Chronicle Editor
THE world’s football fraternity is once again in mourning due to the coronavirus following the death of the first-ever African president of a major European club.
On Tuesday evening, Ligue 1 club Marseille confirmed that their former president Mababa Pape Diouf had passed away in Senegal at the age of 68 after contracting the deadly coronavirus disease in his homeland.
Diouf, who was born in Chad and raised in Senegal, started his career in France as a journalist before becoming an agent to the likes of Marcel Desailly, Basile Boli, William Gallas, Samir Nasri, Didier Drogba, and others.
He assumed the role of Marseille president in 2005, which made him the first black president of a first-tier European club, and he held the position until 2009.
Diouf’s death follows the demise of former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz, who succumbed to the coronavirus in Spain earlier this month. — SL International.
Online Reporter