Ex-French football club boss dies from coronavirus!

The global coronavirus pandemic continues to claim more lives as the former president of the French football club Olympique de Marseille, Pape Diouf died after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

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Diouf, who died aged 68 a family source told AFP on Tuesday, led the French club for four years from 2005 to 2009 and helped build the side which lifted the Ligue 1 title in 2010. He was hospitalised in Senegal after contracting the virus, becoming the country’s first Covid-19 fatality in the process.

Former president of the French football club Olympique de Marseille, Pape Diouf has died after testing positive for the novel coronavirus (Image: Imago Images).

Diouf had been due to leave for Nice earlier on Tuesday to be treated in France, but a sharp deterioration in his health prevented him from boarding a plane. The current president of the Ligue 1 club Jacques-Henri Eyraud praised his predecessor for displaying remarkable leadership and resilience, at a time “where there were very few men from diverse backgrounds,” he said.

But he fought tooth and nail, and won the hearts of thousands of supporters,” Eyraud added. The club, in a statement, also paid tribute to its former stalwart. “Pape will remain in the hearts of the Marseillais forever, as one of the great architects in the club’s history,” the statement read.