Eugène Dadi (born 20 August 1973) is an Ivorian retired 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 lea ...

who played as a striker for clubs in Switzerland, France, Austria, Scotland, England, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. At international level, he represented

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

on two occasions in 2000.

Career

Sochaux

Born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

, Ivory Coast, Dadi attended the football academy at French Division 1 team

FC Sochaux FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

as a teenager.

Stade Lavallois

Dadi played until 1992 when his father died. At this point he decided to quit professional football for two years. Dadi played his first professional football at French

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

team

Stade Lavallois Stade Lavallois Mayenne Football Club (), also referred to as Stade Lavallois or simply Laval,Stade Laval, used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a Football in France, F ...

in 1994.

LASK

After being spotted playing park football on the Indian Ocean island of

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

, where he had a job working in real estate, Dadi was signed to Austrian club

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

Aberdeen

Dadi spent one season at

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

that in terms of scoring goals was not great. However, he was a firm fans' favourite and had become somewhat of a cult hero with Aberdeen fans. This was due to his last name, which inspired the popular terrace chant of "Who's your, who's your, who's your feckin Dadi?."

Tranmere Rovers

Dadi had two seasons on the Wirral with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

. He played up front and scored 28 goals. In his first season in 2002–03 he finished the club's top scorer, scoring goals against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and Chesterfield. He also scored the first goal against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

third round replay at the

Reebok Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

, a game which Tranmere Rovers won 2–1. In his second season, he helped Rovers finish in the play-offs and was a regular up front with

Iain Hume Iain Edward Hume (born 30 October 1983) is a Canadian soccer manager and former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He began his career at Tranmere Rovers in 2000, and six years later moved to Leicester City for an initial £50 ...

. He was known for wearing his hair in a "

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

" shape. He left the club in the summer and joined

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Perth Glory

Dadi trialled with Perth in November 2007, but was denied an opportunity to join

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

, when his previous club Hapoel Acre failed to release him during the transfer window. He took part in the Glory's post-season tour of China and impressed coaching staff enough to offer him a permanent contract with the club. Dadi's first A-League goal with the club came in the second match of the 2008–09 A-League season, against Newcastle United Jets at

Members Equity Stadium Perth Rectangular Stadium (also known as HBF Park under naming rights) is a sports stadium in Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. Located close to Perth's central business district, the stadium currently has a m ...

in Perth. Dadi rose to meet a cross from team mate Amaral, putting the header past goalkeeper

Ante Covic Ante Covic (born 13 June 1975) is an Australian football manager and former soccer goalkeeper, and is the current manager of Bankstown City (Women) in NSW League One. Covic was a member of the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World C ...

. His next two goals were against

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

, where Perth were defeated by 5–2. Dadi scored a late winner to beat

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

1–0 and a late penalty which he had to retake to equalise against

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

to keep the Glory within touch of the A-League top four. On 6 December, Dadi scored two goals in four minutes in Perth Glory's 3–1 win over

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

. In Glory's match against the Victory in January, Dadi again scored twice to lead Glory to a 3–2 victory. He re-signed with the club until the end of the 2009–10 season, however, he missed the last two games of Perth's 2008–09 season to begin a five-month loan at

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side

FC Vaduz Fussball Club Vaduz (En: ''Football Club Vaduz'') is a professional association football, football club from Vaduz, Liechtenstein that plays in the Challenge League (Switzerland), Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. The club pla ...

Wellington Phoenix

Dadi left Perth Glory due to lack of game time, and signed with the

. He made his debut on 9 January against the

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

where he scored two goals, including a spectacular

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

which earned him the Phone-Nix Player of the Day. His bicycle kick goal was nominated for

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

Goal of the Year for that season. Dadi scored again a week later against

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from th ...

, when he headed in from a

Leo Bertos Leonida Christos Bertos (born 20 December 1981) is a New Zealand football coach and former player who is the head coach of Northern NSW NPL side Weston Bears. A winger, he was a New Zealand international from 2003 to 2013, representing his c ...

corner. Dadi was forced off the field after he and

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series ''The Crown ( ...

clashed heads. Dadi required 15 stitches for his wound. Dadi's return to Perth Glory was not a good one for the striker as the Phoenix lost 2–0. Dadi picked up an early yellow card for dissent and nearly got himself sent off after a lunge at Jacob Burns. Dadi was given the chance to reduce the deficit in the 73rd minute after

Troy Hearfield Troy Hearfield (born 31 October 1987) is an Australian former soccer who played as a right back. Club career Newcastle Jets Hearfield signed for Newcastle Jets in 2006. On 2 February 2007, Hearfield made his professional debut in a game agains ...

won a penalty, but he shot the ball straight into Glory goalkeeper

Tando Velaphi Tando Yuji Velaphi (born 17 April 1987) is an Australian professional Association football, football player who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Subiaco AFC, Subiaco AFC. Club career Early playing career Velaphi tr ...

. Dadi scored the third goal in Wellington's extra-time 3–1 victory over

in the 2009–10 Minor Semi-final second leg.

Manado United

Dadi left

Persibo Bojonegoro Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bojonegoro () commonly known and abbreviated as Persibo, is an Indonesian professional football club in Bojonegoro, East Java. They compete in the Liga 2, the second tier of Indonesian football, after promotion fro ...

due to undergoing a player exchange with Amir Amadeh of

Manado United Manado United 9 or simply known as Manado United is an Indonesian association football, football club based in Manado, North Sulawesi. The team plays in Liga Primer Indonesia. Team Officials The Meaning of Logo The ship steering wheel signifi ...

Liga Primer Indonesia Liga Primer Indonesia (LPI, sometimes translated to English as ''Indonesian Premier League'') was an Indonesian independent football league held in 2011. It was managed by Konsorsium Liga Premier Indonesia and PT Liga Primer Indonesia and was ...

side.

Personal life

Eugène owns his own fashion label and can speak three languages fluently – English, French, and German. He spent a year in Austria as an actor. Dadi took two years off football after the death of his father in the early 1990s.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Member's Player of the Year: 2008–2009

References

External links