WORLD TOP SPORTS STARS: djibril cisse career

Djibril Cissé French pronunciation; born 12 August 1981 in Arles is a French professional association football player who plays as a striker for Panathinaikos. He is noted particularly for his speed and acceleration. Since 2005, he has held the title of Lord of the Manor of Frodsham. career at AC Arles in 1989 at the age of 8. After seven years at the club, he had a six-month spell at Nîmes Olympique before moving to Auxerre joining the club's youth system. Cissé spent two years in the system before graduating to the first team in 1998. Having had a move to Liverpool delayed once, he finally moved to the Merseyside based club in 2004, after playing for Auxerre for six seasons, scoring 90 goals in 166 appearances. During his time at Anfield, he played 83 games, scoring 26 times. Towards the end of his Liverpool career, he had a loan spell at Marseille scoring 15 goals in 25 appearances before the deal was made permanent. Cissé returned to the Premier League once more in 2008 with a loan spell at Sunderland, scoring 11 goals in 39 appearances. On 25 June 2009, he signed a four year contract with Greek side Panathinaikos, with a transfer fee of about €8 million.
Contents
1 Personal life
2 Club career
2.1 Auxerre
2.2 Liverpool
2.3 Marseille
2.4 Sunderland
2.5 Panathinaikos F.C.
3 International career
3.1 Youth career
3.2 Senior career
4 Career statistics
4.1 Club
4.2 International
4.3 International Goals
5 Honours
5.1 Club
5.2 International
5.3 Individual
6 References
7 External links
Personal lif
His father, Mangué Cissé was formerly a professional footballer and had captained his country before his parents moved from the Ivory Coast to France in 1974. Djibril was the seventh and last child of his family, after siblings Nma, Damaye, Abou, Fode, Seni, Hamed. After his move to Liverpool, Cissé purchased a house in the village of Frodsham, Cheshire, and in doing so gained the title of Lord of the Manor of Frodsham Son after buying the house, his decision to refuse the Cheshire Forest Hunt permission to hunt on his land received substantial press coverage. In June 2005, Djibril Cissé married Jude Littler, a College Lecturer from Anglesey. The wedding took place at Bodelwyddan Castle, with notable guests including Shaun Wright-Phillips and Cissé's French national teammates, Louis Saha and Sylvain Wiltord. got married in a tuxedo in the red of Liverpool. He and his wife, Jude, have three children. Djibril also has a daughter from a previous relationship, while Jude has a son Liam from a previous relationship.
Cissé also had a cameo role in a French comedy movie titled Taxi 4, featuring in a high speed driving scene. On 1 April 2009, Cissé was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a woman outside a lap-dancing club in Newcastle, believed to be The Diamonds club in Grey Street. He was later released on police bail.
Club career
Auxerre
Having started his career with Nîmes Olympique he then signed for AJ Auxerre at the age of 15. Playing for the youth team in 1999, Cissé won the Coupe Gambardella, the equivalent of the FA Youth Cup. But in his first two seasons as a senior with the South of France club, he made just three appearances scoring no goals. his first season as a regular in the 2000–01 season, he scored 8 goals in 25 games.His first honour in his senior Auxerre career came as they won the French Cup in May 2003 The French Cup win led to Auxerre playing in the French Champions Trophy, where they were defeated 2–1 by Olympique Lyonnais on 26 July 2003. Cissé was also the top scorer in the French Ligue 1 in the 2001–02 and 2003–04 seasons, and in his time there, he scored 70 goals in 128 league game before signing for Liverpool in a deal worth over £14 million. Liverpool had pursued Cissé for over a year, and it was an open secret that then Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier admired Cissé's qualities.
Liverpool
At Liverpool, Cissé scored 11 goals in 23 first-team games in all competitions for Liverpool in the 2004–05 season. He had only played 19 games for Liverpool when a freak accident occurred while playing against Blackburn Rovers on 30 October 2004. While Cissé and Blackburn's James McEveley were challenging for the ball, Cissé's boot got caught in the turf and his leg snapped. This resulted in a broken tibia and fibula, and physio Daryl Martin said "It could take six to nine months for a recovery and the absolute worst-case scenario is 18 months..." Cissé later revealed that had it not been for prompt attention from the trainers at the stadium, he would probably have lost the leg below the knee. He had pins inserted in the leg, and was expected to be out of action for the rest of the 2004–05 season.
However, in an unexpected return, Cissé was able to come on as a substitute in the 75th minute of the second leg of Liverpool's Champions League quarter-final tie with Juventus, on 13 April 2005. He went on to score both Liverpool goals in their last Premiership match of the season, a 2–1 win over Aston Villa, and also converted a penalty in Liverpool's penalty shootout win over AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final. During the 2005–06 season, Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez deployed Cissé on the right wing on numerous occasions. While his pace made him well suited to such a role, it was doubtful whether he would be happy to continue in this role rather than in his preferred position as striker.He scored two goals as Liverpool won the 2005 UEFA Super Cup. Cissé also scored the opening Liverpool goal in the 2006 FA Cup Final with a sliding shot past West Ham United keeper Shaka Hislop, Liverpool going on to win on penalties.
marseille
From summer 2005, the media had linked Cissé with a move away from Anfield.Speculation intensified as the season went on due to his lack of starting appearances. On 2 July 2006, Cissé claimed on Sky Sports that Benitez was forcing him out of the club. In early June 2006, it was reported that a transfer to Olympique de Marseille had been agreed. The very same day Cissé broke his leg in a takle from Zheng Zhi during France's final warm up match against China on 7 June 2006. It was thought that even though a relatively quick recovery was expected,Cissé's transfer would be postponed until at least the January transfer window. However, the two teams agreed a loan deal in July 2006.
Cissé made his return to training on 20 October 2006,nd scored his first goal for Olympique de Marseille on 22 December 2006 when they beat AS Saint-Étienne 2–1. With only four goals in 14 appearances by April, Cissé's performances were drawing such criticism that former player Jean-Pierre Papin urged Cissé's critics to be more patient while the striker recovered from his career-threatening injury. Despite the slow start, Cissé managed to score 4 goals in his final 7 league appearances to finish with 8 goals in 21 league appearances,helping Marseille to finish 2nd in the 2006–07 season and guarantee a Champions League place for the 2007–08 season.[34] On 12 May 2007, he scored 2 goals in the French Cup Final against Sochaux, although Marseille still lost the match 5–4 on penalties, after a 2–2 stalemate after extra time following a late equaliser by another Liverpool player on loan Anthony Le Tallec.
On 7 July 2007, Marseille president Pape Diouf announced that the club had struck a deal with Liverpool to sign Cissé permanently, for an estimated fee of €8 million. But subsequently, Cissé was linked with a return to the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Bolton Wanderers said to be interested. Manchester City had their approach for Cissé rejected by Marseille boss, who said, "He is wanted, that is for sure, I myself have been approached by Manchester City (about Cissé) but I turned it down categorically". On 26 January 2008, Cissé scored a hat trick in Marseille's 6–1 win against Caen.

Djibril Cisse