Salif Keita (footballer)

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For the Malian musician, see Salif Keita.

Salif Keita (born December 12, 1946 in Bamako) is a former Malian football player.

In 1963, at the age of 16, Keita was selected to play on the national team, the Eagles of Mali, in the African Nations Cup. He played for AS Real Bamako where he was three times named champion of Mali.

In 1967, Keita left for France to join AS Saint-Étienne, where he gained three titles of champion of France. Considering himself exploited, however, he left Saint-Etienne for Olympique de Marseille. After they tried to force him to assume French nationality, however, he left for Valencia CF and then finished his career in the United States.

When he arrived at Valencia in 1973, the 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 come back with a black man), but at Valencia he was always loved and became a firm favourite with the fans, scoring both goals in his debut against Real Oviedo. He was soon nicknamed La perla negra de Malí (The Black Pearl of Mali). However, he complained that he was constantly played out of position. ^[1]

Later, in 1976, he joined Portuguese club Sporting, where he played 77 matches and scored 35 goals until 1979.

Salif's nephew, Seydou Keita, later followed in his uncle's footsteps, and played in Spain for FC Sevilla thirty-five years later.^[2] Another famous footballing nephew of Salif Keita's is Mohamed Sissoko. Both nephews play similar roles as hard-tackling defensive midfielders.

In 1970, Keita won the Ballon d'or Africain. In 1994, he created the first training center for professional football players in Mali, which bears his name.

The Guinean director Cheik Doukouré took the life of Salif Keita as a starting point for his 1998 film Le Ballon d'or.

In June 2005, Salif Keita was elected president of the Malian Federation of football (FEMAFOOT) for a term of four years. His cousin Sidi Yaya Keita has also been capped for Mali.