MUMBAI: As a player born and bred in France and playing international football for his father’s homeland, Mali, Frederic Kanoute was already walking a tightrope of cultural identities. But his life, as manifested in his football choices, has been about reconciliation.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla striker has often shunned the bubble most professional footballers, or sportspersons in general, live in to involve more with the community wherever he has travelled for work.
The most famous incident was in 2007 when he spent more than $700,000 to buy a mosque in Sevilla. The mosque was to be sold as the contract to use its premises had expired, as Kanoute, a devout Muslim, stepped in to make sure that the community was not without a place of worship. The same year, he became the first player born outside the continent to win the African Player of the Year.
“Being more involved in the real world, and philanthropy was a drive for me since I was very young,” said the 39-year-old during an interview in Mumbai on Friday.
The former striker is on his maiden visit to India as a La Liga ambassador and will be present for the screening of Saturday’s El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the city.
“My roots, my education, my upbringing has pushed me to do these things,” said Kanoute. “It is true that sometimes players tend to focus only on football and there’s nothing wrong with it.
We don’t have much time, but it depends on everyone’s aspirations. I had to do other things. I needed to get out of football.”
When he was nine years old, Kanoute first visited Mali, where his father hailed from. And even though he remembers days spent playing football and in complete freedom, Kanoute saw the harsher face of the country and its problems in his later visits as an adult. Even though he had been part of the national youth set up in France, Kanoute used his dual citizenship status and represented Mali at the senior level, in 2004.
“Football is not an end itself, but also a means to address other problems in life,” he said. “It’s fantastic that people in Africa love football so much and look up to you and want to emulate you if you do good things.”
Having played for West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, Kanoute found fame playing in Seville and also won consecutive UEFA Cups (2006, 2007) with them. He also spent time in China, playing for Beijing Guoan and is currently residing with his family in Dubai. He has a football academy there and also a charity foundation ‘Children’s Village’ in Mali.
“I take my kids to Mali sometimes,” he said. “Because their life in Dubai is a total contrast. And I don’t want them to lose sight of reality.”
deeptipatwardhan@newindianexpress.com