Salif Keïta (Malian footballer)

For the Malian musician, see Salif Keita. For the Senegalese footballer, see Salif Keita (Senegalese footballer).

Salif Keïta

Keita with Saint-Étienne in 1968
Personal information
Full name	Salif Keita Traoré
Date of birth	(1946-12-06)6 December 1946
Place of birth	Bamako, French Sudan
Date of death	2 September 2023(2023-09-02) (aged 76)
Place of death	Bamako, Mali
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1960–1963	Stade Malien
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1963–1965	Real Bamako	21	(8)
1965–1966	Stade Malien	24	(12)
1966–1967	Real Bamako	26	(15)
1967–1972	Saint-Étienne	149	(125)
1972–1973	Marseille	18	(10)
1973–1976	Valencia	74	(23)
1976–1979	Sporting CP	63	(32)
1979–1980	New England Tea Men	39	(17)
Total		414	(242)
International career
1963–1972	Mali	28	(13)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Salif Keïta Traorè
Delagated minister of the Prime Minister of Mali
In office 2007–2007
Personal details
Born	6 December, 1946 Bamako, French Sudan
Died	2 September 2023, (aged 76) Bamako,Mali
Occupation	Footballer, politician

Salif Keïta Traoré (6 December 1946 ^[1] – 2 September 2023), known as Keita, was a Malian footballer who played as a striker. He was also the first person to receive the African Footballer of the Year award in 1970. He was nicknamed the 'Black Panther'. ^[2] Which inspired the club ^[3]

Early life

Like others in Bamako he would grow up poor. So he decided that he would play football in order to escape poverty. During his youth his incredible talents led him to join Stade Malien and AS Real Bamako. ^[4]

Club career

Salif Keïta Traoré was born in Bamako, playing in his country for AS Real Bamako and Stade Malien. With the former, which he represented in two different spells, he was always crowned Première Division champion. At the first CAF Champions League in 1965 Stade Malien would lose 2-1 against the Oryx of Douala of Maréchal Mbappe Leppe and the year after that he would lose another final against Stade d'Abidjan. ^[5]

In 1967, 20-year-old Keita left for France to join AS Saint-Étienne, where he won three consecutive Ligue 1 titles, including the double in 1968 and 1970. In his last two seasons with Les Verts combined, he scored an astonishing 71 league goals – 42 alone in the 1970–71 campaign – but the team failed to win any silverware; in 1970, he was voted African Footballer of the Year. ^[6] He would also act in a film later on in his life about it. ^[7]

Keita joined fellow league side Olympique de Marseille in the 1972 summer. After the club tried to force him to assume French nationality he opposed, leaving in the ensuing off-season for Valencia CF in Spain.

Spanish newspapers were accused of racism when one headline read El Valencia va a por alemanes y vuelve con un negro ("Valencia goes out to buy Germans and comes back with a black man"), but he was always loved during his spell at the club, netting in his debut with the Che, a 2–1 La Liga home win against Real Oviedo, ^[8] and being eventually nicknamed La perla negra de Malí (The black pearl of Mali); he complained, however, that he was constantly played out of position. ^[9]

In 1976, after three years with Valencia, Keita signed for Sporting Clube de Portugal, where he replaced another legendary goalscorer, Héctor Yazalde. In two of his three seasons with the Lisbon side he scored in double digits, winning one domestic cup. He retired at the age of 34, after a couple of years with the New England Tea Men in the United States.

International career

In 1963, at the age of only 16, Keita was selected to play for Mali. He was part of the squad that appeared at the 1972 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, helping the national team finish second.

In June 2005, Keita was elected president of the Malian Football Federation for a period of four years. ^[10] Late into the following year, he was selected by the Confederation of African Football as one of the best 200 African football players of the last 50 years. ^[11]

Personal life

Keita's nephew, Seydou Keita, was also a footballer. He also played some years in France, and later represented, with great team and individual success, FC Barcelona. ^[12] Mohamed Sissoko, who played namely for Valencia, Liverpool and Juventus FC, was also his nephew; both played similar roles as central midfielders; another nephew, Sidi Yaya Keita, was also a footballer and a midfielder, who played most of his career in France with RC Lens. ^[13]

Salif Keïta 86

After his retirement he would return back to Mali and invest in businesses and would create his own training center creating talents like Mahamadou Diarra and Seydou Keita who was his nephew. He would also be the president of the Malian Football Federation. He also became ambassador for AS Saint-Étienne for life. ^[14]

Guinean film director Cheik Doukouré used the life of Keita as a starting point for his 1994 work Le Ballon d'or. ^[15] In 1994, he created the first training center for professional football players in Mali, which bore his name.

From 2007, Keita acted as delegated minister of the Prime Minister of Mali. ^[16]

Salif Keïta died on 2 September 2023, at the age of 76. ^[17]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^{[18] [19] [20] [21]}

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Real Bamako	1963–64
	1964–65		21	8	0	0	1+	3	22+	11
	Total		21	8	0	0	1+	3	22+	11
Stade Malien	1965–66	Malian Première Division	24	12	0	0	5+	14	29+	26
Real Bamako	1966–67	Malian Première Division	26	15					26	15
Saint-Étienne	1967–68	Division 1	18	12					18	12
	1968–69	Division 1	33	21			2 [lower-alpha 1]	1	35	22
	1969–70	Division 1	31	21			4 [lower-alpha 1]	1	35	22
	1970–71	Division 1	38	42			2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	40	42
	1971–72	Division 1	29	29			2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	32	29
	Total		149	125			10	2	159	127
Marseille	1972–73	Division 1	18	10			0	0	18	10
Valencia	1973–74	La Liga	30	7			—		30	7
	1974–75	La Liga	22	11			—		22	11
	1975–76	La Liga	22	5			—		22	5
	Total		74	23			—		74	23
Sporting CP	1976–77	Primeira Divisão	24	15			—		24	15
	1977–78	Primeira Divisão	21	7			2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	23	7
	1978–79	Primeira Divisão	18	10			2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	20	10
	Total		63	32			4	0	67	32
New England Tea Men	1979	NASL	21	6			—		21	6
	1980	NASL	18	11			—		18	11
	Total		39	17			—		39	17
Career total			414	242			20+	19	434	261

1. Appearances in European Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Cup
3. Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup

Honours

Real Bamako

• Malian Cup: 1963–64, 1965–66, 1966–67
• African Cup of Champions Clubs: runner-up 1966

Stade Malien

• African Cup of Champions Clubs: runner-up 1965

Saint-Étienne

• Ligue 1: 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70; runner-up 1970–71
• Coupe de France: 1967–68, 1969–70
• Trophée des Champions: 1967, 1968, 1969

Sporting CP

• Primeira Liga: Runner-up 1976–77
• Taça de Portugal: 1977–78; runner-up 1978–79

Mali

• African Games: runner-up 1965
• Africa Cup of Nations: runner-up 1972

Individual

• African Cup of Champions Clubs: Best goalscorer 1965, 1966
• African Footballer of the Year: 1970

Decorations

• FIFA Order of Merit: 1996

References

1. "Africa". Africana Publishing Corporation. 2 September 1968. Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023– via Google Books.
2. "How Mali's 'Black Panther' became a football icon". BBC Sport. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
3. Malian football legend Salif Keita, Saint-Etienne’s ‘Black Panther’, dies at 76 • FRANCE 24 , retrieved 17 December 2023
4. "Salif Keita – The Ball 2010" . Retrieved 17 December 2023.
5. "12 décembre 1946 : Naissance de Salif Keita". www.poteaux-carres.com (in French). Retrieved 17 December 2023.
6. "Kanoute wins top African accolade". BBC Sport. 1 February 2008. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
7. "Salif Keita, Malian footballer who played for Marseille and Saint-Etienne, dies at 76". Le Monde.fr. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
8. "2–1: Dos geniales goles de Keita dieron el triunfo al Valencia" [2–1: Two wonder goals by Keita gave Valencia win]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 2 September 1973. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
9. "'La perla negra de Mali' no cuajó en el Valencia" ['The black pearl from Mali' did not make it in Valencia]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 25 September 2006. Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
10. Raphael Ebanga-Mballa La Part Du Lion: L'Encyclopedie de L'Histoire Du Football Du Cameroun – 2009 – Page 177 "Salif Keïta a été élu en juin 2005, président de la Fédération malienne de football (FEMAFOOT) pour un mandat de 4 ans."
11. Οι 200 κορυφαίοι Αφρικανοί [The 200 Top Africans] (in Greek). Sport 24. 25 October 2006. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
12. "Seydou Keita se ha forjado un nombre" [Seydou Keita has made a name for himself] (in Spanish). FIFA. 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
13. "Keita, un apellido de largo recorrido" [Keita, a long-distance surname]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 25 May 2008. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
14. Philémon (3 September 2023). "Football - Mali: A look back at the career of Salif Keita - At a glance". Sport News Africa. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
15. Le Ballon d'or Archived 16 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine ; at Internet Movie Database
16. Politique africaine N-104. Partis politiques d'Afrique – Retours 2007 – Page 74 "... du leader étudiant et journaliste Tiébélé Dramé (ministre des Affaires étrangères) ou encore du footballeur Salif Keïta (ministre délégué auprès du Premier ministre). C'est en grande partie la forme consensuelle privilégiée au cours de cette ..."
17. Pham, Jonathan (2 September 2023). "Salif Keita, Légende De Saint-etienne, Est Mort À 76 Ans". RMC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
18. "Salif Keïta » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
19. Salif Keïta at National-Football-Teams.com
20. "African Club Competitions 1964/65". www.rsssf.org. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
21. "African Club Competitions 1966". www.rsssf.org. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.

External links

• OM profile (in French)
• Salif Keïta at BDFutbol
• Salif Keïta at ForaDeJogo (archived)
• NASL stats
• Salif Keïta at National-Football-Teams.com