By Gary Meenaghan on Friday, August 28, 2009
When Primera Liga challengers Sevilla line up on the edge of Valencia's Mestalla pitch on Sunday afternoon, most eyes will be on that of Luis Fabiano and David Villa – two of the most sought-after strikers in Spain.
However, another forward on the pitch deserves a special mention also. Keep an eye out for Sevilla's No12.
Freddie Kanouté, like all devoted Muslims, has been fasting for the past week, but rather than feeling fatigued or unfit because of the strains of Ramadan, the 31-year-old insists the holy month provides him with an advantage over his opponents.
"Personally, having faith helps my football and football helps me to be healthy and strengthens me," he said earlier this week.
"There is no conflict because people who know about Islam, they know that fasting empowers and does not weaken the Muslim."
Frédéric Oumar Kanouté was born on September 2, 1977, in the departement of Rhône, France, where he grew up in an eight-storey block of council flats with his French mother and Malian father. At the age of 20, having converted to Islam earlier that year, he signed with local side Olympique Lyonnais where he made 19 starts, scoring nine goals.
Such form caught the attention of West Ham's then-manager Harry Redknapp who paid £3.7 million (Dh22m) to take Kanouté to East London.
Redknapp's faith paid off as his talented talisman netted 31 goals in 79 appearances, but after suffering a groin injury that kept him out for the majority of the 2002-2003 season, he was made available for a cut-price deal.
League rivals Tottenham ordered Kanouté to undergo an intense medical before being willing to part with the £3.5m West Ham were demanding. The Frenchman dutifully obliged and passed sans problémes, sealing his move across London, where he became a fan favourite scoring 16 goals in his first season at White Hart Lane.
The following year marked the start of the end of Kanouté's English adventure as he opted to employ a new Fifa ruling allowing players to play for their parent's home countries – even if they had represented another country at junior level.
The outspoken forward made clear his desire to represent his father's native Mali and resultantly missed almost two months of Spurs' Premier League campaign. In the summer of 2005, Kanouté moved to Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for £4.4m. The move would bring him his first piece of silverware – the Uefa Cup – and also see him attract a lot of attention for his commitment to his faith.
When Sevilla announced they had signed a sponsorship agreement with online gaming company 888.com, Kanouté told club officials he would not wear a shirt advertising a gambling agency.
"Gambling is forbidden," he said, "and I will not play in a shirt that promotes it."
The Andalucian club failed to heed Kanoute's threat and when he appeared in the Super Cup final – the annual La Liga curtain raiser – the sponsor on his shirt was covered by adhesive tape.
Afterwards he said: "I have told the club that I must have a pure shirt. They have agreed to what I have asked and will let me wear a shirt without this logo."
Executives from 888.com held negotiations with Kanouté and club officials, with the player eventually agreeing to wear the shirt complete with the sponsor, so long as the Gibraltar-based gaming establishment contributed a sizeable donation to an Islamic charity.
It would not be the last time Kanouté attracted column inches for his religious beliefs. The following year it was reported in Spanish media that he had paid more than $700,000 (Dh2.5m) – a figure local paper Diario de Sevilla claimed to equate to Kanouté's yearly salary – to purchase a mosque near his home in Seville.
The contract on the building had expired and it was due to be sold and possibly demolished. Kanouté's purchase allowed the Muslim residents of Seville – the majority of whom are immigrants from north and west Africa – to retain a nearby place to pray.
As recently as January of this year, the 2007 African Player of the Year found himself in the media spotlight again – although this time he must surely have been pleased with the attention he was garnering.
During a Copa del Rey match with Deportivo La Coruna, Kanouté scored Sevilla's winning goal in a 2-1 victory before lifting his shirt to reveal a black T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Palestine" in five different languages.
The gesture was inferred by Spanish league officials to be a political statement in the aftermath of Israel's attacks on Gaza, which had left 700 people dead. The 31-year-old was fined an unspecified amount.
But Kanouté is quick to play down talk that his actions make him an eminent ambassador for Islam.
"There are many Muslim footballers who people just do not know about in England, in Spain, in France and in many other leagues too. But having faith and practising Ramadan is not something they wish to tell the world about," he said.
"My father was born a Muslim, but as an orphan, he didn't really know a lot about it. He did try to teach me a few things though. Now I just try to respect my faith and follow it as best I can."
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