2023-09-02 15:11:50
Footballer Salif Keita, who played in Saint-Étienne and Marseille in the 1970s, died on Saturday in Bamako, the Malian Minister for Sports announced. First winner of the African Ballon d’Or in 1970, the one who began his career in Mali was champion of France three times with the Greens.
Published on: 02/09/2023 – 17:11Modified on: 02/09/2023 – 18:14
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A former glory of African football is gone. THE Malian Salif Keitawho played in Saint-Étienne and Marseille in the 1970s, died on Saturday September 2 at the age of 76, announced the Malian Minister for Sports, Absou Kassim Ibrahim Fomba.
He died in a private hospital in Bamako, said a Malian football official, Salaha Baby, without specifying the causes of his death.
“The Black Panther is gone, taking with it a piece of our club”, also soberly indicated on its account X (ex-Twitter) the ASSE whose emblem Keita had inspired.
The Malian Football Federation (Femafoot) also paid tribute to him. “Salif KEITA Domingo has bowed out. The world of sport in #Mali and particularly that of football wishes to send its condolences to the family of Salif Keïta but also to the Malian nation”, she wrote on her account X (formerly Twitter).
First winner of the African Ballon d’Or
Nicknamed “Domingo” in reference to a name seen on the credits of a cinema poster when he was ten years old, Salif Keita, a slender, feline-looking player with unparalleled technique and a keen sense of goal, was one of the greatest strikers of his generation.
In five years with the Greens, he won three French Championships (1968, 1969, 1970) and two French Cups (1968, 1970). His total goals: 143 (in 186 matches), including 42 during the 1970-1971 season, which he only finished in second place in the scorers’ rankings behind the Croatian Josip Skoblar (44), who established this year this is a record still in effect. His record in a game was a sextuplet once morest Sedan (8-0) in 1971.
In 1970, he was the first winner of the African Ballon d’Or, created that year by France Football to complement the Ballon d’Or, reserved at that time for European players.
“If he had been born in a great footballing country, he would have been Pelé’s equal,” said Albert Batteux, his Saint-Etienne coach. He also had the opportunity to face “the king” in a friendly match between Santos and a friendly “ASSE-OM” in Colombes in 1971.
Before arriving in France, Keita, born in Bamako on December 12, 1946 in a family of eleven children, had first shone in Africa. At 16, he played his first international match with the Eagles of Mali. He led Stade Malien in 1965 and AS Real Bamako in 1966 to the final of the African Cup of Champions, and later the selection of Mali in the final of the CAN in 1972.
From Orly to Saint-Étienne by taxi
Enough to arouse the interest of recruiters from Saint-Étienne who invited him to come and try out in France in 1967. But his trip was incredible. The Malian authorities opposing his departure, he had to go clandestinely through Liberia, where he was robbed before taking the plane to Monrovia. The leaders of Saint-Etienne were waiting for him at Le Bourget where the aircraft was initially to land, but he actually arrived at Orly and joined the Loire by taxi, for the astronomical sum at the time of 1,060 francs.
ASSE did not regret the expense since Keita took seven minutes to score in his first official match, once morest Monaco. His visit to Saint-Étienne ended in an argument with President Roger Rocher. Considering himself financially exploited, he joined Marseille, the great rival, but ASSE challenged the legality of the player’s contract, which received a six-month suspension.
He then played in Valencia in Spain (1973-1976) then at Sporting Portugal (1976-1979) and ended his career in the United States, in Boston, in 1980. It was in America that he began, in a bank, a retraining that he had prepared for during his playing career by obtaining a law degree in France and then another at Boston University.
He then returned to Mali where he invested in the hotel industry before founding the first football training center in his country, from which emerged talents such as Mahamadou Diarra (Lyon, Real Madrid) and his nephew Seydou Keita (Lens, Barcelona ). He was also president of the Malian federation from 2005 to 2009 and, from 2013, life ambassador of AS Saint-Etienne with which he had reconciled.
His story inspired the film “Le Ballon d’or” by Cheik Doukouré in 1994 in which he plays the role of the coach who trains a future football star.
With AFP
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