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El-Hadji Diouf
Personal information
Full name	El-Hadji Ousseynou Diouf
Date of birth	January 15, 1981 (1981-01-15) (age 26)
Place of birth	Dakar, Senegal
Height	5'11 (180 cm)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	21
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2002 2002-2005 2004-2005 2005-	Sochaux Stade Rennes RC Lens Liverpool → Bolton Wanderers (loan) Bolton Wanderers	16 0(0) 28 0(1) 55 (18) 58 0(3) 27 0(9) 66 0(8)
National team
2000-	Senegal	41 (16)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:59, 25 November 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

For the player known as El Hadji Diouf currently playing for AEK Athens FC, please see El Hadji Diouf II.

El-Hadji Ousseynou Diouf (Arabic: الحج ديوف) (born January 15, 1981) is a Senegalese footballer. He plays for Bolton Wanderers and until October 2007, Senegal. Arguably Senegal's best player, Diouf is a skillfull playmaker who plays deep on the wing or as a deep lying forward.

Contents 1 Club Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Liverpool 1.3 Bolton 2 International career 3 References 4 External links

Diouf started his career in France with Sochaux-Montbéliard. He made his first appearance in 2-1 win against Bastia on November 12, 1998 before moving to Stade Rennais for the 1999–00 season. He moved to Lens the following season, spending two years at the Pas-de-Calais club before moving to English club Liverpool in 2002.

Liverpool bought Diouf from Lens for £10 million, prior to Senegal's impressive 2002 World Cup run. Diouf won the 2003 League Cup after Liverpool defeated Manchester United 2-0. He remains Liverpool's worst buy of all time, scoring 3 goals in 58 appearances and highlighting Houllier's lack of managerial talent.

Bolton Wanderers bought Diouf from Liverpool for an undisclosed fee at the start of the 2005-06 season, after they had loaned the player for the 2004-05 season.

On September 15, 2005, Diouf scored Bolton's first ever goal in a European competition against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in a UEFA Cup match at the Reebok Stadium.^{[citation needed]} Bolton went on to win the game 2-1. He has largely been a huge success at Bolton and has become a fans' favourite due to his flair and direct running. He remains an integral part of the Bolton side.

Despite courting some controversy in a 1-0 home defeat to Portsmouth F.C. in November 2004 when he spat at Portsmouth captain Arjan de Zeeuw, his goal in a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture at Fratton Park ultimately earned Bolton European qualification for the first time.

Diouf's international career started in April 2000 against Benin. He has earned 41 international caps and scored 16 goals for his country.

He played for Senegal in their 2002 Fifa World Cup campaign and was elected to the World Cup All-Star team, after leading Senegal to the quarterfinals and victories over France (1-0) and Sweden (2-1). Senegal eventually lost 1-0 in overtime to Turkey.

He was also part of the Senegal team which is the runner-up in 2002 African Nations Cup.

Diouf was banned from international football for four matches in 2004 for a verbal assault on referee Ali Bujsaim.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA's centenary celebrations.

In October 2007, Diouf retired from international football, stating he had been frustrated by organisational problems with the side. ^[1]; However, Senegal coach Henri Kasperczak announced later in the month that he would name Diouf in the next squad ^[2].

• El Hadji Diouf career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile, stats and pictures of El-Hadji Diouf on Sitercl.Com

v • d • e Senegal squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Sylva • 2 Daf • 3 Sarr • 4 Malick Diop • 5 N'Dour • 6 Cissé • 7 H. Camara • 8 Traoré • 9 S. Camara • 10 Fadiga • 11 Diouf • 12 Faye • 13 Diatta • 14 Moussa N'Diaye • 15 Diao • 16 Diallo • 17 Coly • 18 Thiaw • 19 Bouba Diop • 20 S. N'Diaye • 21 Beye • 22 Cissokho • 23 Makhtar N'Diaye • Coach: Metsu

v • d • e Bolton Wanderers F.C. – current squad

2 Hunt • 3 Samuel • 4 Nolan • 5 Méïté • 6 Speed • 7 Stelios • 8 Campo • 9 Helguson • 10 Wilhelmsson • 11 Gardner • 12 Walker • 14 Davies • 15 Cid • 16 Andranik • 17 Guthrie • 18 Alonso • 19 McCann • 20 Vaz Té • 21 Diouf • 22 Jääskeläinen • 23 Džemaili • 24 J. O'Brien • 26 Al Habsi • 27 Braaten • 28 Michalík • 29 Harsányi • 31 A. O'Brien • 37 Sinclair • 38 Sissons • 39 Anelka • 43 Woolfe • 46 Jamieson • Manager: Megson

Awards
Preceded by Patrick Mboma	African Footballer of the Year 2001 – 2002	Succeeded by Samuel Eto'o