract. He scored his first two goals for Doncaster against
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
at Portman Road on 5 November 2011, earning Man of the Match honours and a 3–2 victory. He took the captain's armband in a goalless draw against
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
but a training injury meant he was unable to play the following games. On 2 February 2012, Diouf signed a six-month deal with the view to an extra year.
After Doncaster were relegated from The Championship, On 25 April 2012, Diouf was believed to have held talks with Leeds United with a view to signing him at the end of his Doncaster contract. Diouf claimed on 26 April he was very keen on moving to Leeds despite Leeds manager,
Neil Warnock
Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...
, having previously described him as "lower than a sewer rat" for an incident involving
Jamie Mackie
James Charles Mackie (born 22 September 1985) is a British former professional footballer who played as a striker or winger, most notably for Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, and Oxford United. Born in England, Mackie played for Scotland.
...
.
On 19 July 2012, it was announced that Diouf would not face charges for assault after being arrested following an incident in a
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
nightclub in April.
Leeds United
On 9 August 2012, Diouf joined Leeds United on trial and started training with the first team. Diouf was confirmed to have signed a non-contract deal with Leeds United on 11 August. Diouf appeared as a substitute in the second half for Leeds against Shrewsbury Town in the League Cup on 11 August.
Diouf made his league début for Leeds as a first-half substitute in their 1–0 victory against
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
. He made his first start for Leeds in their 2–1 victory over Peterborough United on 25 August.
On 1 September, Diouf scored his first goal for Leeds in a 3–3 draw against his former club Blackburn Rovers. After the match it was announced that Diouf had signed a permanent contract at Leeds until January 2013. Diouf revealed that he had turned down more lucrative offers from elsewhere to become 'a legend' at Leeds by helping them reach the Premier League. Diouf put in an impressive performance for Leeds' 2–1 victory against Premiership side Everton on 25 September. After the match, manager
Neil Warnock
Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...
described Diouf as his 'matador' and that Diouf had made promises to stay at the club beyond his initial six-month contract.
Diouf scored a brace against
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
to help earn Leeds a 3–2 victory on 29 September. Diouf was named captain against his old side
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
in a 2–2 draw on 2 October. Diouf scored his fourth goal of the season on 30 October in a 3–0 League Cup win against Premier League side
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...
to help Leeds advance to the quarter-finals of the competition. Diouf scored his milestone 5th goal of the season with a penalty to help earn Leeds a 2–2 draw against
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
on 2 November.
On 14 December 2012, Diouf signed a new 18-month deal at the club taking him until the end of the 2013–14 season. He scored his 7th goal of the season against
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
on 27 April, but received his first red card as a Leeds player for celebrating it with a rude 'gesture' towards the Brighton fans.
In May 2013, after Guinea club
AS Kaloum
Association Sportive Kaloum , also known as A.S.K, is a Association football, football club based in Conakry, Guinea. In the 1960s A.S.K was known as Conakry I, and won three titles under that name.
Due to the problems in sponsoring in 2008, th ...
claimed to have signed Diouf, Leeds United and Diouf strenuously dismissed the claim as 'complete rubbish,' stating that Diouf would be playing for Leeds in the 2013–14 season. Diouf was ruled out of the entire 2013–14 pre-season due to a shin infection.
On 15 August 2013, the ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' reported that Diouf had been made available for transfer.
In December 2013, it was revealed that Diouf had missed several Leeds fixtures and training sessions due to unspecified 'personal problems', and in order to attend the funerals of former mentor and
Bruno Metsu
Bruno Jean Cornil Metsu (28 January 1954 – 15 October 2013) was a French footballer and football manager. During his senior playing career from 1973 to 1987, he played for seven different clubs in his native France. From 1988 until his death, ...
and former
President of South Africa
The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of South Africa and is the commander-in-chief of the South African Nationa ...
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
.
Diouf made his first start for Leeds in several months on 28 January in a 1-1 draw against
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
. It was to be his final game for the club. On 16 May 2014, Diouf was released.
Sabah FA
In November 2014, Diouf signed a one-year contract with Malaysian side
Sabah FA
Sabah Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bolasepak Sabah) is a football club with ownership by Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd. The football club competes in Malaysia's football league representing the state of Sabah in Borneo. They currently compete in M ...
of the Malaysia Premier League, and was named team captain. However, Diouf soon found himself embroiled in controversy with his new club after comparing it unfavourably with rival club Johor Darul Takzim II F.C. during an interview with Johor TV. Diouf was reported to have said that "he is willing to build a JDT academy on his own land in Senegal and JDT will get the monetary returns from the proceed of selling players to European countries. He also said that he is willing to play for JDT without any money because of his love for the state of
Johor
Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...
as well as being impressed by the vision and mission of the club". Diouf said this was due to the lack of vision and mission by Sabah Football Association (SAFA). Deeming this behaviour "unprofessional," Sabah stripped Diouf of the captaincy in July 2015.
International career
Diouf's international career started in April 2000 against
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
. He has earned 69 international caps and scored 21 goals for his country. He played for
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
campaign and was elected to the World Cup All-Star team, after leading Senegal to the quarter-finals and victories over
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
(1–0) and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
(2–1). Senegal eventually lost 1–0 in
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. He was also part of the Senegal team who were the runners-up in the
2002 African Cup of Nations
The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000 African Cup of Nations, 2000, th ...
, but was one of the players who missed a penalty during the shootout in the final as they lost to
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
. Diouf was banned from international football for four matches in 2004 for a verbal assault on referee
Ali Bujsaim
Ali Mohamed Bujsaim ( ar, علي بوجسيم, born September 9, 1959 in Dubai) is a retired association football referee from the United Arab Emirates, who is best known for supervising matches at three FIFA World Cups: 1994 (two matches), 1998 (t ...
.
In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by
Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
in conjunction with
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
's centenary celebrations. In October 2007, Diouf retired from international football, stating he had been frustrated by organisational problems with the side. However, Senegal coach Henryk Kasperczak announced later in the month that he would name Diouf in the next squad.
In 2011 Diouf was banned for five years from playing for the Senegal national side, after reacting angrily to claims that he had failed to attend a disciplinary hearing. In September 2012, The Senegal Football Federation confirmed that Diouf's five-year ban had been decreased and that he was available to play for the Senegal national side again. After becoming available for the Senegal national side, in October 2012 Diouf was left out of the squad to face Côte d'Ivoire in an African Cup of Nations qualifier, Diouf proclaimed that he felt he was left out of the squad because the Senegal federation were 'scared' of him.
Diouf was twice named the African Footballer of the Year.
Controversies
In France
Diouf's professional career has at times been overshadowed by controversy. During his time at Sochaux, he was involved in a succession of minor transgressions. This resulted in the move to Rennes, where he was convicted for driving without a licence, and was involved in a car crash. Taking into account his age and evident remorse, the French courts sentenced Diouf to community service.
In England
Several times during his early Premier League career, Diouf was accused of spitting at fans and opposition players. In 2002, he was accused of spitting at West Ham United fans while warming up as a substitute for Liverpool during a game at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
. An investigation by
Merseyside Police
Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police of ...
found no evidence that an offence had been committed, but that Diouf had spat on the ground. On 13 March 2003, while playing for Liverpool, he was involved in an incident when he spat at
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
fans during a televised UEFA Cup quarter-final. His club fined him two weeks' wages, UEFA gave him a two-match ban, and Diouf was charged with assault. Although Diouf initially pleaded not guilty, he later changed his plea to guilty, and was fined £5,000.
In November 2004 while on loan to Bolton, Diouf was charged by the police for spitting at an 11-year-old Middlesbrough fan during a 1–1 draw. Then, on 27 November 2004, Diouf spat in the face of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
player
Arjan de Zeeuw
Adrianus Johannes "Arjan" de Zeeuw (born 16 April 1970) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), centre-back.
Club career
Born in Castricum, North Holland, De Zeeuw started ...
. Bolton fined him two weeks' wages and the FA banned him for three games after he pleaded guilty to a charge of improper conduct. Bolton manager Sam Allardyce later revealed that he considered sending Diouf to see a sports psychologist.
On 20 September 2009, Diouf was questioned by police after allegations that he had made a racial slur to a
ball-boy
Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids are individuals, usually human youths but sometimes List of dog sports, dogs, who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football, American football, ba ...
during a match at Everton, telling him to "fuck off, white boy". Diouf defended his actions by saying that the ball-boy had thrown the ball to him "like a bone to a dog" and that Everton fans were racially abusing and throwing bananas at him. Police found no evidence of this.
In April 2010, Diouf was arrested and charged with motoring offences in Manchester.
On 8 January 2011, following Blackburn's 1–0 win over Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup third round, QPR manager
Neil Warnock
Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...
accused Diouf of taunting
Jamie Mackie
James Charles Mackie (born 22 September 1985) is a British former professional footballer who played as a striker or winger, most notably for Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, and Oxford United. Born in England, Mackie played for Scotland.
...
whilst the latter lay on the pitch injured with a broken leg and referred to Diouf as "lower than a sewer rat".
On 14 July 2011, it was reported that Diouf had not joined Blackburn Rovers for a pre-season tour of Austria and that his whereabouts were
unknown. The club stated that disciplinary measures would be taken against him.
On 15 April 2012, Diouf and five other men were arrested following reports of a nightclub brawl in Manchester. One man was seriously injured and Diouf was bailed for a week.
On 27 April 2013, Diouf was shown a controversial red card at Elland Road after making offensive gestures towards the
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
away fans.
In Scotland
In February 2011, Diouf became embroiled in an argument with
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
Captain
Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to:
Sportsmen
*Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State
* Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds
*Scott Brown (footballer, bor ...
after several on pitch altercations with Brown in the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Neil Lennon and dissent to the referee at full-time. Diouf was fined £5,000 in April 2011 and warned over his future conduct by the Scottish Football Association.
After football
In 2017, Diouf, was in
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
working as a government goodwill ambassador and adviser on sport to Senegalese President
Macky Sall
Macky Sall (, wo, Maki Sàll, fuc, 𞤃𞤢𞤳𞤭 𞤅𞤢𞤤, italic=no, Maki Sal; born 11 December 1961) is a Senegalese politician who has been President of Senegal since April 2012. He was re-elected President in the first round voti ...
, and running his own sports newspaper and a gymnasium.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Liverpool
*
Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
FA Community Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
runner-up:
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
Rangers
*
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
:
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
*
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...
:
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
Senegal
*
Africa Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...
runner-up:
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
BBC African Footballer of the Year
The BBC African Sports Personality of the Year (previously known as the BBC African Sports Star of the Year and the BBC African Footballer of the Year) was an annual award given to the best African sports personality of the year as voted by the B ...
: 2002
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
All-star team:
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...