Djibril Cissé was born in Arles, France, on August 12, 1981.
His parents had moved to France from the Ivory Coast in 1974. His father in fact played football for "Les Élephants".
He started playing football at 8 years old with local Arles-Avignon. At 15 Djibril joined Auxerre, initially with the youth side and then at 17 the first team in Division 1 (top tier). He stayed six seasons with The Diplomats finishing; 14th, 8th, 13th, 3rd, 6th and 4th. In 2003 "AJA" won the French Cup beating PSG 2-1 and Cissé scored the first goal. He played a total of 169 games for Auxerre with 90 goals (70 in the league). In 2002 he was top scorer with 22 goals and again in 2004 with 26 (3rd place in Golden Boot). He is still the second top scorer in The Diplomats history.
In 2004-05 he joined Liverpool where he was coached by Rafa Benitez. The Reds came 5th but won the Champions League in Istanbul beating Milan on penalties (3-3 from 0-3 at halftime). Cissé however had suffered a very serious injury in October breaking his leg. He returned in April and over the season played 16 league games with 4 goals and 4 in the domestic cups with 7 goals.
The following year the Reds finished 3rd and won the FA Cup beating West Ham on penalties (3-3 in the 90 minutes, after 0-2 and 1-3 and Cissé got the first goal). They also won the European Super Cup (CSKA Moscow 3-1 with two Cissé goals). Liverpool then lost the FIFA Club World Championship 0-1 to Săo Paulo in December. Cissé played 33 league games with 9 goals, 6 in the domestic cups with 2 goals, 13 in the Champions League with 6 goals plus the European Super Cup and the Club World championship games.
In 2006 he returned to France and joined Marseille. He stayed two seasons. In his first the Phocaeans finished 2nd (but 18 points behind Lyon) and lost the French Cup Final to Sochaux on penalties. The manager was Albert Emon and Cissé played 21 league games with 8 goals and 4 in the domestic cups with 7 goals. The following year he played and scored more; 35 league games with 16 goals, 5 in the domestic cups with 3 goals and 10 in Europe (6 CL + 4 UC) with 3 goals (1+2). "Les Olympiens" finished 3rd under Emon and Eric Gerets.
In August 2008, after playing 2 league games and 1 in the Champions League (curiously against my third team Brann Bergen), Cissé returned to England and joined Sunderland on loan. The Black Cats manager was former Manchester United player Roy Keane but only until 4 December when he was replaced by Ricky Sbragia. Sunderland finished 16th so stayed up in the Premiership. Cissé played 35 league games with 10 goals and 3 games in the domestic cups with 1 goal. He scored both at home and away against arch rivals Newcastle, in a 2-1 win and a 1-1 draw.
In 2009 he moved to Athens and joined Panathinaikos where he had two good seasons. In his first he was coached by Henk ten Cate until 8 December, then Nikos Nioplias and "Pana" won the domestic double, league and cup. Cissé scored 29 goals (23 in league - top Greek scorer) in 46 appearances. The following year Nioplias was sacked in November, replaced very briefly by Jacek Gmoch before Jesualdo Ferreira took over. The "Prasinoi" (The Greens) finished 2nd in the league but Cissé continued scoring 26 total goals (20 in league - top Greek scorer again) in 43 appearances. Cissé's performances in Greece were positive but he was not satisfied with the level of refereeing.
In the summer of 2011 he joined Lazio on a four-year contract. The manager was Edy Reja and the Biancocelesti had also signed Miroslav Klose. He started off well scoring in pre-season friendlies, a brace in the Europa League qualification (Rabotnicki) and again on his league debut in a 2-2 away draw with Milan. Then the goals ran dry although in his defence he was often played on the wing with "Miro-gol" Klose, the main centre-forward. He scored one more goal in Coppa Italia (Milan again) and one more in the Europa League (penalty vs Vaslui). In January he left after 27 games and 5 goals. For the record Lazio finished 5th (Europa League).
He went back to England again but this time to West London as he signed for Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League. The manager was Welshman Mark Hughes and the Royals avoided relegation in 17th place. Cissé played 8 league games with 6 goals. He scored the winner against former club Liverpool and the winner against Stoke City in the penultimate game practically saving the Hoops. He also played and scored on the day Manchester City made history with the Aguerooooo 94th minute title winning goal.
He stayed on at Loftus Road the following season but only until January. Under Harry Redknapp he played 18 Premier League games with 3 goals and 3 in the domestic cups with 1 goal.
In January 2013 he moved to Qatar and joined Al-Gharafa. He played 9 league games with 1 goal, 1 cup game and 8 in the Asian Champions League with 4 goals. The "Al Fahud" (The Cheetahs) from Doha failed to win any silverware.
In the summer of 2013 he was on the move again and joined Kuban' from Krasnodar in Russia. He played 15 league games with 4 goals and 10 in the Europa League with 1 goal but in January was restless again and moved on. For the record the Yellow and Greens finished 8th.
So, in January 2014 he went back to his home country and joined Corsicans Bastia in Ligue 1. The Sporting Club Bastiais had a reasonable season under Frédéric Hantz and finished 10th. Cissé played 15 league games with 2 goals. He stayed on the next season, first under Claude Makélélé and then Ghislain Printant, but played less, 8 league games with no goals and 4 in the domestic cups with 4 goals. The Lions of Furiani finished 12th and were runners-up in the League Cup (PSG 0-4).
In 2015 at 34 he joined JS Saint -Pierroise, on the island of La Réunion, a tropical island belonging to France in the Indian Ocean. I think it's fair to say his days of competitive top-level football were over… he also only played one game… before announcing his retirement in October.
In 2017 however he joined Yverdon FC in Switzerland in the Promotion League (3rd tier). He played 29 league games with 24 goals. He then retired again.
In April 2021, however, he signed for Panathinaikos Chicago in the 4th amateur league in the USA. After only two months he retired again but this time for good.
He has kept busy since retiring appearing in music videos, films (Taxxi 4), been a model on the catwalk for Jean-Paul Gaultier and launched his own fragrance. Two other curious facts are that one of his three children is called Cassius Clay and Djibril himself originally a Muslim, then converted to being a Christian.
Cissé won 41 caps for France and scored 9 goals. He took part in the 2002 and 2010 World Cups. He won a Confederations Cup in 2003 (Cameroon 1-0).
He had a good club career with plenty of silverware; 1 league title (Panathinaikos), 1 Champions League (Liverpool), 3 domestic cups (Auxerre, Liverpool, Panathinaikos) and 1 UEFA Super Cup (Liverpool). He was top goal scorer in France twice and in Greece twice.
Cissé was a complete centre-forward. He is 1.83 and 78 kilos and was strong and quick with good technique. He had a good powerful shot and an excellent goal scoring ability (288 career goals)
At Lazio he flattered to deceive. Lazio fans still remember his brilliant header at the San Siro and his subsequent somersaults but alas that would remain his only league goal and the pinnacle of his time in Rome.
Lazio Career
Season | Total apperances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
2011-Jan 2012 | 27 (5) | 18 (1) | 2 (1) | 7 (3) |
Sources
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