The Lions of Teranga legend will now oversee the affairs of the Senegalese second tier side
Guediawaye Football Club have confirmed the appointment of former Liverpool star El Hadji Diouf as club’s sporting director.
Five years after calling it time on his illustrious football career, the two-time African Player of the Year winner will commence life as an administrator with the Senegalese second division outfit.
There, the 39-year-old who starred for Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers among several clubs during his active days would be aiming to help the Dakar-based outfit return to the Senegal Premier League at the end of the 2020-21 campaign.
Following the sacking of former president Pape Thialiss Faye, Guediawaye FC – a team that emerged as champions of the 2014 Coupe de la Ligue are embarking on a long-term project to bouncing back to reckoning.
“We have new mechanisms in place to move forward, with a management team, a college for the management of the club. In the college, the novelty is the creation of a position of Sports Director for which we negotiated and obtained the appointment of El Hadj Ousseynou Diouf,” said club’s communication chief Malick Sy per Lesoleil.sn.
Should they achieve their aim of earning a berth in Senegal’s topflight, Sy went further revealing that the club would be eyeing a place in African competition in three years’ time, while their five-year target would be to have a full training center.
Diouf was part of the Senegalese golden generation that helped the West African country finish as runners-up at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali before making their World Cup debut in South Korea and Japan where they stunned reigning world champions France in their opening game.
The outspoken forward was hot property back in 2002, with Gerard Houllier moving early that summer to secure his signature in a £10 million ($13m) deal from Ligue 1 side RC Lens.
He was, however, to flop badly, recording just six goals in his debut campaign and none in his second. Nevertheless, he would go on to enjoy success in England with the likes of Bolton and Blackburn, but he was never the same player and missed out on his big break.
His last active involvement in football was as a player for Malaysian side Sabah FC during the 2014/2015 season and was also once invited by Senegal coach Aliou Cisse to assist in the training of the Senegal senior national team on part time basis.
