Djibril Aruun Cissé (born August 12, 1981 in Arles) is a French international football player of Ivorian descent who plays as a striker for both the France national football team and Sunderland of the Premier League. He is noted particularly for his speed and acceleration, as well as his often eye-catching hairstyles.

Cissé started his career at Nîmes Olympique in 1993 at the age of 11. He then moved to Auxerre still in the youth team, before graduating to the first team in 1998. After having his move to Liverpool held up once, he moved to the Merseyside based club in 2004 having played for Auxerre for six season; scoring 70 goals from 128 appearances. He was brought to Liverpool by Gérard Houllier, although he left shortly after signing him. During his time at Anfield he played 49 games with 11 goals to his name; though he was sometimes played on the right wing. Towards the end of his Liverpool career he had a loan spell at Marseille scoring eight goals in 21 appearances, he then made the deal permanent. Close by to his hometown Arles, he currently plays for Marseille, though he was loaned out to Sunderland with a view to make the move permanent.

Djibril Cisse = Explosive

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Personal life

Cissé was born to Mangue and Karidjata Cissé who originated from the Ivory Coast, though they divorced soon after his birth. His father, Mangue, was formerly a professional footballer and had captained his country. His parents moved from the Ivory Coast to France in 1974. Djibril was the seventh and last child of his family, after his siblings; Nma, Damaye, Abou, Fode, Seni, Hamed.^[1] After his move to Liverpool, Cissé purchased a home in Frodsham, Cheshire, and in doing so gained the title of Lord of the Manor of Frodsham.^[2] Soon after buying the home, his decision to refuse the Cheshire Forest Hunt permission to hunt on his land received substantial press coverage.^[3] In June 2005, Djibril Cissé married Jude Littler, a Welsh hairdresser from Anglesey. The wedding took place at Bodelwyddan Castle, with notable guests including Shaun Wright-Phillips and Cissé's French national teammates, Louis Saha, Sylvain Wiltord.^[4] Cissé married in a tuxedo in the red of Liverpool.^[4] In October 2005, the couple announced they were expecting their first child.^[5]

On 7 March 2006, Jude gave birth to their son, named Cassius.^[5] Cissé also has a daughter named Ilona who was born in 2001. His wife Jude also has a son Liam from a previous relationship.^[6] In October 2005, he accepted a caution from the police for hitting a 15-year-old boy while filming an advertisement in Docklands, East London.^[7] In January 2006, Cissé accepted another caution from police, this time for assaulting his heavily pregnant wife.^[8] In 27 July 2008, his wife Jude, gave birth to the couple's second son. Prince Kobe Cissé, weighing 7lb 11oz, was born late on Saturday night at a hospital in Chester.^[6]

Club career

AJ Auxerre

He started his career with Nîmes Olympique when he was 11 years old,^[9] from which he then signed for AJ Auxerre at the age of 15.^[10] Playing for the youth team in 1999, Cissé won the Coupe Gambardella, the equivalent of the FA Youth Cup.^[11] In his first two seasons with the Southern French club, he made just three appearances scoring no goals.^[11] In his first season as a regular in the 2000–01 season, he scored eight goals in 25 games.^[11] His first honour in his senior Auxerre career came as they won the French Cup in May 2003.^[12] The French Cup win led to Auxerre playing in the French Champions Trophy, where they were defeated 2–1 by Olympique Lyonnais on July 26, 2003.^[13] Cissé was also the top scorer in the French Ligue 1 in the 2001–02 and 2003–04 seasons,^[12] and over his time there, he scored 70 goals in 128 league games^[14] before signing for Liverpool in a deal worth over £14 million.^[15] Liverpool had pursued Cissé for over a year,^[16] and it was an open secret that the then Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier admired Cissé's qualities.^[17]

Liverpool

At Liverpool, Cissé scored five goals in 23 first-team games in all competitions for Liverpool in the 2004–05 season.^[12] He had only played 19 games for Liverpool when a tackle from Jay McEveley broke his left leg playing against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on 30 October 2004. The injury he suffered from the tackle broke his tibia and fibula, physio Daryl Martin said "It could take six to nine months and the absolute worst-case scenario is 18 months, but on average it would be three or four months."^[18] 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.^[19] He had pins inserted in the leg, and was expected to be out of action for the rest of the 2004–05 season.^[20] However, it was reported in late March 2005 that Cissé's recovery had advanced enough to enable him to return to action by the end of the season.^[21]

This indeed happened on 13 April 2005 when Cissé came on as a substitute in the 75th minute of the second leg of Liverpool's Champions League quarter-final tie with Juventus.^[22] He went on to score both Liverpool goals in their last Premiership match of the season, a 2–1 win over Aston Villa,^[23] and also converted a penalty in Liverpool's penalty shootout win over AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final.^[24] During the 2005–06 season, Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez deployed Cissé on the right wing on numerous occasions.^[16] While his pace made him well suited to such a role, it was questioned whether he would be happy continuing to be used in this way rather than in his preferred position as striker.^[9] Cissé scored the opening Liverpool goal in that season's FA Cup final with a sliding shot past the opposing keeper, but continually broke the line and fell foul of West Ham's offside trap; much to the annoyance of BBC commentator and ex-Liverpool player Alan Hansen, as well as manager Benitez.^[25][26]

Olympique de Marseille

From the summer of 2005, the media had linked Cissé with a move away from Anfield.^[27] This speculation intensified over the course of the season due to the lack of starting appearances. On 2 July 2006, Cissé claimed on Sky Sports that Benitez was forcing him out of the club.^[28] In early June 2006 it was reported that a transfer to Olympique de Marseille had been agreed.^[29] The very same day Cissé broke his leg. It was thought that even though a relatively quick recovery was expected,^[21] Cissé's transfer would be postponed until, at least, the January transfer window.^[30] However, the two teams agreed a loan deal in July 2006.^[31]

Cissé made his return to training on 20 October 2006,^[32] and scored his first goal for Olympique de Marseille on 22 December 2006 when they beat AS Saint-Étienne 2–1.^[33] With only four goals in 14 appearances by April, Cissé's performances were drawing such criticisms that former player Jean-Pierre Papin urged Cissé's critics to be more patient while the striker recovered from his career threatening injury.^[34] 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.^[12] Cissé's form helped Marseille finish 2nd in the 2006–07 season and guarantee a Champions League place for the 2007–08 season.^[35] 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, when the match was stuck at 2–2 after extra time, after a late equaliser by another Liverpool player on loan Anthony Le Tallec.^[36]

On 7 July 2007, Marseille president Pape Diouf announced that the club had struck a deal with Liverpool to sign Cissé permanently, the deal has been completed for an estimated fee of €8 million.^[37] Cissé was linked with several clubs, which would lead to a return to the English Premier League was rumoured to be on the cards with Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Bolton Wanderers said to be interested.^[38] Manchester City had their approach for Cissé rejected by Marseille boss, saying "He is wanted, that is for sure, I myself have been approached by Manchester City (about Cissé) but I turned it down categorically".^[39] On 26 January 2008, Cissé scored a hat trick in Marseille's 6–1 win against Caen.^[40]

Sunderland

On 20 August 2008 he secured a loan switch to English Premier League club Sunderland.^[41] At the same ground where he had scored on his Liverpool debut, Cissé scored the winning header on his debut against Tottenham to make it 2–1 to Sunderland.^[42] A few days later Cissé announced his desire to secure a permanent deal with the club.^[43] Manager Roy Keane also expressed his desire to sign Cissé on a permanent deal, where he told News of the World "I'd be happy to break the transfer record if Djibril's doing the business".^[44] In the Tyne-Wear derby, Cissé scored his third Sunderland goal on 25 October 2008, where Sunderland won 2–1.^[45] After scoring in a 4–1 victory against Hull, Cissé stated that despite the departure of Roy Keane from Sunderland, he still wishes to complete a permanent move to the club.^[46] With nine goals, Cissé is currently Sunderland's leading league goalscorer in the 2008-09 season.

International career

Youth career

Before he played for the senior France national football team, Cissé had previously played for the Under-19's and Under-21's sides.^[47] He appeared playing for France in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, he led France to coming as quarter finalists in the tournament scoring six goals over the five games.^[47] These goals included a hat-trick against Iran on 18 June 2001 in a 5–0 win on their opening game,^[48] and two goals against Germany on 27 June 2001 in the round of 16.^[49] While playing for France in the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Cissé scored two goals over Portugal in the first leg of qualification playoffs where they won 2–1.^[50] However, in the second leg, Cissé having already scored a goal was sent off for kicking Mário Sérgio. France went on to lose the game 4–1 on penalties, after drawing 3–3 on aggregate.^[51] As a result of the sending off, he was given a five match ban and missed UEFA Euro 2004.^[52]

Senior career

Cissé made his international debut, aged 21, against Belgium coming on as a 48th minute substitute for David Trezeguet on 18 May 2002.^[53] French coach Roger Lemerre included Cissé in his 23 man squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.^[54] Through the tournament he played in all of the group matches against Senegal,^[55] Uruguay,^[56] and Denmark,^[57] coming on as a substitute in all three games. France were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages. His first goal for the senior side came on 7 September 2002 against Cyprus in qualifying for Euro 2004.^[58] Cissé was included as part of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup winning French team. He scored his only goal of the tournament from the penalty spot in France's 1–0 win against Columbia, on 18 June 2003.^[59]

After being banned from UEFA Euro 2004, the next tournament for Cissé would be the World Cup, he was included in the French squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.^[60] However, in France's final warm up match against China on 7 June 2006 he suffered another broken leg, ten minutes into the game he was knocked off balance by the Chinese captain Zheng Zhi and fell with his leg twisting under him.^[61] "It's so tough to hear Djibril scream like that," said fellow French striker Thierry Henry. "You lose a teammate and also a friend. But he is tough; he will come back." Immediate surgery to repair his open fractured tibia followed the accident, ruling him out of the tournament.^[62] During the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign Cissé played three games,^[14] but could not win a place in the France squad for the finals.^[63]

Honours

 Auxerre

• Coupe Gambardella: 1999
• French Cup: 2002–03

Liverpool

• UEFA Champions League: 2005
• European Super Cup: 2005
• FA Cup: 2006

International

• FIFA Confederations Cup: 2003