Mababa “Pape” Diouf ‑ a Senegalese journalist and football agent, who was the president of French football club Olympique de Marseille between 2005 and 2009 – died of Covid-19 on 31 March 2020.
He was the first Black President of a top flight football club in any of Europe’s top six leagues
Diouf was born in Abéché, Chad, to Senegalese parents. The family returned to their native country shortly after Diouf’s birth. Diouf had Chadian, French and Senegalese citizenships. Diouf moved to Marseille at the age of eighteen. He later studied at Sciences Po.
Diouf started out as a journalist, working for La Marseillaise newspaper. Diouf centred his work around sport, and particularly the local football club, Olympique de Marseille. Eventually he turned his hand to being a sports agent, with clients such as former French international defender Basile Boli, and Cameroonian goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell playing for Marseille. He became closely linked with the Côte d’Azur side. As an agent, his clients included Marcel Desailly, Basile Boli, William Gallas, Samir Nasri, and Didier Drogba during Drogba’s time at Marseille from 2003 to 2004.
In 2004, Diouf became Marseille’s general manager. In 2005, owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus made Diouf Marseille club president. In doing so, he became the first black president of a top-tier European football club. Whilst Diouf was president, Marseille finished second in Ligue 1 twice, and twice finished as runners up in the Coupe de France. In 2009, Diouf appointed Didier Deschamps as Marseille manager. Under Deschamps, Marseille won the 2009–10 Ligue 1, the first time in 18 years that they had won the league. Diouf left the role later in 2009, and was replaced by Jean-Claude Dassier. From September 2007 to June 2009, he also worked for the Ligue de Football Professionnel as an administrator. In 2009, he attended the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, to talk about racism in football and the standard of football in France.
Diouf died on 31 March 2020 after succumbing to the global pandemic of COVID-19 in Senegal. Diouf had been due to fly to Nice, France for coronavirus treatment, but was deemed too ill to travel. He was the first fatality from coronavirus in the country.