Legendary Olympique de Marseille president Pape Diouf, who masterminded OM's 2009 Ligue 1 Conforama title, has died from coronavirus at the age of 68.
Diouf's sophisticated knowledge of football and footballers helped put Olympique de Marseille back on the road to success but sadly, Pape Diouf was taken by the coronavirus on Tuesday at the age of 68.
There was only one Pape in Marseille. The very popular club director and businessman succumbed to the pandemic in Senegal before he could be repatriated to France. The medical plane chartered by the French embassy was ready to take off for Nice, where a hospital bed was waiting for him, but complications in Diouf condition - he was on a respirator - prevented the plane from taking off, and the former OM president died on Senegalese soil.
'Won the hearts of thousands of supporters'
"We're deeply saddened," current OM president Jacques-Henri Eyraud told AFP. "He had an exceptional journey, this kid who left Senegal and arrived in Marseille at the age of 18 and worked his way through the ranks. This was a sign of his great will power. Diouf arrived in a difficult position, where you don't find a lot of men from diverse backgrounds, but he managed to hold his own and defend his club tooth and nail. He won the hearts of thousands of fans."
Pape Diouf led the Marseille club from 2005 to 2009, patiently building the team that would go on to break an 18-year trophy drought by becoming Ligue 1 Conforama champions in 2010 - a season in which they also clinched the first of three consecutive Coupe de la Ligue BKT titles. Although his tenure ended before the title win, it was Diouf who started the process by recruiting Didier Deschamps as coach.
Tributes
"He was a great president, but these are pompous words, because he was above all a man, a real man. A good man," Louis Acariès, an adviser to former OM owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who had chosen Pape Diouf to head OM in 2005, told AFP. "He knew football, the media, the agents and the players."
Pape Diouf also knew and understood the fans, who paid tribute to him by the thousands on social networks.
"Pape will remain forever in the hearts of the people of Marseille and one of the great figures in the history of this club," wrote OM in a press release, announcing an upcoming tribute on its social media.
Many players have also sent him a final tip of the hat:
"He will leave a unique memory in Marseille," wrote current OM star Florian Thauvin on Twitter, "I'm very sad to learn of the death of Pape Diouf".
"You were the best among us and a model for me," tweeted Senegal striker Mamadou Niang. "Know that you will remain forever in my heart Pape. I love you."
Other OM stars of yesteryear - Basile Boli, Habib Beye, Franck Ribéry, Samir Nasri, Djibril Cissé and Benjamin Mendy - also paid tribute to the memory of Pape Diouf.
Football fan for life
Diouf knew how to communicate his passion for football, an area in which he spent a large part of his life. When he arrived in Marseille at the age of 18, he was supposed to embark on a military career, like his father, but he soon branched off.
After taking a degree from prestigious Parisian university Sciences Po', he worked at La Poste and then became a journalist, at La Marseillaise, and soon became an OM fan. His knowledge of the world of football was refined, and he became a players' agent - notably for Didier Drogba, who set the Vélodrome alight for one glorious season (2003-04) before his move to Chelsea - and finally president of the club he loved so much, and which remained inconsolable.
Before the news of Diouf's passing, OM were already in mourning following the loss of Michel Hidalgo - the club's sporting director during the famous presidency of Bernard Tapie in the late 80s/early 90s.
"It's a lot to deal with," said Eyraud.