Aliou Cissé

Aliou Cissé (born 24 March 1976) is a Senegalese football coach and former player. Having begun his career in France, he later played for English clubs Birmingham City and Portsmouth. Cissé was a defensive midfielder who also, on occasion, played at centre back.

Aliou Cissé

Cissé as Senegal manager at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth	(1976-03-24) 24 March 1976[1]
Place of birth	Ziguinchor, Senegal
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Playing position(s)	Midfielder, defender
Club information
Current team	Senegal (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1997	Lille	6	(0)
1997–1998	Sedan	0	(0)
1998–2002	Paris Saint-Germain	43	(1)
2001–2002	→ Montpellier (loan)	17	(1)
2002–2004	Birmingham City	36	(0)
2004–2006	Portsmouth	23	(0)
2006–2008	Sedan	21	(1)
2008–2009	Nîmes	7	(0)
Total		153	(3)
National team
1999–2005	Senegal	35	(0)
Teams managed
2013–2015	Senegal U23
2015–	Senegal
Honours Representing  Senegal Men's football Africa Cup of Nations Runner-up 2002 Mali Runner-up 2019 Egypt
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Cissé has been the head coach of the Senegal national team since 2015, having briefly taken charge of them following Amara Traoré's sacking, in a caretaker role in 2012. He was also the assistant coach of the under-23 side from 2012 to 2013, becoming head coach from 2013 to 2015. Senegal's Football Federation (FSF) has officially extended coach Aliou Cissé and his staff until August 2021.[2]

Club career

Born in Ziguinchor, Senegal, Cissé moved to Paris at the age of nine where he grew up with dreams of playing for Paris Saint-Germain.[3] He began his career with Lille OSC before moving onto CS Sedan Ardennes and then Paris Saint-Germain. He also spent the majority of the 2001–02 season on loan at Montpellier Herault SC.[4]

After captaining the Senegal national team to the quarter finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Cissé transferred to English club Birmingham City for their 2002–03 season, their debut season in the Premier League.[5][6] Cissé made his first appearance for the club at Arsenal on the opening day of the season, but was sent off. Though the sending-off was rescinded,[7] he went on to receive five yellow cards in six games, ultimately accumulating ten yellow cards before the New Year. His season, however, was cut short after picking up an injury in February that ruled him out for the rest of the season.[8]

Cissé returned late to pre-season training in July 2003, which lead manager Steve Bruce to place him on the transfer list. Cissé eventually got himself back into the first team picture, but his relationship with Bruce continued to sour. After Christmas, Cissé only played three more games that season. At the end of the season he signed for Portsmouth for £300,000 on a two-year contract, despite a strong transfer link to Premiership rivals Bolton Wanderers. The transfer was ultimately one of several included in the Stevens report released in June 2007, which expressed concerns of corruption within English football. Regarding Cissé, the report stated, "Agent Willie McKay acted for Portsmouth in the transfer of Cissé and [...] the inquiry is not prepared to clear these transfers at this stage."[9]

After two years at Portsmouth, Cissé returned to CS Sedan in November 2006 after undergoing a two-week trial.[10] He then signed for French Ligue 2 side Nîmes Olympique from CS Sedan in September 2008.[11] Cissé played seven games during the 2008–09 season before retiring from club football at the age of 33.

International career

Cissé captained the Senegal team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After a stunning 0–1 victory over reigning world champions France on matchday one,[12] the team made it all the way to the quarter finals where they lost 1–0 to Turkey.[13] Cissé was also part of the Senegal team who were the runners-up in the 2002 African Cup of Nations, but was one of the players who missed a penalty during the shootout in the final as they lost to Cameroon.[14]

Honors

Player

National

Senegal

• Africa Cup of Nations runner-up:2002[15]

Manager

• Africa Cup of Nations runner-up:2019

Managerial career

In early March 2015, Cissé was officially appointed as the head coach for the Senegal national team.[16] The team qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 10 November 2017, with a 0–2 away win against South Africa.[17] Ultimately, Senegal were knocked out in the group stage of the tournament after becoming the first team in FIFA World Cup history to be eliminated due to fair play tiebreaker rules.[18] "This is one of the rules. We have to respect it," said Cissé. "Of course, we would prefer to be eliminated another way. It's a sad day for us but we knew these were the regulations."[19]

Aliou Cissé coached Senegal at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, helping Senegal to its first ever final since the 2002, a tournament which Cissé himself also participated when he was the team's captain.[20] However, his Senegal was defeated 1–0 in the final by Algeria, after losing by the same score in the group stage, and missed out on its first ever African trophy[21][22]

Personal life

Cissé lost several members of his family in the MV Le Joola ferry disaster that occurred off the coast of The Gambia on 26 September 2002.[23] To honor the lives lost, Cissé participated in a charity match between Senegal and Nigeria that raised money for the families of the more than 1,000 reported victims.[24] Birmingham City, one of his former clubs, collected money for the victims' families and honored Cissé by displaying a giant Senegal flag during a game against Manchester City F.C..[25]

Career statistics

Club

Source:[26]

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Lille	1994–95	Division 1	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	1995–96		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1996–97		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Sedan Ardennes	1997–98	Championnat National	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Paris Saint-Germain	1998–99	Division 1	8	0	3	0	5	1	0	0	16	1
	1999–2000		25	1	2	0	1	0	4	0	32	1
	2000–01		10	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	12	0
	Total		43	1	6	0	7	1	4	0	60	2
Montpellier (loan)	2001–02	Division 1	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	1
Birmingham City	2002–03	Premier League	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	0
	2003–04		15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	0
	Total		36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	36	0
Portsmouth	2004–05	Premier League	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0
	2005–06		3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	Total		23	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	24	0
Sedan Ardennes	2006–07	Ligue 1	11	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
	2007–08	Ligue 2	10	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	12	0
	Total		21	1	4	0	1	0	0	0	26	1
Nîmes Olympique	2008–09	Ligue 2	7	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8	0
Career total			153	3	12	0	9	1	4	0	179	4

Managerial

As of matches played 17 November 2019

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref.
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Senegal	5 March 2015	Present	55	34	14	7	061.8	[27]
Total			55	34	14	7	061.8	—

References

1. "Aliou Cisse". Ligue1.com. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
2. "Senegal coach Aliou Cisse extends contract until 2021". africa news. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
3. "Cissé Aliou". Paris.canal-historique (in French). 13 February 2013. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
4. "Aliou Cisse Histoire". mhscfoot.com (in French). Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
5. "Aliou Cisse signs for Birmingham". Zee News. Zee Media Corporation Limited. 10 July 2002. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
6. Ireland, Shane (20 June 2018). "Aliou Cissue: The former Birmingham City midfielder now managing Senegal at World Cup 2018". Birmingham Mail. Reach plc. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
7. "Cisse red card rescinded". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 August 2002. Archived from the original on 23 August 2002. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
8. Ireland, Shane (5 February 2018). "Aliou Cisse - here's what happened to a Birmingham City favourite". MSN. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
9. "What Stevens said about each club". London: www.telegraph.co.uk. 16 June 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
10. "Actualité des anciens parisiens". PSG70 (in French). Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
11. "Transfert - Aliou Cissé à Nîmes". Amicale Sportive Des Footballeurs Congolais (in French). AfrikBlog. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
12. Glendenning, Barry (31 May 2002). "World Cup 2002: France 0 - 1 Senegal". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
13. Glendenning, Barry (22 June 2002). "World Cup 2002: Turkey 1 - 0 Senegal". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
14. "Cameroon retain Cup". BBC. 10 February 2002. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
15. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/feb/11/newsstory.sport3
16. Okeleji, Oluwashina (5 March 2015). "Aliou Cisse appointed new Senegal coach". BBC Sport. BBC. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
17. Rahman Alfa Shaban, Abdur (11 November 2018). "Senegal qualifies for second World Cup after beating South Africa". Africanews.com. Africanews. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
18. Carroll, Charlotte (28 June 2018). "Senegal Eliminated From World Cup, Loses Fair Play Tiebreaker to Japan". Sports Illustrated. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
19. "Senegal accept fair play tiebreaker as they 'don't deserve' to advance - coach". ESPN. ESPN Inc. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
20. https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/AFCON/senegal-algeria-set-for-rematch-in-afcon-final-20190719
21. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/48752758
22. https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2019/jul/19/senegal-v-algeria-africa-cup-of-nations-2019-final-live
23. "Footballer's match for ferry victims". BBC News. 8 October 2002. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
24. Wamé, Baba (9 October 2002). "Aliou Cissé, le Lion meurtri par le Joola" [Aliou Cissé, the lion bruised by Le Joola]. Afrik.com (in French). Archived from the original on 15 September 2003. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
25. Copnall, James (26 October 2002). "Blues fans open their hearts to Senegal's grieving captain". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 December 2006.
26. "Aliou CISSé - Football : la fiche de Aliou CISSé". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 24 June 2018.
27. "Managers: Aliou Cisse". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 June 2018.

External links

• Aliou Cissé – French league stats at LFP (also available in French)
• Aliou Cissé at Soccerbase