Ousmane N'Doye

Ousmane N'Doye (born 21 March 1978) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Senegal
Ousmane N'Doye was born on 21 March 1978 in Thiès, Senegal, starting to play junior level football at local club, ACS and he also practiced basketball until he was aged 12 or 13. He then moved at Diaraf where he also started his senior career, afterwards going at Jeanne d'Arc with whom he won three Senegal Premier League titles, being considered the best player in the league at one point.

France
In the summer of 2002, at age 24 he was transferred by Ligue 2 club, Toulouse where he was wanted by coach Erick Mombaerts, making a good impression on the field shortly after arriving, helping the team win the first place by the end of the season, thus earning promotion to Ligue 1. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 2 August 2003 in a 1–1 with Strasbourg where from a corner kick he provided the assist to Cédric Fauré's goal, making a total of 8 appearances in the competition, scoring two goals in two consecutive 2–1 losses with Ajaccio and Lens, but also receiving two red cards, eventually returning for the second half of the season in Ligue 2, being loaned at Lorient.

Portugal and Saudi Arabia
Ousmane N'Doye went in July 2004 to play in Portugal at Estoril, making his Primeira Liga debut under coach Litos in a 0–0 with Rio Ave. He scored three consecutive goals against Porto, Belenenses and Penafiel, leaving the club at the end of the first half of the season due to a conflict with Litos.

He went for the second half of the 2004–05 season at Penafiel, netting four goals in four victories against Leiria, Sporting Lisabona, Braga and Benfica, being very appreciated by the club who declared him non-transferable at the end of the season, refusing a €1.5 million offer from newly promoted La Liga team, Alavés. He started the first half of the following season at Penafiel, managing to score a brace in a 2–2 with Paços Ferreira and one goal in another draw with Gil Vicente, then he wanted to leave the club who agreed to sell him in the middle of the season for a fee around €1 million to Académica where he was under the command of coach Nelo Vingada.

Académica loaned him for the 2006–07 season at Al Shabab for €500.000 where he worked with coach Humberto Coelho, also for the second half of the season he played for Al-Ettifaq. Afterwards he returned to the Briosa team for the first half of the 2007–08 season, being coached this time by Domingos Paciência, scoring his only Primeira Liga goal for them in a 3–1 away loss with Vitória Setúbal, having a total of 62 appearances with 11 goals in the competition.

Romania
Ousmane N'Doye was transferred from Académica to Romanian club Vaslui for €500.000, making his Liga I debut under coach Dorinel Munteanu on 23 February 2008 in a 3–0 home win over Dacia Mioveni, scoring his first goal in the competition on 15 March when he equalized in the 90th minute, after a counter-attack to obtain a 1–1 with Oțelul Galați. At the beginning of the 2008–09 season he formed an appreciated couple in the central midfield with Stanislav Genchev, helping the club win the 2008 Intertoto Cup in front of Neftchi Baku, qualifying to the UEFA Cup where Vaslui defeated 5–1 on aggregate Liepājas Metalurgs, with him and Ghencev scoring two spectacular goals in the first leg, N'Doye's goal being from a 30 meters free kick, also he scored in the second leg after taking an action on his own, entering the penalty box with the ball, scoring with a dry shot from 14 meters, the campaign ending in the following round, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the away goal rule by Slavia Prague.

In January 2008, after he had a conflict with coach Viorel Moldovan, Vaslui transferred him to Dinamo București for €350.000 where he was wanted very much by coach Mircea Rednic. On 17 May 2008 he scored a brace in a 3–1 against Politehnica Timișoara which kept only Dinamo and Unirea Urziceni in the fight for the title with three rounds before the end of the season, the latter eventually winning it. In 2009 he started to form a couple in the central midfield with Djakaridja Koné, the team reaching the Europa League group stage where N'Doye made four appearances, receiving a red card in a game with Galatasaray. After scoring five goals in the first half of the 2010–11 season, he left the club after a conflict with coach Ioan Andone.

In December 2010 Astra Ploiești bought him from Dinamo for €350.000, staying with the club one year in which he scored five goals in 26 league games, leaving afterwards free of contract to return at Vaslui where he was wanted by the coach he felt was like a father to him, Viorel Hizo, having previously working together in his first spell there. He scored his first goal for Vaslui on 28 April 2011 in a 2–1 win over his former team, Astra. At the beginning of the 2012–13 season, after Wesley left at Al Hilal, coach Marius Șumudică named N'Doye the team's captain, leading the team in the third qualifying round of the Champions League against Fenerbahçe, where in the second leg, while the score was 1–1, N'Doye missed from a penalty kick, the qualification to the next round being lost as the game ended with a 4–1 defeat.

In the summer of 2013, N'Doye signed to newly promoted Liga I club, Săgeata Năvodari but left the team after half of year, moving to Liga II team, ASA Târgu Mureș which he helped earn promotion to the first league in 2014. In the 2014–15 season, the 36-year-old N'Doye made a strong couple in the central midfield with 33-year-old Gabriel Mureșan and in a 1–0 win over Steaua București from October 2014, their aggressive play injured opponents Raul Rusescu and Claudiu Keșerü, receiving harsh suspensions from the Disciplinary Commission of the Romanian Football Federation, which however were reduced after they made an appeal. By the end of the season, N'Doye was the team's top-goalscorer, managing a career-best 12 goals in 23 matches, including three doubles against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, Botoșani and CFR Cluj, helping ASA fight for the title until the last round when they were defeated 2–1 by Oțelul Galați, thus finishing on the second place, on the first being Steaua. He started the following season by having his childhood idol, Dan Petrescu as coach who used him the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 victory against Steaua from the Supercupa României. Early into 2016, N'Doye left the club without permission, but eventually returned to complete the campaign, having a total of 185 Liga I appearances with 32 goals scored and 20 games with three goals in European competitions (including two appearances in the Intertoto Cup).

On 12 August 2016 he signed with Liga III's Cetate Deva where in April 2017 after the dismissal of coach Viorel Tănase, he was the team's caretaker coach. In late September 2018, N'Doye joined for a short while amateurs CSM Târgu Mureș in Liga IV.

International career
Ousmane N'Doye was considered by coach Bruno Metsu to be part of Senegal's squad for the 2002 World Cup, but eventually he was not selected. N'Doye made his debut for the national team on 30 March 2003 under coach Guy Stéphan in a 0–0 against Gambia at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Stéphan also taking him to be part of the squad for the final tournament where he played in two group stage draws with Burkina Faso and Mali, the team reaching the quarter-finals where they were defeated by Tunisia without N'Doye playing. He played one game at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, then he made six appearances with one goal scored in a 5–1 win over Burkina Faso at the successful 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, being selected by coach Henryk Kasperczak to be part of the squad for the final tournament where he played in a 2–2 with Tunisia, the team being unable to pass the group stage. In the following years he played four games at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team on 1 April 2009 in a friendly which ended 1–1 with Iran, having a total of 27 matches with one goal scored for the Lions of Teranga.

International goals

 * Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Ousmane N'Doye goal.

Personal life
Ousmane N'Doye claims that during his childhood, his favorite player was Chelsea's Dan Petrescu and while he was playing football with his friends, he would write the name Petrescu with the number 2 on the back of his shirt, calling his team "Romania", especially after seeing the team's performance at the 1994 World Cup. He eventually got to play in Romania and worked for a while with Petrescu as his coach at ASA Târgu Mureș. During his years spent in Romania, thanks to his charisma and eccentric style, he would get very much media attention, offering funny moments in front of the camera like a conversation after a meeting on an airport with actor Florin Piersic.

In April 2015, after a 1–0 away victory of ASA Târgu Mureș against Steaua București which helped his side reach the first position with five rounds before the end of the season, N'Doye said some ironies against his opponents in front of the cameras:"In one leg I beat them, I didn't practice after the match with CFR, until today. Neither I, nor Muri (n.r. Mureșan), we both played in one leg, because we are injured (...) Give me the number of Andra, Măruță's wife, because she has a song that was like this match: Steaua - Târgu Mureș - "Paper Plane". Paper plane was this match. I also send her a message: Andra, I like your song very much! Măruță, don't be upset! (...) Look what a team we have! We are people of 30 or so years, people say that we are old, but you know how they say: the old hen makes good soup.". Shortly afterwards, he and singer Andra exchanged t-shirts, he gave her a jersey with his name and number from ASA Târgu Mureș and she gave him a t-shirt and also a key ring with her face on them, in the following round N'Doye celebrating the scoring of a goal in the 6–1 win over Viitorul Constanța by showing the t-shirt, also appearing with it at the interviews with the reporters after the game. However, they lost the title in front of Steaua in the final round of the season, Steaua's players celebrating by listening to the "Paper Plane" song in the changing room, Fernando Varela impersonating N'Doye as a return of the ironies he made to them.

N'Doye was also a player who was not afraid of showing his emotions, as after Dinamo lost with 3–0 in front of Slovan Liberec in the first leg of the play-off for the group stage of the 2009–10 Europa League, he said in an interview:"If we can beat 4–0? 5–0 we will give them there." Even do he did not play in the second leg, the team fulfilled "The wonder from Liberec" after winning the match with 3–0, qualifying after the penalty shoot-out, N'Doye being seen crying of happiness after the game. Also on 31 October 2015, just one day after the Colectiv nightclub fire from Bucharest which killed many people, N'Doye scored the decisive goal of ASA Târgu Mureș's 2–1 win over Concordia Chiajna, then showed a t-shirt with the message:"Condoleanțe românilor" (Condolences to the Romanians), crying afterwards, also starting to cry at the dialogue with the reporters after the game where he said:"I was affected by everything that happened. Even though I'm talking, I feel like crying because...To see the people on TV today...it was...I prayed for them all day before the game and I promised to score. That's why I did this".

His life outside the field gained very much attention in Romania, N'Doye being known for being late at team reunions, indiscipline moments, having conflicts with his teammates and also for liking to go out in clubs, including appearing on stage with rappers Puya and Akon. In 2008, Vaslui teammate Marian Aliuță nicknamed him "Osmănescu", a nickname he was proud of, saying in a jokingly manner over the years spent in Romania that he would like to gain citizenship and change his name to "Mihai Osmănescu" because he liked the country very much. In 2010 after scoring a goal for Dinamo in a 2–1 win over FCM Târgu Mureș, he celebrated by putting on a pink butterfly mask, claiming he did that to entertain his daughter, earning the nickname "Pink Panther" from his teammates. Also in 2010 he appeared in the "Be free" video of Smiley's band Radio Killer alongside former Romanian international footballer, Ioan Lupescu and former tennis ATP number 1, Ilie Năstase.

N'Doye's younger brother, Dame, was also an international footballer. Ousmane is a very good friend of Brazilian Wesley with whom he was colleague at Penafiel and Vaslui, saying in an interview that if he would ever have a son, he would consider naming the child Wesley.

Honours
Jeanne d'Arc Toulouse Vaslui ASA Târgu Mureș
 * Senegal Premier League: 1999, 2001, 2002
 * Senegalese Super Cup: 2001
 * Ligue 2: 2002–03
 * Intertoto Cup: 2008
 * Supercupa României: 2015