A former Sunderland flop will share a pitch with some of football’s most iconic names at the end of November.
The King’s Cup Dubai takes place on November 30th, and the game in Dubai will feature some heavy hitters from football’s past.
One team is managed by Edgard Davids and the other by John Terry. On Davids’ team, there’s Roberto Carlos, who recently hailed Jobe Bellingham’s goal for Sunderland against Derby County, Franck Ribery, Jay Jay Okocha, and Michael Owen to name a few.
And on Terry’s team, there’s names such as Paul Pogba, Paul Scholes, David Silva, Clarence Seedorf, and Theo Walcott.
There’s also some lesser-known names of the game featuring in the match, making for a rather odd grouping of players.
Marc Albrighton, former Sunderland goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, Danny Simpson, and Bobby Zamora are also on the team sheets.
And so too is former Sunderland flop El Hadji Diouf.
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What is former Sunderland flop El Hadji Diouf up to these days?
Diouf is a name known by many football fans, but perhaps liked by very few. He was a controversial player and often fell out with fan bases and teammates.
Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard famously had a bust up with Diouf when the Senegalese attacker was playing at Anfield.
In 2008, Sunderland signed Diouf from Bolton Wanderers for a reported fee of around £2.6million, with the now 43-year-old signing a four-year contract at the Stadium of Light.
He stayed one season, playing 16 times in all competitions including 14 times in the Premier League, and left without ever scoring in red and white.
Diouf then spent three years at Blackburn Rovers, spent time on loan at Rangers, played for Doncaster Rovers for a season, then spent two seasons at Leeds United, before finishing his career in Malaysia with Sabah FA.
In 2017, it was reported that Diouf was working in his native Senegal as a government advisor on sport, whilst also owing a gym. Around the same time, Diouf revealed his ambitions to enter the world of politics.
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How to watch the King’s Cup Dubai
The game takes place at 7:30pm on Saturday November 30th and will be available to livestream on the Sportainment app.
It takes place at the Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai and has a special ruling, allowing each team’s ‘King’s Guard’ player to be a 12th man on the field of play, but only for 15 minutes each half.
View the full line up of players here.
Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland return to Championship action against Millwall this weekend.