2023-09-02 18:05:00
Iconic player of the Greens in the 1970s, Salif Keita died on Saturday, September 2, at the age of 76, according to the Malian Ministry of Sports.
JB with AFP Salif Keita was 76 years old. © 7th Art/Chrysalide Film / Photo12 via AFP Published on 09/02/2023 at 6:05 p.m.
The Malian Salif Keita, former glory of African football, died on Saturday September 2 at the age of 76, the Malian Minister for Sports announced to Agence France-Presse. A prolific goalscorer in the 1970s, he was one of the great architects of the domination of Saint-Étienne, the French club whose emblem, the black panther, he inspired. “Salif Keita Domingo has bowed out,” wrote the Malian football federation (Femafoot) on its X account (ex-Twitter). “The black panther has gone, taking with it a piece of our club”, also soberly indicated on X AS Saint-Étienne, where he wrote his legend.
Nicknamed “Domingo” in reference to a name seen on the credits of a cinema poster when he was ten years old, Salif Keita, a slender, feline-looking player with unparalleled technique and a keen sense of goal, was one of the greatest strikers of his generation. In five years with the Greens, he won three French Championships (1968, 1969, 1970) and two French Cups (1968, 1970). His total goals: 143 (in 186 games), including 42 during the 1970-1971 season, which he only finished in second place in the scorers’ rankings behind the Croatian Josip Skoblar (44), who established this year this is a record still in effect. His record in a match was a sextuplet against Sedan (8-0) in 1971.
In 1970, he was the first winner of the African Ballon d’Or, created that year by France Football to complement the Ballon d’Or, reserved at that time for European players. “If he had been born in a great footballing 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 “AS Saint-Étienne-OM” in Colombes in 1971.
Before arriving in France, Keita, born in Bamako on December 12, 1946 in a family of eleven children, had first shone in Africa. At sixteen, he played his first international match with the Eagles of Mali. He led Stade Malien in 1965 and AS Real Bamako in 1966 to the final of the African Cup of Champions, and later the selection of Mali in the final of the CAN in 1972.
A legend of AS Saint-Étienne
Enough to arouse the interest of recruiters from Saint-Étienne 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 illegally 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.
AS Saint-Étienne did not regret the expense since Keita took seven minutes to score in his first official match, against Monaco. His visit to Saint-Étienne ended in an argument with President Roger Rocher. Believing himself financially exploited, he joined Marseille, the great rival, but AS Saint-Étienne disputed the legality of the player’s contract, which received a six-month suspension.
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He then played in Valencia in Spain (1973-1976) then at Sporting Portugal (1976-1979) and ended his career in the United States, in Boston, in 1980. It was in America that he began, in a bank, a retraining that he had prepared for 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 was also president of the Malian federation from 2005 to 2009 and, from 2013, life ambassador of AS Saint-Étienne with which he had reconciled. His story inspired the film The Golden Ball by Cheik Doukouré in 1994 in which he plays the role of the coach who trains a future football star.
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