Malian Salif Keita, former glory of African football who played for AS Saint-Etienne (ASSE) and Marseille in the 1970s, died on Saturday, September 2, at the age of 76, announced to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) the Malian sports minister.

Salif Keita died in Bamako, said Abdoul Kassim Ibrahim Fomba. “”The Black Panther” has gone, taking with it a piece of our club”, wrote on his account X (ex-Twitter) ASSE, whose emblem Keita had inspired.

The former player died in a private hospital in Bamako, a Malian football official, Salaha Baby, told AFP, without specifying the causes of his death. His funeral is scheduled for September 6 in the afternoon, said a statement signed by Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, the spokesman for Mali’s military-led government.

The former attacker had been minister delegate to the prime minister in charge of private initiative in the Malian transitional government (1991-1992). He had also led the Malian Football Federation (Femafoot) in the 2000s. “Salif Keita “Domingo” bowed out. The world of sport in Mali and particularly that of football wishes to send its condolences to the family of Salif Keïta but also to the Malian nation, “wrote the organization on X.

Nicknamed “Domingo” by his friends in reference to a name seen on the credits of a movie poster when he was 10 years old, Salif Keita, a slender, feline-looking player with an unparalleled technique and with a keen eye for goal, was one of the greatest strikers of his generation.

Three times champion of France with the Greens

In 1970, he was the first winner of the African Ballon d’Or, created that year by France-Football to complete the Ballon d’Or, reserved at that time for European players.

Before arriving in France, Salik Keita, born in Bamako on December 12, 1946 in a family of eleven children, had first shone in Africa. At 16, he played his first international match with the Eagles of Mali, which he took, later in 1972, to the final of the African Cup of Nations. He also led Stade Malien in 1965 and AS Real Bamako in 1966 to the final of the African Champions Cup.

Enough to arouse the interest of recruiters from Saint-Etienne who invited him to come and try out in France in 1967. But his trip was incredible. The Malian authorities opposing his departure, he had to go clandestinely through Liberia, where he was robbed before taking the plane to Monrovia. The leaders of Saint-Etienne were waiting for him at Le Bourget where the aircraft was initially supposed to land, but he actually arrived at Orly and joined the Loire… by taxi, for the astronomical sum at the time of 1,060 francs. ASSE did not regret the expense since Keita took seven minutes to score in his first official match, against Monaco.

With the Greens, he was champion of France three times (1968, 1969, 1970) and twice winner of the Coupe de France (1968, 1970). His visit to Saint-Etienne ended in a fight with President Roger Rocher. Believing himself financially exploited, Keita joined Marseille, the great rival, but ASSE challenged the legality of the player’s contract, which received a six-month suspension.

“In a great footballing country, he would have been Pele’s equal”

He then played in Valencia (Spain), then at Sporting Portugal, before ending his career in the United States, in Boston. It was in America that he began, in a bank, a retraining that he had prepared during his playing career by obtaining a law degree in France and then another at Boston University.

He then returned to Mali where he invested in the hotel industry before founding the first football training center in his country, from which emerged talents such as Mahamadou Diarra (Lyon, Real Madrid) and his nephew Seydou Keita (Lens, Barcelona ). He also starred in the film Le Ballon d’Or, freely inspired by his story.

“If he had been born in a great football country, he would have been Pelé’s equal”, said Albert Batteux, his coach from Saint-Etienne. He also had the opportunity to face “the king” in a friendly match between Santos and a friendly “ASSE-OM” in Colombes in 1971.

He was appointed, from 2013, life ambassador of AS Saint-Etienne with which he had reconciled. He died the day AS Saint-Etienne was to pay tribute to another club legend, George Bereta, who died at the start of the summer, during the Ligue 2 match ASSE-Valenciennes.