Matam, Senegal

Mamadou Niang (born 13 October 1979 in Matam, Senegal) is a Senegalese football forward. Niang plays for Ligue 1 team Olympique de Marseille and has represented Senegal at international level at the 2004,[1] 2006,[2] and 2008[3] African Cup of Nations. fter beginning his career with the Le Havre youth team, Niang turned professional at 18 years of age with Troyes. He had a mixed beginning to his career with his first season featuring ten Ligue 1 starts, all from the bench, the following season would show little improvement with 17 starts and only 3 league goals. A loan period with second division Metz would allow him to hone his skills, contributing 5 goals in 12 appearances and helping Metz return to top flight french football for the 2003-04 season. Jean Fernandez, the Metz manager, tried to make the loan deal into a permanent move but failed and Niang would leave Troyes for Strasbourg. The arrival of Danijel Ljuboja, to Strasbourg, at the same time would allow Niang to form an important strike partnership. At least until Ljuboja would move to Paris Saint-Germain. Niang would not score again for the remainder of the second half of that season. The 2004-05 season would see Mickaël Pagis arrive at Strasbourg, and a fruitful new partnership would be formed, with the pair linking up for 27 goals in the league. This partnership would help Strasbourg make it to the Coupe de la Ligue final, where victory over Caen gave Strasbourg their second Coupe de la Ligue trophy. In 2005 <b>...</b>