Aliou Cissé was born on 24 March, 1976 in Ziguinchor, Senegal. He is a Senegalese football coach and former player. 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 moved to Paris at the age of nine where he grew up with dreams of playing for Paris Saint-Germain. He began his career with Lille OSC before moving onto CS Sedan Ardennes and then Paris Saint-Germain. He also spent the majority of the 2001–02 season on loan at Montpellier Herault SC.
He is currently the head coach of the Senegal national team, 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.
Aliou captained the Senegal team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After a stunning 0–1 victory over reining world champions France on matchday one, the team made it all the way to the quarter finals where they lost 1–0 to Turkey. He 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.
In early March 2015, Cissé was officially appointed as the head coach for the Senegal national team. The team qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 10 November 2017, with a 0–2 away win against South Africa.
