“Sporting Clube de Portugal expresses its regret over the death of Salif Keita, a former Malian striker who joined the club in 1976 and played for three seasons. Thank you for the years of dedication and dedication to the club,” reads a note issued by the club. Alvalade club on social networks.
The former striker and first footballer to receive the African Ballon d’Or in 1970 has died today at the age of 76, the government of Mali announced.
Salif Keita arrived at Sporting in 1976 aged 30 after spells at Saint-Étienne, Marseille and Valencia, and he shone for the verts over five seasons, playing 167 games and scoring 135 goals, assuming he was a key player. in winning three French championships and two cups.
In 1967, he scored 42 goals to win the Silver Boot, awarded to the second best scorer on the European continent, and three years later was named African Footballer of the Year by France Football magazine.
Following his success at Saint-Étienne, he moved to Marseille where he formed a duo that ‘cried’ with Yugoslavian Skoblar, but would eventually clash with the club’s leaders from the south of France who were trying to have his naturalization rejected. force. , which led him to Valencia, Spain, where he became one of the idols of the ‘che’ bank. In Spain, however, he faced racism from sports newspapers.
Three seasons later, he was invited by João Rocha, then Sporting president, who went looking for him in an attempt to make him forget about the Argentine goalscorer Yazalde, who scored a season at Alvalade and who had moved to Marseille.
At Sporting, the ‘black pearl of Mali’, as he became known, played 77 games between 1976 and 1979 and scored 32 goals, forming a formidable offensive front, in the first phase with Manuel Fernandes and the Brazilian Manoel, and later with Rui Jordão, now hired by President João Rocha, wins the Portuguese Cup for ‘green and white’.
In 1979, already 34 years old, he moved to the North Americans of the New England Tea Men, in Boston, where he would end his career.
He was runner-up in the 1972 African Cup of Nations, chaired the Malian Football Association, was involved in his country’s government and was named one of the best Africans of the past half-century by the African Football Association.
The football talent has also left its mark on his cousins: Seydou Keita was part of the FC Barcelona team that won it all with Pep Guardiola, Mohamed Sissoko played for Valencia, Liverpool or Juventus, and Sidi Yaya Keita at Lens.
Source: DN
