His rocky voice and a strong stature were impressive. When he plunged his deep gaze into that of his interlocutor, Pape Diouf finished setting the frame. That of a discussion interspersed with immense respect and many convictions. Words of men. The Franco-Senegalese cultivated his taste for African-style palaver, in the shade of the baobab tree in the center of the village. Cultivated spirit, he adored these moments of complicity and contradictions, which seal meetings. "I will miss his unique voice forever," wrote Basile Boli, of whom he was "the guardian angel" during his football career.
Exceptional faconde
Anyone who has ever met Pope Diouf - even once - can confirm this: he was a man with an exceptional face. A character as we hardly see in his existence. Both part of a paternal culture with a strong African accent and a fervent defender of the Pagnol language. No wonder, therefore, that one day he became president of OM, a position reserved for atypical, different profiles, which are unlike any other.
Appointed general manager of OM in 2004, in charge of the sports sector, he became chairman of the management board by the club's supervisory board in autumn 2004, following the departure of Christophe Bouchet. The majority shareholder - the Swiss Robert-Louis Dreyfus - already intends him to the presidency, which was entrusted to him in 2005. "The Marseillais know football and OM, they must be treated as equals and not their lie, ”says Diouf.
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First colored president of a Ligue 1 club - "the best of us and a model" remembers Mamadou Niang - Diouf relies on his global network to put OM on the rails for reconquest. Without ever falling into any form of communitarianism, he recruits those who have both sincere admiration and blind confidence in him: Steve Mandanda, Djibril Cissé, Sylvain Wiltord or even Franck Ribéry and Mathieu Valbuena. "Pope, forever the first!" Tweeted Christophe Bouchet, now mayor of Tours.
Goodbye Pope
Forever the first! @OM_Officiel
Lucid about the way others look at his social success, Pape Diouf naturally finds the words to sum up his situation: “I am the only black president of a club in Europe. It is a painful observation, like European and, above all, French society, which excludes ethnic minorities. ” "He could not stand the discrimination, in particular that suffered by Africans," recalls Serge Pautot, his lawyer from Marseille, "historical" companion of Pape Diouf.
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Under his presidency, Olympique de Marseille rose in the hierarchy of French clubs: 5th in Ligue 1 in 2005-2006, then 2nd in 2006-2007, 3rd in 2007-2008 and 2nd in 2008-2009, he also had two French Cup finals (2006, 2007). The club found the Champions League, won in 1993 with Didier Deschamps as captain. An emblematic player whom Diouf recruited in 2009 to entrust him with the reins of the team, replacing the Belgian Erik Gerets as coach. A new master stroke, which resulted in, 2010, the double Championship-League Cup ending seventeen years without a trophy on the Canebière.
Immense popularity
“Even if our collaboration was brief, notes Didier Deschamps today in a press release, I do not forget, obviously, that it was he who allowed me to become the Marseille coach in 2009 (…) I I could measure his popularity, immense, with the Marseillais whose he had known how to win the heart. This popularity lived up to his love for this city and this club to which he was very attached and which he embodied so well. ”
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Discarded from the club in spring 2009, Diouf then savored in the shadows these victories, which the world of football recognized without forcing himself. For all of his work, President François Hollande decorated him with the Legion of Honor in 2012. He will never return to the world of football, leaving the memory of a president with a strong character. To the point that today OM supporters mourn a man who will forever hold a special place in their hearts.
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