Ali Dia: The Remarkable Story of the Worst Premier League Footballer of All Time
It’s November 1996. Liberian Ballon d’Or winning striker George Weah is playing for AC Milan. His Senegalese ‘cousin’ Ali Dia has just joined Blyth Spartans. Ali Dia is named in the squad for the Spartans’ 2-1 loss to Boston United, becoming their first-ever black footballer. Just weeks later, he would blag his way to the Premier League in the greatest con in football history.
This infamous series of events begins with Graeme Souness’ venture to Southampton following his infamous Turkish Cup final flag stunt, which made him a Galatasaray legend. After his season-long spell in Turkey, it seemed he wanted to escape the mob of Fenerbahçe fans calling for his head. The Scot’s one-year tenure at Southampton would be talked about for the next twenty-nine to come, though not down to his success.
The Hoax
In late 1996, English football managers began receiving calls from George Weah, asking them to sign his cousin. At West Ham, Harry Redknapp was on the receiving end of one of those calls: “Hello George, how are you doing? Do you want to play for West Ham, yeah? ” ‘George’ then informed him that he had noticed their ineptitude in front of goal and recommended that the Hammers sign his cousin, Ali Dia. Redknapp declined, stating that he had “dodged a bullet”. Dia’s next victim was Tony Pulis of Gillingham, where he succeeded in being offered a trial but never made it further. Pulis later described him as “rubbish”.
The Senegalese footballer later tried his luck with Port Vale, earning minutes in a trial match against Middlesbrough but still without a contract. Gordon Strachan also stated that he had given Ali Dia a chance at Coventry, saying that “he looked like a guy who had won a prize from the Evening Telegraph to train with us for the day”.
Ali Dia finally got his big chance when ‘Weah’ called up Graeme Souness, manager of an injury-stricken Southampton team. Souness was later quoted as saying: “You had to sit up and take notice” when a player is recommended by someone so accomplished as George Weah. Obviously, it was in fact not George Weah making these calls and the culprit is still debated to this day, the most believable explanation being that it was Ali Dia’s agent.
Dia’s 53 Minutes of Fame
Somehow, the Saints gaffer was convinced by ‘Weah’ to give Ali Dia a chance, being told that Dia had been teammates with Weah at Paris Saint-Germain, had recently played in the German second division and perhaps most unbelievably, that he had made thirteen appearances for Senegal, scoring five goals. Despite the lack of fact-checking, a desperate Souness decided to keep him on a one-month trial period. It was all set for the blagging forward to feature in a reserve match against Arsenal, however the game was cancelled due to rain.
Just three days later, on November 23, 1996, Dia would make his first and last Premier League appearance. 32 minutes into Southampton’s Premier League clash against Leeds United, Matt Le Tissier picks up an injury which forces him off the field. Souness takes a glance at his bench, realising he had a lack of options to reinforce his attack. His eyes drift to trial player Ali Dia, and he signals for him to warm up. The Senegalese con man runs onto the pitch donning the #33 shirt, to Le Tessier’s disbelief.
Le Tissier later recounted that the players “thought he had won an auction prize” after he had a training session with the team. Despite the players’ harsh criticism, here he was making his Premier League debut. Ultimately, he was dreadful. He managed a shot on target before being taken off after 53 minutes, Souness famously describing him as looking like “Bambi on ice” and Le Tissier calling him “hopeless”. The Frenchman says that Dia turned up for training on the Sunday, the day after the game, but was gone by Monday.
Life After the Premier League
In December of 1996, Ali Dia would join Gateshead in the lower non-league divisions of English football, scoring on his debut in a 5-0 win over Bath City. Dia would score one more for the club in eight appearances, leaving in February of 1997 and later joining Spennymore United. Upon joining Gateshead, the infamous bagsman would call his Southampton stint a “misunderstanding“. He reportedly managed to successfully blag his way into joining both Finnairin Palloilijat in Finland and VfB Lübeck in Germany, but was released by both clubs due to not being good enough.
It is reported that Dia received £2,000 for his hard work at Southampton and later earned himself a cool £1,500 at Gateshead. After his footballing career had finished, Dia took up academics. He earned a degree in business at Northumbria University in 2001, along with a Master of Business Administration at San Francisco State University in 2003. Dia then worked in Qatar for some time and was living in London as of 2016.
Despite being a fraudulent footballer, Dia’s son Simon Dia managed to make a career out of football without the need to lie. Simon has had a decent career as a professional footballers far, playing for Amiens, Al-Duhail and is currently playing for Bangkok FC. Simon has a Coupe de France goal to his name, coming in the form of a penalty in the 2017/18 season whilst at Entente SSG during a 3-2 win over Paris FC.
One for the History Books
Perhaps the most infamous footballer of all time, Ali Dia will go down as a Premier League cult hero, often being named one of the worst footballers to ever grace the league. Perhaps the funniest part of this ordeal is that Dia still claims that he has no idea who it was pretending to be George Weah. The fact that a man could at the very least have the balls to try something as ludicrous as blagging his way to the Premier League is, in itself, enough to cement yourself as a legend of the game.
Though we might not have known of his whereabouts for some nine years now, it is sure that Ali Dia is out there somewhere with a smile on his face, knowing that his story is still being told nearly thirty years later.
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