Senegalese President, Macky Sall has announced that ex-Senegalese football international, Papa Bouba Diop, who died last Sunday in Arras, northern France, will posthumously be elevated to the rank of Knight in the National Order of Merit.
Diop will receive a posthumous national award on Friday, after his body arrived in Dakar, before his burial on Saturday in Rufisque, his hometown.
Papa Bouba Diop made history in Senegalese football after scoring the goal that won Senegal the opening match of the 2002 World Cup in Seoul, South Korea, on May 31, 2002, against France.
He had also been the top scorer for the ‘Lions’ in what was their first participation in the World Cup with 3 goals and when they made it to the quarter-finals.
Trained at Jaraaf in Dakar, Diop went on to make a great professional career in Switzerland (Neufchâtel and Grasshoppers), France (RC Lens), Turkey (AEK Athens) and England (Portsmouth, West Ham, Birmingham).
Having been bedridden for several years by Charcot’s disease, Papa Bouba Diop finally succumb on Sunday, at the age of 42.
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