# Raoul Diagne > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Raoul_Diagne > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Raoul_Diagne.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Diagne > Source revision: 1345646098 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) French footballer (1910–2002) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (June 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. 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Raoul Diagne Diagne pictured in 1938 Personal information Date of birth 10 November 1910 Place of birth Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana Date of death 4 November 2002(2002-11-04) (aged 91) Place of death Créteil, France Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[1] Position Defender Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 1930–1940 RC Paris 1940–1944 Toulouse 1944–1946 FC Annecy International career 1931–1940 France 18 (0) Managerial career 1960–1961 Senegal * Club domestic league appearances and goals **Raoul Diagne** (10 November 1910 – 4 November 2002)[2] was a French [footballer](/source/Association_football) who played as a [defender](/source/Defender_(association_football)) professionally in France and for the [France national team](/source/France_national_football_team). He worked as a coach after his playing career. ## Career Born in [Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni](/source/Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni) in [French Guiana](/source/French_Guiana), Diagne, son of politician [Blaise Diagne](/source/Blaise_Diagne), was raised in Paris. The young Diagne was a brilliant student, but his passion for football was much stronger than that for studying, despite pressure from his father. Initially cut by French professional football team Stade Français, Raoul Diagne signed at the age of 16 with Racing Club de Paris. A tall, elegant, and versatile defender who was excellent in the air, Diagne was the first black player to be selected for the [France national team](/source/France_national_football_team).[3] He earned 18 caps with the national team. The French press nicknamed Diagne the "Black Spider", given his impressive height (1.87 m) and limb reach. Playing in Paris, Diagne was close to the star [Josephine Baker](/source/Josephine_Baker), who affectionately called him "my little brother." He was a prominent figure in the "black Paris" of the time, alongside boxer [Panama Al Brown](/source/Panama_Al_Brown). Diagne could play any position on the field, goalkeeper included. Despite his imposing size and his primary role as a defender, his preferred position was as a right wing. It was as a very offensive-minded right back defender that he made his career on the France team. In fact, it was not uncommon to see Raoul exchange his position with the actual right winger in order to seek a result at the end of the game. At the end of the 1940s, after finishing his playing career in Toulouse (until 1942), Annecy (1942–1945) and Nice (1945–1947), he obtained his coaching diplomas and practiced in Belgium, Algeria, and Normandy. Of Senegalese descent, in the early 1960s Diagne became the first coach of the [Senegal national team](/source/Senegal_national_football_team).[4] Raoul Diagne died on 4 November 2002 in [Créteil](/source/Cr%C3%A9teil), a southeastern suburb of the Paris metropolitan area. The "Black Spider" was 91 years old and France football mourned the loss of a star and pioneer. ## Honours ### As a player **RC Paris** - [French championship](/source/Ligue_1): 1936 - [Coupe de France](/source/Coupe_de_France): 1936, 1939, 1940 ## Footnotes 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Auclair, Philippe (1 September 2011). ["What Makes a Nation?"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190828122723/https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/article/what-makes-nation). *The Blizzard*. Archived from [the original](https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/article/what-makes-nation) on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["matchID - Raoul Diagne"](https://deces.matchid.io/id/kUQQf2oU123T). *[Fichier des décès](/source/Fichier_des_personnes_d%C3%A9c%C3%A9d%C3%A9es)* (in French). Retrieved 3 December 2023. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Raoul Diagne est parti"](https://www.afrik.com/raoul-diagne-est-parti). *Afrik*. 17 November 2002. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["A la tête des sélections"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090603190507/http://www.unecatef.fr/Selections.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.unecatef.fr/Selections.htm) on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2009. ## References - [Profile](http://www.fff.fr/servfff/historique/historique.php?id=DIAGNE%20Raoul) - An article by [Juliet Jacques](/source/Juliet_Jacques) on the Diagne family and the footballing relationship between France and [Senegal](/source/Senegal) [In bed with Maradona » Diagne and the racial politics of Les Bleus](https://web.archive.org/web/20101118035306/http://inbedwithmaradona.com/diagne-and-the-racial-politics-of-les-bleus/) v t e France squad – 1938 FIFA World Cup GK Darui GK Di Lorto GK Llense DF Ben Bouali DF Cazenave DF Mattler DF Povolny DF Vandooren MF Bastien MF Bourbotte MF Diagne MF Jasseron MF Jordan FW Aston FW Brusseaux FW Courtois FW Delfour FW Heisserer FW Kowalczyk FW Nicolas FW Veinante FW Zatelli Coach: Barreau v t e Senegal national football team – managers Diagne (1960–61) Vandooren (1961–63) Bâ & Diop (1963–65) Diack (1965–68) Pfister (1979–82) Diop (1982–86) Wade (1986–89) Le Roy (1989–92) Dieng (1992–93) Sarr (1993–94) Bocandé & Sarr (1994–95) Schnittger (1995–2000) Metsu (2000–02) Stephan (2002–05) Sarr (2005–06) Kasperczak (2006–08) N'Diaye (2008) Fallc (2009) Traoré (2009–12) Diouf & Cisséc (2012) Kotoc (2012) Marc (2012–13) Giresse (2013–15) Cissé (2015–2024) Thiaw (2024–) (c) = caretaker manager --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Raoul Diagne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Diagne) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Diagne?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.