Moustapha Salifou (born 1 June 1983) is a Togolese 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 ...

who plays mostly as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for German

Bayernliga The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one o ...

club Türkspor Augsburg. He has represented the Togo national team at the

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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 ...

. He spent four years at English

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 ...

club

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 ...

, the rest of his professional career has been spent at lower levels of the German, French and Swiss league systems.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

, Salifou started his career in his native Togo with

AC Merlan AC Merlan is a Togolese football (soccer), football club based in Lomé. They play in the top division in Togolese football. Their home stadium is Stade Oscar Anthony. References External linksOfficial site
Football clubs in Togo Footbal ...

. The midfielder had fleeting stints with Swiss side

FC Wil FC Wil (''Fussball Club Wil 1900'') is a football club based in Wil, Switzerland. They play in the ''Sportpark Bergholz'', which has a total capacity of 6,048. The club has consistently played in the Swiss second tier since regaining promotion i ...

, French team

Stade Brest 29 Stade Brestois 29 or simply Brest, is a French football club based in Brest. It was founded in 1950 following the merger of five local patronages, including Armoricaine de Brest, founded in 1903. In its early years, the club made a rapid rise ...

and German team

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...

, prior to moving to England.

Aston Villa

On 31 August 2007, Salifou signed a one-year deal with

, joining for a nominal fee after a successful trial.

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

commented that "He has great determination to succeed at this level and may well prove to be an excellent asset". Salifou encountered problems acquiring a work permit though, and was forced to train with his old club in Switzerland. It was reported on 25 September 2007 that the work permit had been granted and that Salifou was to join up with the squad within a week, however, he did not join up with his new club until 18 October 2007. Salifou made his debut for

Aston Villa Reserves The Aston Villa Under-21s, formerly known as Aston Villa Reserves and Aston Villa Under-23s, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2 (Division 2) of the Professional Development League, the Pre ...

on 22 October 2007 creating two of the goals in a 6–0 win over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

reserves. He made his debut for the first team on 12 January 2008 as a 90th-minute substitute in a 3–1 win against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Despite not having played a game, his name was chanted loudly to the tune of the

Boney M. Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

song Daddy Cool by the Holte End. He was later rewarded with a one-year extension to his contract. Salifou made his second appearance for the club on 15 March 2008, coming on as a late substitute in the 2–0 away defeat at

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 ...

, as well as appearing in the 4–0 defeat to

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 ...

. On 6 November 2008,

decided to change his starting eleven for Villa's

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

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

. Salifou started and played the full ninety minutes. Despite rarely featuring for the club at all during the 2009–10 season, Salifou was named in caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald's 22-man

squad for 2010–11. He failed to make an impact during this season too, and underwent a trial at

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

in January 2011. With the arrival of

Jean Makoun Jean II Makoun (, born 29 May 1983) is a Cameroonian former footballer who played as a central midfielder. He played for the Cameroon national football team from 2003 to 2015. Career LOSC Lille Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Makoun began his ca ...

to Villa in January 2011, Salifou found himself without a squad number for a period after the number 17 shirt was given to Makoun. However, he was later given the number 37. Throughout this time Salifou was praised for his time with the reserves, often passing on his experience to the Villa youngsters. On 27 May, Aston Villa announced that Salifou was one of a number of players who was released by the club after their contracts expired.

Later career

Salifou remained a free agent until November 2011, when he signed a two-year deal with 1. FC Saarbrücken. He took the number 16 shirt on arrival at the German club. He made his début for the team as an 80th-minute substitute for

Marcel Ziemer Marcel Ziemer (born 3 August 1985) is a German former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently the head coach of TSG Pfeddersheim's U15 team. Career In 2004, at the age of 18, Ziemer joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern from low ...

in a 3–1 win over

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs in ...

on 26 November 2011. He scored his first goal for Saarbrücken in a 5–2 win over former club

on 10 December. He was released by Saarbrücken at the end of the season. Despite not being registered to a club, Salifou continued to represent Togo internationally and had been linked with a transfer to former club

. On 1 March 2014, Salifou signed for German club

Rosenheim Rosenheim is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of the ...

of the

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern, ( en, Regional league Bavaria), is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tie ...

, the fourth tier of German football. After making his début against SV Heimstetten, Salifou went on to make 11 appearances for the club in the 2013–14 season including three assists and one goal against

TSV 1860 Munich II The TSV 1860 Munich II (german: TSV 1860 München II) is the reserve team of German football club TSV 1860 Munich, from the city of Munich, Bavaria. Until 2005, the team played under the name of TSV 1860 München Amateure. In the 2018–19 seaso ...

. Salifou joined Türkspor Augsburg in 2015, playing in the

Landesliga Bayern-Südwest The Landesliga Bayern-Südwest ( en, State league Bavaria-Southwest) is currently the sixth tier of the German football league system in south western Bavaria and the third tier of the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Landesli ...

. In early 2016 he was banned for eight matches for shouting at a referee during a match. In August 2021, he announced in an interview, his intention to retire at the end of the 2021–22 season.

International career

Salifou was a member of the Togo national team, and was called up to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. He played in all three of Togo's group games in that World Cup against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

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 ...

. The midfielder earned glowing reports after a positive performance at the 2006 World Cup, which alerted the attention of many French league clubs, and prompted the nickname the 'Togolese

Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

' or 'the great of the figure of eight' from his compatriot

Emmanuel Adebayor Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor (; born 26 February 1984) is a Togolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Togolese Championnat National club Semassi. He previously played for English clubs Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Ho ...

, due to Salifou's playmaking nature. On 8 January 2010, the bus containing the Togo squad for the

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 ...

was subjected to an attack from gunmen; Salifou was on the bus during the attack who was said to be 'shaken but okay' after the incident.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salifou, Moustapha 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Lomé Association football midfielders Togolese footballers Togo international footballers Togolese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in England AC Merlan players Rot-Weiß Oberhausen players Stade Brestois 29 players FC Wil players Aston Villa F.C. players 1. FC Saarbrücken players TSV 1860 Rosenheim players Ligue 2 players Premier League players 3. Liga players Landesliga players Bayernliga players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2. Bundesliga players 21st-century Togolese people