One year ago to the day, on March 31, 2020, a monument of the Olympique de Marseille left us, carried away by the Covid-19.
365 days after his death, Pape Diouf is still in the minds of OM lovers or Franco-Senegalese lovers, like his wife Oumy.
The widow of the man with many facets and with a sharp verb is launching this Wednesday the creation of an endowment fund for the foundation that Pape Diouf has always wanted to set up.
“We take advantage of the tribute paid to him on the anniversary of his death to announce it.
Nathalie Paoli, Yann Pecheral, Julien Fournier, Alexandre Faure, Cherif Seye, Thierno Seydi and Étienne Mendy will be the promoters of this endowment fund ”confides Oumy Diouf in the columns of
La Provence
This Pape Diouf foundation aims "to finance citizenship projects, which contribute to equality, which serve young people, and in particular those in the most sensitive neighborhoods, both in France and abroad", specifies the mother. of his last daughter, Maguette, 16 years old.
This Wednesday's
Team
lists all the supporters of this new foundation, and exposes the heterogeneity of its benefactors: François Hollande, Didier Drogba, William Gallas, Soprano, Steve Mandanda or even Akhenaton.
Marcel Desailly, also a long-time friend with Pape Diouf, explained to the sports daily the logical nature of the creation of such a project: “The foundation was obvious: it was necessary to perpetuate the memory and the actions that the Pope was able to do. lead in education, journalism, charity, football ... He had a vision, we are going to work for it, we are going to give energy to the living, we have the exciting that hits! "
A desire since 2014
As Oumy recalls, since 2014, her late husband had the will to create this foundation: “During his lifetime, when he left the campaign for the 2014 municipal election, he created an association foreshadowing a foundation. .
It was important for me to bring his project to life in order to pay tribute to him because the creation of a foundation dedicated to citizenship was close to his heart ”affirms Oumy Diouf in
La Provence
.
The Marseille daily also remembers that Pape Diouf had told her the reasons why the creation of his foundation had stalled since 2014. “I wanted to create with her (Nathalie Paoli, its historical communication director, editor's note) a foundation directed towards civility.
She would have been the cornerstone.
But her daughter died, it shocked me, I didn't feel like asking her anymore.
And I didn't have the heart to do it alone… ”he revealed in the fall of 2019.
As long as it exists, this foundation will be the material heritage of a tribute that the Marseille city will not soon forget.
OM, the club he led between 2005 and 2009, will pay tribute to him throughout this Wednesday.
A minute of applause in his memory will be observed on Sunday at the reception in Dijon (9 p.m.) at the Stade Vélodrome.
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