Former Marseille president Pape Diouf succumbed to Covid-19 at the age of 68, a family source told AFP 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 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 at 18, he was set on a career in the military, but soon switched paths.
After working at the La Marseillaise newspaper, he became 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.”
“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.”
Anthony Baffoe has described Pape Diouf as a “pioneer in so many things concerning football”. “He was the pioneer in so many things concerning football affairs and player management coming from Africa-rest well Pape Diouf,” he tweeted.
Cameroon and Barcelona football icon Samuel Eto’o also joined a plethora of former footballer to express their pain after his death. “You take the best of this beautiful continent. Have a good rest boss,” Eto’o posted with a video on Instagram.