Cissé, top scorer in the French Ligue 1 in the 2001-2002

Djibril Cissé (born 12 August 1981 in Arles, France) is a French international football player who plays as a striker for both France and Liverpool. He is noted particularly for his speed, acceleration and his dyed hair. Cissé signed for the French club Auxerre at the age of 15, and made his international debut against Belgium in May 2002. He won the French Cup with Auxerre in May 2003, and the Confederations Cup with France a month later.

Cissé was also the top scorer in the French Ligue 1 in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 season scored 70 goals in 128 league games for Auxerre before signing for Liverpool in a deal worth over £14 million. Liverpool had pursued Cissé for a long time, and it was an open secret that the then Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier admired Cissé's qualities. At Liverpool, Cissé scored 5 goals in 23 first-team games in all competitions for Liverpool in the 2004-05 season. He had only played 19 games for Liverpool when he broke his left leg playing against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on October 30, 2004.

The injury was not a result of a tackle as was initially thought, but rather from an awkward fall as his foot appeared to be caught in the turf. Cissé later revealed that had it not been for prompt attention from the trainers at the stadium (who had to pull his bones back into place with their hands), he would probably have lost the leg below the knee. He had pins inserted in the leg, and was expected to be out of action for the rest of the 2004-05 season. However, it was reported in late March 2005 that Cissé's recovery had advanced enough to enable him to return to action by the end of the season.

This indeed happened on April 13, when Cissé came on as a substitute in the 75th minute of the second leg of Liverpool's Champions League quarter-final tie with Juventus. He went on to score both Liverpool goals in their last Premiership match of the season, a 2-1 win over Aston Villa, and also converted one of the penalties in Liverpool's penalty shootout win over AC Milan in the Champions League final. In June 2005, Djibril Cissé married Jude Littler, a Welsh hairdressing consultant from Angelsey.

The wedding took place at Bodelwyddan Castle, with notable guests including Cissé's French national team mates, Louis Saha, Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Zinedine Zidane as well as others such as the then Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. In October 2005, they announced they were expecting their first child.

Cisse, originally a Muslim converted to Christianity. In October, 2005 he accepted a caution for hitting a 15-year-old boy in Docklands, East London while filming an advert. In January 2006, he supposedly admitted asaulting his wife Jude, and accepted a caution for common assault. It has later been proved wrong, as Cissé had been mistaken for his neighbour by british tabloids. Cissé purchased a house in Frodsham in Cheshire soon after his transfer to Liverpool.

With the house came an honorary title so he is now officially an English lord. Shortly after the house purchase he closed a previously well-used route through his property thereby stopping the local hunt from continuing its activities.