Where ex-Wigan Athletic and Hull City star Mo Diame is playing now may surprise you | OneFootball

Mo Diame was a top player for both Hull City and Wigan Athletic, but supporters of both clubs may be surprised to see where he is now

Football League sides Hull City and Wigan Athletic, now of the Championship and League One respectively, have each spent time in the Premier League, while the last time they locked horns in the top flight came in May 2010, when they played out a 2-2 draw at the Brick Community Stadium.

The Tigers endured a difficult 2009/10 campaign, and suffered relegation back to the second tier, while the Latics avoided the drop to the Championship by a margin of six points on that occasion.

Hull's eventual promotion back to the Premier League that time around, arrived at the end of the 2012/13 season and therefore coincided with Wigan's relegation from the top flight.

The Yorkshire side and their Greater Manchester counterparts would not have another league meeting until September 2018, when the Latics ran out as 2-1 victors, courtesy of strikes from Sam Morsy and Josh Windass, while it was Jarrod Bowen who bagged the Tigers' consolation goal.

Meanwhile, the latest player to add himself to the list of those who have played for both the Tigers and the Tics was defender Charlie Hughes, who left the League One club in favour of the Championship outfit last summer.

Over the years, the likes of former Egypt international Amr Zaki and Mo Diame have plied their trade for both clubs, while supporters of either side will be surprised to hear of Diame's latest exploits.

Former Wigan Athletic and Hull City star Diame plays in the second tier of Qatari football

It would be fair to say that the ex-Senegal international has had a rather unusual footballing journey, having started his career in France with the Lens B team in 2005, before moving to Linares two years later.

The Andulusian outfit dissolved in 2009, but Diame jumped ship just in time, as he joined better-known Spanish side Rayo Vallecano ahead of the 2008/09 La Liga 2 campaign.

He spent just one year with Vallecano, before joining the Latics, and perhaps he fit right in at his new club due to the presence of then-new manager Roberto Martinez, who adopted a style of possession-based football more commonly seen in Spain than in England at the time.

Diame gave the Tics three seasons of service in the Premier League, helping them avoid relegation every time, most notably during the 2011/12 campaign, during which the Greater Manchester side won seven out of their last nine games to avoid the drop, including triumphs away at Liverpool, and at home to Manchester United.

He spent a further three years in the top tier with West Ham United, before moving on to the Tigers, for whom he spent a season each in both the Premier League and the Championship.

Diame, already a former fan favourite at the Latics, etched himself into Tigers folklore too, when he scored during a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the 2016 Championship play-off final.

However, his days in the second tier were not over yet, as he joined Newcastle United, who were freshly relegated from the Premier League, ahead of the 2016/17 campaign.

He helped the North East giants on their way to the Championship title, and spent a further two seasons at St James' Park in the top flight, before moving on to the Qatar Stars League, to play for Al-Ahli.

Diame then returned to Spain once more, and plied his trade for Fuenlabrada for two seasons, before moving back to Qatar to join up with current club Al-Sailiya, who ply their trade in the second tier, which may surprise Tigers and Latics fans given his Premier League exploits.

Diame was a class act for both the Latics and the Tigers

Supporters of the Tics will fondly remember Diame for the fact that he helped enable their side to avoid relegation to the second tier for three successive seasons, although his best-ever Premier League return for the club was an unspectacular tally of one goal and three assists.

Meanwhile, the Tigers faithful will forever be grateful for the fact that he notched 10 goals and four assists for them on their way to the 2016 Championship play-off final, in which he was the hero.