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Dream Team

Salif Keïta


Keïta had never played for a club before when he was called up to the Mali national team. And he was the first player to be voted "Best African Footballer".

That was in 1970, when he had already been playing in France for three years. By 1972 he had won the league three times, the cup twice and scored an amazing 120 goals in 149 games for St Etienne. It was a storybook career. When he arrived in France in 1968 the club forgot to pick him up. With the address on a scrunched up piece of paper he took a taxi to the Geoffroy Guichard Stadium, over 500 km away. Initially angered by the huge bill for the taxi, the club soon forgave the idol of the fans. They even adopted a black panther in their emblem, a reference to his nickname.

After a year at Olympique Marseille he had to move on because he refused to comply with the club's wish that he take French nationality to make room for a further foreigner. He played for Valencia between 1973 and 1976 and had three further seasons for Sporting Lisbon. After completing a degree in law he returned to Mali in 1986 and became involved in youth football. In 2005 Keïta was elected president of the Mali Football Association.