Moustapha Salifou

Moustapha Salifou (born 1 June 1983) is a Togolese former professional footballer who played mostly as a midfielder. He has represented the Togo national football team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He spent four years at English Premier League club Aston Villa, the rest of his professional career has been spent at lower levels of the German, French and Swiss league systems.

Early career

Born in Lomé, Salifou started his career in his native Togo with AC Merlan. The midfielder had fleeting stints with Swiss side FC Wil, French team Stade Brest 29 and German team Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, prior to moving to England.

Aston Villa

On 31 August 2007, Salifou signed a one-year deal with Aston Villa, joining for a nominal fee after a successful trial. Martin O'Neill commented that "He has great determination to succeed at this level and may well prove to be an excellent asset". Salifou encountered problems acquiring a work permit though, and was forced to train with his old club in Switzerland.

It was reported on 25 September 2007 that the work permit had been granted and that Salifou was to join up with the squad within a week, however, he did not join up with his new club until 18 October 2007. Salifou made his debut for Aston Villa Reserves on 22 October 2007 creating two of the goals in a 6–0 win over Chelsea reserves. He made his debut for the first team on 12 January 2008 as a 90th-minute substitute in a 3–1 win against Reading. Despite not having played a game, his name was chanted loudly to the tune of Daddy Cool by the Holte End. He was later rewarded with a one-year extension to his contract.

Salifou made his second appearance for the club on 15 March 2008, coming on as a late substitute in the 2–0 away defeat at Portsmouth, as well as appearing in the 4–0 defeat to Manchester United. On 6 November 2008, Martin O'Neill decided to change his starting eleven for Villa's UEFA Cup match against Slavia Prague. Salifou started and played the full ninety minutes. During this time, Salifou was being linked with a move away from Aston Villa, to clubs such as Juventus and Calcio Catania.

Despite rarely featuring for the club at all during the 2009–10 season, Salifou was named in caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald's 22-man Premier League squad for 2010–11. He failed to make an impact during this season too, and underwent a trial at AS Monaco in January 2011. With the arrival of Jean Makoun to Villa in January 2011, Salifou found himself without a squad number for a period after the number 17 shirt was given to Makoun. However, he was later given the number 37. Throughout this time Salifou was praised for his time with the reserves, often passing on his experience to the Villa youngsters. Although his appearances at Aston Villa were limited he soon became a cult hero due to his close relationship with Aston Villa fan Jimmy Ennis and his surname being sung to the tune of Boney M hit Daddy Cool. On 27 May 2011, Aston Villa announced that Salifou was one of a number of players who was released by the club after their contracts expired.

Later career

Salifou remained a free agent until November 2011, when he signed a two-year deal with 1. FC Saarbrücken. He took the number 16 shirt on arrival at the German club. He made his début for the team as an 80th-minute substitute for Marcel Ziemer in a 3–1 win over Kickers Offenbach on 26 November 2011. He scored his first goal for Saarbrücken in a 5–2 win over former club Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on 10 December. He was released by Saarbrücken at the end of the season. Despite not being registered to a club, Salifou continued to represent Togo internationally and had been linked with a transfer to former club FC Wil.

On 1 March 2014, Salifou signed for German club Rosenheim of the Regionalliga Bayern, the fourth tier of German football. After making his début against SV Heimstetten, Salifou went on to make 11 appearances for the club in the 2013–14 season including three assists and one goal against TSV 1860 Munich II.

Salifou joined Türkspor Augsburg in 2015, playing in the Landesliga Bayern-Südwest. In early 2016 he was banned for eight matches for shouting at a referee during a match.

He is a member of the Togo national team, and was called up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He played in all three of Togo's group games in that World Cup against South Korea, Switzerland and France.

The midfielder earned glowing reports after a positive performance at the 2006 World Cup, which alerted the attention of many French league clubs, and prompted the nickname the 'Togolese Zidane' or 'the great of the figure of eight' from his compatriot Emmanuel Adebayor, due to Salifou's playmaking nature.

On 8 January 2010, the bus containing the Togo squad for the Africa Cup of Nations was subjected to an attack from gunmen; Salifou was on the bus during the attack who was said to be 'shaken but okay' after the incident.