Former Marseille president Pape Diouf has died aged 68 after contracting the new coronavirus, a family source told AFP on Tuesday.
Diouf, who was born
in Chad but had French and Senegalese citizenship, led the club between 2005-2009
and helped build the side who lifted the Ligue 1 title in 2010.
He was hospitalised
in Senegal after contracting the virus there and became the country’s first
COVID-19 fatality.
Diouf had been due
to leave for Nice earlier on Tuesday to be treated in France, but a sharp
deterioration in his health – which saw him placed on a respirator – prevented
him from boarding the plane.
Diouf was also a
journalist and football agent before taking over at the Stade Velodrome.
Moving to Marseille
aged 18, he was set on a career in the military, but soon switched paths.
After studying at
the prestigious Sciences Po in Paris, he worked at the La Marseillaise
newspaper before becoming a football agent, most notably for Didier Drogba, who
enthralled the Velodrome in 2003-04.
He later became
president at Marseille, “a difficult post, where there were very few men from
diverse backgrounds,” said Jacques-Henri Eyraud, the club’s current president.
“But he fought
tooth and nail, and won the hearts of thousands of supporters.”
Diouf himself was
acutely aware of the lack of diversity at the management level, telling an
interviewer in 2008 that the fact he was the only black president of a top-tier
European club was “a painful observation.”
“Pape will remain
in the hearts of the Marseillais forever, as one of the great architects in the
club’s history,” Marseilles said in a statement.
Senegal President
Macky Sall also paid tribute to “a great figure of sport” on Twitter.
“To his family, I
offer, on behalf of the nation, my deepest condolences.”
