Ghanain Legend Abedi Pele Ayew has paid tribute to former Olympic Marseille President Pape Diouf who passed away last Tuesday from the pandemic coronavirus disease in Dakar, Senegal.
Pele said that Diouf was a man of greatness and helped shape
his career at Marseille when he won the UEFA Champions League against AC Milan
in 1993.
“There is no amount of words to describe Pape Diouf. At
this particular moment, all I can say is that Pape was a father, a senior
brother, and then a manager,” said ayew
“He managed my children Jordan and Andre. He took them to
Marseille at the age of 14.
“Everybody is saying that I’ve got wonderful children – they
are well-respected and disciplined in the society – but it was not me who did
that; it was Pape.
“When he took them to Marseille and they were at the
academy, the first thing he would ask them was, ‘where are your school reports?
I want to see them before you even greet me,” he added
The three-time African Footballer of the year described
Diouf ‘s death as a sad and difficult moment
for him.
“This is somebody who was more than everything to us – and
to me especially, because he saw me growing up and achieving great things in
Marseille and beyond.
“So, it is a very difficult moment for us and it’s sad.
“In the nineties, when I got to Marseille, Pape was a
journalist, writing for one of the biggest newspapers in Marseille. He was
somebody who was respected all across French sport. And he was always very
close to the team Marseille.
“He was someone who saw a career for me in football and
managed me to success.
“After the Champions League finale in ’93, when he was my
agent, he said to me, ‘you are the black Maradona.’ Because I was voted the Man
of the Match in that particular game.
“And he said, ‘Africa will always be proud of you. You are
the black Maradona.’
Ayew emphasizes that Pape was bigger than any words, intelligent, kind, was
loved and loved people.
“He was a great personality. And unique. You could not have
two of him.
“He went above race, colour, religion, whatever you can
name. He was respected across the board. He was a big, big, big personality.”
