Death of the first African Golden Ball : What do we really know about the crazy Malian dribbler, Salif Keita ?

He passed from life to death this Saturday 2 September. Star scorer, crazy dribbler, real star of AS Saint-Étienne Salif Keïta has joined the celestial abode. All about the Malian who amazed the world of football.

1- Salif Keita comes from a family of eleven children, nine men and two women. The right number to make a football team. He also brought one of his brothers with him to Saint-Étienne, but the latter never succeeded in breaking through.

2- Family forever, the former Greens striker is the cousin of former Lensois Sidi Keita. But also the uncle of Seydou Keita and Mohamed Sissoko. Only aesthetes.

3- Salif Keita has been dragging his nickname Domingo since he was ten years old. While he was walking with his friends in front of a cinema, he comes face to face with a movie poster with Domingo's name on it. It will not take more for his friends to call him that.

4- Sixteen-year-old professional at Real Bamako, he continues the good performances, to the point of knowing a first selection with Mali, then trained by Ben Oumar Sy. Untouchable.

5- While he had never left his native Mali, the sixteen-year-old striker flies to Indonesia and Jakarta to play his first game with the Eagles.

6- He reached the final of the first two African Champions League, then named African Champions Clubs Cup, for two losses. A first time with Stade Malien in 1965, then the following year with AS Real Bamako. Two clubs that have never reached this stage of the competition since.

7- Before flaming in Europe thanks to his talent on the ball, little Salif was miserable, ball in hand, when he was playing handball.

8- It's a certain Charles Dagher, a Lebanese living in Bamako, who is at the origin of the arrival of Keita in Saint-Étienne. This great supporter of the Greens has sent dozens of letters to praise the merits of this striker with exceptional statistics. Convinced, Holy leaders contact him to get him tested.

9- His arrival in France was a long and hard journey. Mali refusing to export his footballing talent to Europe, Keita travels to Liberia to join Paris. In Monrovia, before taking the plane, he gets mugged and steals all his money.

10- Arrived in Saint-Étienne two days before the scheduled date, the Malian striker did not come empty-handed, but with a taxi bill that amounted to 1 060 French, is 1 314 euros in constant currency. The price of the Orly-Saint-Étienne trip. eh yes, Uber didn't exist back then.

11- Taxi always, the singer Monty even transposed this anecdote into a song in the title " A taxi for Geoffroy-Guichard " , from the album Les Supporters released in 1976 to encourage Saint-Étienne before its C1 final. Unfortunately for Keita, this song did not hold up against the real hit of this album, the famous "Allez les Verts ! »

12- Early, Salif Keita scores in his first official match for AS Saint-Étienne against AS Monaco on 19 November 1967, after just seven minutes of play.

13- The Ballon d'Or rewarding only the best European player, France Football launches a variant in 1970, African Ballon d'Or. So on fire with Saint-Étienne, Keita was the first winner. A reward he won only once. #ÀmaisLePremier

14- A film called The Golden Ball is coming out in 1994. The Guinean director, Cheik Doukoure, wanted to retrace the career of the Malian striker, who even allows himself the luxury of playing the role of the coach of the future footballer in the film.

15- As comfortable on the school benches as on the football pitch, he continued his studies when he arrived in Saint-Étienne where he obtained a Capacity in Law, before obtaining a Bachelor's degree at Suffolk University in Boston during his stay in the United States. Nerd

16- Its golden age will remain the season 1970-1971 in which he scored forty-two league goals. Unfortunately for him, Josip Skoblar hit even harder at the same time. Olympique de Marseille striker scoring 44 times in the league, record still to be broken. The Malian striker will console himself with the European silver shoe.

17- The 31 mars 1971 in Colombes, Keita faces King Pelé on the pitch during a friendly match between Santos and " an ASSE-OM agreement " . Results, the Malian steals the show from the triple world champion by performing a huge game.

18- So fighting for the title, ASSE receives, the 4 June 1971, Red Lantern, Sedan, on behalf of the 35th day of the French championship. The supporters of the Greens then attend a recital by Salif Keita who scores a sextuplet during this crushing victory 8-0.

19- At odds with the leaders of Saint-Etienne, the Black Panther leaves Forez for Marseille. For his first game, fate reserves him the right to face AS Saint-Étienne. Results, a double and an arm of honor to the president of the Greens, Roger Rocher. Resentful.

20- Refusing to adopt French nationality, Salif Keita leaves Marseille for Spain and Valencia. During his first season with the Chés, the Malian striker rubs shoulders with Alfredo Di Stéfano, then coach of Valencia.

21- In Valencia, Keita will also play a season with Johnny Rep, who will do, his, the reverse trajectory going to Spain, before later joining Saint-Étienne.

22- When he arrived in Valencia, a Spanish newspaper caused controversy by headlining : “Valencia goes to buy a German and comes back with a black. » A certain way of welcoming.

23- By signing for Sporting Portugal in 1976, he becomes the first Malian player to sign with the Leões. Boubakar Kouyate (nineteen years old), who joined Sporting this summer, could be the second, but he must be satisfied for the moment with meetings with the reserve.

24- In 1979, Salif Keita crosses the Atlantic for a final season in NASL with New England Tea Men, before retiring at thirty-four.

25- The former Greens striker will stay in the United States for four years to work in an American bank, before returning to Mali with his wife and two children.

26- In 1994, Salif Keita creates the first vocational training center in Mali. This Salif-Keita Center, who notably trained Seydou Keita, Mahamadou Diarra or Cheick Diabaté, quickly joined the first division of the Malian championship, even finishing second in 1998.

27- Like Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás ou encore Eusébio avant lui, Salif Keita gets in 1996 FIFA's highest award, the Order of Merit. He's staying, still today, the only African player to have received such a distinction.

28- In 2005, he becomes president of the Malian Football Federation, a first for a former football player in sub-Saharan Africa. He will leave his post four years later, in 2009.

29- Reconciled with ASSE, the former star of the Greens is named the 26 June 2013 life ambassador of the Saint-Etienne club. A club that was inspired by its nickname of the Black Panther to create its mascot.