Aliou Cissé

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography Aliou Cissé (born 24 March 1976) is a Senegalese professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Libya national team. Cissé is best known for captaining the Senegal team which reached the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations Final and for being the first Senegal manager to win the tournament in 2022 after reaching the final in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" />

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.

Cissé has been the head coach of Senegal 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.

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He began his career with Lille before moving onto Sedan and then Paris Saint-Germain. He also spent the majority of the 2001–02 season on loan at Montpellier.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 Though the sending-off was rescinded,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cissé returned late to pre-season training in July 2003, which led 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After two years at Portsmouth, Cissé returned to Sedan in November 2006, after undergoing a two-week trial.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He then signed for French Ligue 2 side Nîmes from Sedan in September 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 national team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After a 1–0 victory over reigning world champions France on matchday one,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the team made it all the way to the quarter-finals where they lost 1–0 to Turkey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Aliou Cissé, Football - 2023 Africa Cup of Nations - Finals - Guinea v Senegal - Charles Konan Stadium - Yamoussoukro - Cote dIvoire - 53483819045 (cropped).jpg

Cissé with Senegal at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations

Managerial career

In early March 2015, Cissé was officially appointed as the head coach for the Senegal national team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The team qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 10 November 2017, with a 2–0 away win against South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cissé coached Senegal at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, helping Senegal to its first final since 2002, a tournament in which Cissé himself had participated as the team's captain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In February 2019, Senegal's Football Federation (FSF) extended Cissé and his staff's contracts until August 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 6 February 2022, Cissé led Senegal to victory at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. In the final they beat Egypt 4–2 on penalties to clinch their first title, thus redeemed himself after two previous final defeats.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he led the Senegalese national team to the knockout stage for the first time since he was a player in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 2 October 2024, Cissé was dismissed from the job as Senegal coach after the team's round of 16 exit at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and their underwhelming performance during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, ending his nine-year tenure as the Senegal head coach.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2025, Cissé was appointed the head coach for the Libya national team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Cissé lost several members of his family in the Template:MV ferry disaster that occurred off the coast of The Gambia on 26 September 2002.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> To honour 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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	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
	2001–02		0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
	Total		43	1	6	0	7	1	6	0	62	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	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	2008–09	Ligue 2	7	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8	0
Career total			153	3	12	0	9	1	6	0	181	4

Managerial

Template:Updated<ref>Template:Soccerway coach</ref>

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Template:Abbr
			Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
Senegal	5 March 2015	2 October 2024	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Libya	12 March 2025	present
Total			—

Honours

Player

Paris Saint-Germain

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001
• Coupe de la Ligue runner-up: 1999–2000

Senegal

• Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2002<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Manager

Senegal

• Africa Cup of Nations: 2021;<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> runner-up: 2019<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Individual

• Africa Cup of Nations Coach of the Tournament: 2021<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• CAF Coach of the Year: 2022<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:LFP Ligue 1
• Template:Soccerbase
• Template:NFT coach
• Template:Soccerway coach