The football fraud of the century

“The extraordinary fraud of the century: Ali Dia lied and introduced himself as Weah’s cousin, joined Southampton and played just 53 minutes in the Premier League before vanishing like a legend”. 

This is how Croatian media outlet “24sata” began a lengthy article about the fraud that took place in English football years ago. 

Media outlets in England have also written about the case. 

Senegalese Ali Dia was given a chance, and his extraordinary story has earned him the description of “perhaps the worst striker in the elite of English football”. 

On Thursday, Dia celebrated his 61st birthday. 

He began his career in the lower divisions of French football, and after a few seasons, he lied about being related to Liberia’s George Weah, the winner of the Ballon d’Or. 

In 1995, he had changed three teams, while verifying information was very difficult at the time. 

He had played for clubs in Finland and Germany. 

He quickly changed his strategy, while a friend of his contacted several English clubs to offer them the services of an “extraordinary talent”, going on to claim that he had previously been part of PSG and the Senegal national team. 

West Ham manager Harry Redknapp had smelled a rat at the time, but Southampton’s Graeme Souness had not. Southampton offered him a one-month contract. 

In training, Dia had shown very poor form, but luck was on his side. Due to numerous injuries, he was included in the squad for the match against Leeds United. After Matt Le Tissier was injured in the 32nd minute, Dia got his chance and then made numerous mistakes, the Croatian media outlet writes. 

Souness took him off in the 85th minute and the club immediately terminated his contract.

In total, his “adventure” in the Premier League lasted just 53 minutes, but that was enough to turn him into a legend.