By By Zach Lowy
From Kalidou Koulibaly to Édouard Mendy to Abdou Diallo, from Nampalys Mendy to Iliman Ndiaye to Pape Gueye, we’ve seen quite a few players go from spending their entire childhood in France to representing the Senegalese national team. One of those players is none other than Ricardo William Faty.
Born in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France, on August 4, 1986, Faty was raised by a Senegalese-Vietnamese father and a Cape Verdean mother in the Parisian suburbs.
He was hooked on football from the very start and eventually earned an invitation to the nation’s top academy: the Institut national du football de Clairefontaine. After plying his trade at Clairefontaine from 1999 to 2002, Faty departed his hometown and made the move to Strasbourg, where he spent three years before eventually breaking into the first team in 2005/06.
He impressed during his 15 appearances – one of which came vs. Roma – prompting Roma to take advantage of Strasbourg’s relegation and sign him to his first-ever professional contract, paying a fee of €350,000.
Faty was able to make his presence felt in the Italian capital, playing 15 times and helping Roma win the Coppa Italia and end a six-year trophy drought, but he failed to win a regular starting spot ahead of the likes of Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perotta, and David Pizarro. It’s why he joined Bayer Leverkusen from the starting line-up. It’s why he decided to leave Italy and start a new chapter in Germany, joining Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on a two-year loan.
However, he cut his time short after just six months and joined French side Nantes, where he experienced both promotion and relegation. After returning for a year at Roma, Faty then headed east to Greek side Aris Salonica, where he was forced to depart after two seasons after the nation’s financial crisis.
He joined French side AC Ajaccio in 2012 – the same year that he switched over from France to Senegal, playing five times for the Lions of Teranga – making 50 appearances before taking his talents to Belgian side Standard Liége. He then departed for Türkiye, where he spent five seasons with Süper Lig teams Bursaspor and MKE Ankaragücü, before returning to Italy and enjoying a brief spell with Serie B side Reggina.
And after hanging up his boots in 2023 following a swan song in the French fourth tier, he’s spent his time raising his three daughters in Paris (his son is playing high school basketball in Providence, Rhode Island), working as a pundit for major French television outlets, and coaching the next top boys and girls from the Île-de-France region in Clairefontaine.
GBC Ghana spoke to Faty about a number of topics, including:
After bouncing around from Ligue 1 to Serie A to Bundesliga, what was it like making the move to Greece?
I decided to go to Greece after Roma, because I just wanted to play and enjoy football. In my second spell in Roma, I didn’t play a lot, and it was my time to play. I was already 24 years old, and when Aris called me, to be honest, I was seducted by the speech of Héctor Cúper, a famous Argentinian manager who was the coach at that time. He wanted me to come to Aris, and the project was good, because they were playing in the UEFA Europa League, and even the contract was okay. I said, ‘Why not discover a new country?’
Honestly, the first season was very nice, it met all of my expectations in terms of big games and the quality of life. I enjoyed it a lot, because I started to feel my love of football again, because when I was in Rome for my second spell, I was happy to be there, but I didn’t play a lot. Sometimes I was kind of sad, because I wanted to compete: I was a competitor.
So I went to Aris, which was nice, but then the second season started to be a mess because of the same problems I had in Türkiye: I wasn’t getting paid, the team changed a lot, the coach came and went, so it was a big mess in the second season. That’s why, after my second season, I decided to break my contract and leave. It was a pity, because I enjoyed my time there, but the second season was very difficult.
What made you decide to leave Greece and start a new journey in Ajaccio?
At the time, 2010-12, Greece was starting to experience a big economic crisis, so I only had one priority: to go back to France, to come back to Ligue 1 to play again, to enjoy, and to show my skills, and to have more visibility. Even for my family, because I was starting to have kids, so I said maybe it’s better for my family to go back to France to settle down a little bit. Then Ajaccio called me: I had some preconceived notions about Corsica, thinking that a black guy coming here would be difficult, but I think it ended up being the best two seasons of my career in terms of playing, in terms of enjoyment, in terms of environment, because I enjoyed it a lot. I played in Ligue 1 and was good there, but unfortunately, I suffered a big injury in my Achilles and was out for 6-8 months, but I really enjoyed my time there. At least in the first season, I regained my love of football, I showed myself in good shape and everything. I enjoyed my time there, but unfortunately, the team was too weak, because we didn’t have a high budget despite the good players that we had, and we went down to Ligue 2 in the second season.
Lastly, it’s been 20 years since you converted to Islam…just how important has your faith been in terms of dealing with all of the internal and external pressures that you’ve faced?
For me, it’s essential, it’s very important, because I grew up with a Muslim father and a Catholic mother. Honestly speaking, we never grew up into one religion in particular, and then my parents got separated so we lived by both of their sides and never spoke about that.
We never thought about that, so I just grew up like that, but when I became an adult, I started to think about myself, about the existence of God and everything, and for me, it was the natural way, because I discovered both religions: Christianity and Islam. I liked Islam very much, the way that you approach your life, the way you experience life, and even the struggles and the blessings, everything, it’s a good way.
I’m not going to talk about all the religion stuff, but I recognize myself in this position. I can’t say that it’s helped me a lot in my career, but maybe it’s helped me be more positive, to step back after maybe a setback, and to always be moving forward. And I think it helped me a lot also when I finished my career, because I said, ‘Okay, football has been my life until now, but it’s not all my life. You know that I have something else next, so maybe at the beginning, I took everything more personally, I got into my feelings, like when I was at Leverkusen, but now, I think more deeply. Maybe with religion, I’ve learned to cool down sometimes and move on.
