"I was a very bad player, but I am a very good fan of the beautiful game"! Manu Dibango had never dreamed of being a footballer. The round ball was just one of his "satellite passions" outside of music.

But as a kid, in the streets of Douala, he had also amused himself, kicking an orange or a bottle instead. "Obviously we played football! It's the cheapest thing in the neighbourhood when you're a kid", he told us.

His idol was then Samuel Mbappé Léppé, star of the local club Oryx in the 1950s-1960s, then captain of the "Indomitable Lions" nicknamed the "Marshal". "He had a fantastic shot, I knew him well, he was my link when I went back home", the musician recounted, whose career was still in its early stages in France where he was living.

A wild anthem story

And it all started the day when two of his passions crossed! "In 1964, Cameroon had organized the Tropics Cup, the distant ancestor of the CAN (Africa Cup of Nations). And I had then recorded a song that said "Float flags over Yaoundé, for the Tropics Cup" and we won the trophy! "

Eight years later, with his country hosting the CAN this time, Manu Dibango entered the anthem competition. He won and was sent to Paris to record it. "It was a 45 rpm record and on one side of this little vinyl there was the anthem, but there had to be a B-side! So I thought of a piece that the kids were asking for when I was rehearsing... And today, everyone has forgotten the anthem! Besides, we lost against Congo! "Because on the B-side Manu Dibango had for the first time recorded, in 1972, Soul Makossa, his own anthem, which became a worldwide standard of music.

► TO READ: Death of Manu Dibango: from "Soul Makossa" to world music

The footballer's friend

And his path crossed many other stars of the ball. Starting with that of Brazilian Pelé, a "God" he met several times. In 1994, promoting the United States, which was hosting the World Cup, he attended Cameroon's matches. "Roger Milla was still playing, a great artist, him! "Who doesn't remember his little Makossa step when he scored, at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, huh?! He was a good friend".

Another friend, former Cameroon international goalkeeper Joseph Antoine Bell. "We saw each other often when I played in France, recounts the former player. "Besides, we participated in forums, meetings like the gala for Léopold Sédar Senghor that I had organized in 1986 in Marseille. Another time, I was invited to France Inter radio and Manu Dibango came with me, and his new LP, which I still have in my hands and which had relaunched his career". From Douala where he lives, Bell testifies to the sadness that, on this rainy day, befell the city.

The former idol of Marseille laughs at the anecdote shared by Manu Dibango about his French club of the heart: "It's OM! "But now, and only I can say this in France, I quite like PSG. Because I love beautiful football and Zlatan is something! "

However, he remained biting towards the Paris club: "A good team is not an addition of virtuosos that will make a good orchestra. You need a good conductor with a baton."

Yannick Noah's tribute

Manu Dibango had also had the chance to frequent the Auguste Delaunes stadium in Reims during the golden years of the 1950s, naming off the top of his head the players he had cheered on Sundays: Kopa, Piantoni, Marche. "The derbies against Sedan were hot, there was the wild boar by the side of the pitch"!

And in the ranks of the Ardennes club, another friend of his, Cameroonian Zacharie Noah, father of singer and former great tennis player Yannick Noah, who remembered on RFI today: "He was a friend of the family but he was our uncle to all of us. A great wise man. He showed us the way, he broke down the borders with his music, his talent and his big heart. He advised me on music, and I had realized a dream by playing with him. I admired him."

As a great wise man, he did not grow impatient to see an African team win the World Cup: "Our independences are recent, we need to organize ourselves. Already, very great players have appeared, Samuel Eto'o of course, who made the ball dance, but also Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré... The movement is launched, it will come." In his unique burst of laughter, he had added: "Rather than 80 candles, I would prefer to have 80 balls."