Ali Dia born Dakar, 20 August 1965, is a former Senegalese footballer who once played for English FA Premier League club Southampton, after falsely claiming to be a Senegalese international.
After a playing career at the lower levels in France and Germany, and having already had failed trials at Port Vale, Gillingham and Bournemouth, Dia was signed by Southampton manager Graeme Souness in 1996, after Souness received a phone call purporting to be from Liberian international and former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah. "Weah" told Souness that Dia was his cousin, had played for Paris Saint-Germain and had played 13 times for his country. In actual fact, none of this was true, and the phone call was from Dia's agent. Nonetheless, Souness was convinced, and signed Dia on a one-month contract.
Dia played just one game for Southampton, against Leeds United on November 23, 1996. He was originally scheduled to play in a reserve friendly against Arsenal, but the match was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch. In the match against Leeds, he came on as a substitute for Matthew Le Tissier after 32 minutes but his performance was spectacularly below Premier League quality; many would say that Dia was the worst player to ever play for Southampton. He himself suffered a substitution (by Ken Monkou) after playing for 53 minutes. Leeds won the match 2-0.
Dia was released by Southampton two weeks into his contract. He briefly played for non-league Gateshead, before fading into obscurity.
He has achieved a notorious status amongst English football fans for his lack of ability, and is regularly featured in lists of bad players or bad transfers.
Ali Dia wore shirt number 33 on his one and only appearance for the Saints.
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