Édouard Mendy vs El Hadji Diouf
Senegal against Senegal. The almanac states its case, the crowd votes, you decide.
Édouard Mendy
Senegal · 2014–25 · GK
- Almanac rating
- 86
- Rank in Senegal
- #4 of 33
- Caps
- 57 · 0 goals
- Clubs
- Stade de Reims, Chelsea, Al Ahli
He was twenty-two in 2014, out of the game after leaving Cherbourg, drawing unemployment benefit in France and looking for work outside football. By 2022 he was an African champion and a European one, with Senegal's Africa Cup of Nations and Chelsea's 2021 Champions League as the first African goalkeeper to lift it, and he added the AFC Champions League Elite with Al-Ahli in 2025 and FIFA's goalkeeper of the year for 2021. Career record: 57 caps and 0 goals for Senegal; club career at Stade de Reims, Chelsea, Al Ahli.
El Hadji Diouf
Senegal · 2001–03 · CAM
- Almanac rating
- 88
- Rank in Senegal
- #3 of 33
- Caps
- 70 · 24 goals
- Clubs
- R.C. Lens, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers
On 31 May 2002 in Seoul he burst down the left and drove in the low cross that Papa Bouba Diop forced over the line, and Senegal beat holders France 1-0 on their World Cup debut. Back-to-back African Footballer of the Year awards in 2001 and 2002 sat alongside a place in the 2002 World Cup All-Star team, a run to the quarter-finals, the Africa Cup of Nations final that February, and the League Cup with Liverpool in 2003. Career record: 70 caps and 24 goals for Senegal; club career at R.C. Lens, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers.
The verdict
The almanac puts El Hadji Diouf ahead by 2 rating points, 88 against 86.
Fans have not settled this one yet. Cast the first vote in the duels.