Laurent Blanc

Laurent Blanc

Personal information
Full name	Laurent Robert Blanc
Date of birth	19 November 1965 (1965-11-19) (age 45)
Place of birth	Alès, France
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Sweeper
Club information
Current club	France (manager)
Youth career
1981–1983	Montpellier
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1983–1991	Montpellier	251	(76)
1991–1992	Napoli	31	(6)
1992–1993	Nîmes	29	(1)
1993–1995	Saint-Étienne	70	(18)
1995–1996	Auxerre	24	(2)
1996–1997	Barcelona	28	(1)
1997–1999	Marseille	79	(17)
1999–2001	Internazionale	67	(6)
2001–2003	Manchester United	48	(1)
Total		627	(129)
National team
1989–2000	France	97	(16)
Teams managed
2007–2010	Bordeaux
2010–	France
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965 in Alès) is a French football manager and former player. He is the head coach of the French national team, having replaced Raymond Domenech in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[1] He was previously the manager of Bordeaux. Blanc formerly played professional football for numerous clubs, notably Montpellier, Barcelona, Marseille, Internazionale, and Manchester United, often operating in the sweeper position. He is also a former French international, playing in several international tournaments, which includes the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, both of which France won. On 28 June 1998, Blanc scored the first golden goal in World Cup history against Paraguay. Blanc has the nickname Le Président, which was given to him following his stint at Marseille in tribute to his leadership skills.^[2][3]

Club career

Early years

Laurent Blanc's career started in Montpellier, where he signed his first professional contract in 1983. A very technical player, he played as an offensive midfielder and helped Montpellier get promoted to Division 1 in 1987. Only a few years later did he settle as a defender following the advice from Michel Mézy, a position in which his physical stature (1.91 m, 82 kg) and his temper would prove invaluable. His game being perfectly fitted for the French league, he managed to score at least 12 goals in every season at Montpellier, for the most part penalties and headers. He also won the Coupe de France in 1990, scoring a goal in the final.

Domestic success

In 1991, Blanc tried a first experience abroad when he left Montpellier for Napoli in the Italian Serie A. Despite a decent season during which he managed to score six goals, he felt like he could not fully express his potential and returned to France after just one year, to Nîmes and then Saint Étienne, where again he not only imposed himself as one of the best defenders in the league, but also scored goals (13 in his last season with Saint-Étienne). Saint-Étienne, however, were struggling at the time and got almost relegated, only staying up because Marseille were not allowed to return to Division 1 because of their financial difficulties.

Guy Roux, impressed by Blanc and looking for a replacement for Dutch international Frank Verlaat, convinced him to join Auxerre in 1995. Despite injuring himself early in the season, Blanc came back strongly and played a great part in Auxerre's double that year.

Barcelona

Laurent Blanc's performances on the pitch, emphasized by Auxerre's success, drew the attention of several big European clubs. He finally signed for Barcelona. That second abroad experience turned out not to be as successful as he could have hoped. Johan Cruyff, who had wanted Blanc and persuaded him to sign for Barça, was sacked on the very day Blanc agreed to join the club. Blanc won the Supercopa de España against Atlético Madrid, but injured himself quickly afterwards. He came back and played regularly but was sent off during the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final against AIK, then injured himself again against Extremadura, which forced him to miss the Clásico and the Cup Winners' Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain. After this disappointing season and only one year away from the World Cup, he decided to leave.

The "President"

Rolland Courbis managed to convince Blanc to join Marseille, which proved beneficial for both Marseille and Blanc. Blanc quickly became a leader in a Marseille side desperately lacking confidence, and helped them reach an honourable fourth place for his first season, scoring 11 goals and earning the nickname Le Président (the President) in the process. The season following the World Cup was both successful and frustrating for Blanc and Marseille, as they finished runners-up in the championship, only one point shy of Bordeaux, and reached the UEFA Cup final, only to lose 3–0 to Parma, with Hernán Crespo intercepting Blanc's back pass to Stéphane Porato to score the opener.

He then left Marseille for Internazionale, where he enjoyed some success in defence, even winning the Pirata d'Oro (Inter Player of the Year) in 2000.

Manchester United

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had attempted to lure Blanc several times since 1996 and finally succeeded in 2001. Despite his age of 35 years, Blanc was brought in to replace the departing Jaap Stam. He was criticised for poor performances in the early months of his stay at Old Trafford. This was compounded when United suffered their first five losses of the season to Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Chelsea (coincidentally, the first letters of each team spell out "BLANC").^[4][5] He retired two years later, having helped his club to the 2002–03 Premier League crown. He scored four goals during his time at Manchester United. One of these came in the league against Tottenham Hotspur,^[6] and the other three all came in the Champions League in games against Olympiacos^[7] and Boavista (both home^[8] and away)^[9].

International career

Laurent Blanc won the 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, beating Greece in the final. On 7 February 1989, he made his debut for the national team against Ireland.

France, then in reconstruction after the retirement of numerous key players, did not manage to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. Shortly after that, they started an impressive 19-game unbeaten streak, including eight wins out of eight in Euro 1992 qualifying, making them one of the favorites to win the competition. They would, however, get knocked out in the pool stage by eventual winners Denmark.

After France inexplicably failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, Laurent Blanc was heavily criticised, as well the rest of the team, and he subsequently decided to retire from international football. Aimé Jacquet, after taking over the managerial position of the national team, made it one of his priorities to convince Blanc to change his mind. Blanc then became one of the key players of this new French squad which reached the semi-finals of the Euro 96, only to lose to Czech Republic in a penalty shoot-out.

That same team then entered the 1998 World Cup, which was held on home soil. Blanc was exemplary during the competition and, on June 28, 1998, he scored against Paraguay in the Round of 16 the first ever golden goal in World Cup history. He would, however, miss the final after being sent off in the semi-final against Croatia for elbowing Slaven Bilić, although replays showed that Bilić had clearly feigned the injury, earning the Croatian heavy criticism afterwards. The sending off was the first (and only) red card of Blanc's professional career.

Blanc was also part of the team that won the UEFA Euro 2000 during which, despite having been criticised for his age and lack of speed during the qualifications, he proved reliable in defence and even scored a goal against Denmark in the group stage.

He announced his retirement from international football after the Euro, following the example of his captain Didier Deschamps.

Blanc was also well-known for kissing good friend and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's head before the start of every match, supposedly for good luck (the two did repeat this ritual when they played together for Manchester United, but only for Champions League matches). Overall, he recorded 97 caps and scored 16 goals.

In 2006, the readers of France Football magazine voted him the fourth best French player of all time behind Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, and Raymond Kopa.

Career as a manager

On 8 June 2007, Blanc was named the new manager of Bordeaux, replacing Brazilian Ricardo. For his first season on the bench, he led Bordeaux to a very good second place in the league and won the Manager of the Year award. His second season was extremely successful, as Bordeaux won the final 11 games of the season, setting a new French record for consecutive wins,^[10] and clinched the 2008–09 Ligue 1 championship title, three points clear of Marseille, having already won the Coupe de la Ligue that year. Blanc was again nominated for Manager of the Year but lost to Marseille's Eric Gerets.

On 16 May 2010, Blanc confirmed his departure from Bordeaux after three seasons in charge of the French outfit. After resigning from his position, Blanc contacted the French Football Federation to inquire about the France national team job, which was eventually vacated by Raymond Domenech following the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Later that day, FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes confirmed that Blanc was a candidate for the position. On 18 May 2010, with Blanc's appointment to the position becoming more probable, Bordeaux chairman Jean-Louis Triaud demanded compensation from the Federation. On 20 May 2010, the club reached an agreement with the Federation for €1.5 million.^[11][12] On 26 June, French media confirmed that Blanc had signed a two-year contract with the Federation and will lead the team to UEFA Euro 2012. The deal was finalized a week later and Blanc was officially named as manager of the team on 2 July.^[13][14] Blanc's first move as manager was to suspend all 23 players from the 2010 World Cup squad from his first game, as collective punishment for a number of negative incidents involving the squad occurred at the competition.^[15] On 11 August 2010, in his first game as manager, France lost 1-2 to Norway at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.^[16]

Honours

Player

Club

Montpellier

• Coupe de France (1): 1989-90

Barcelona

• Supercopa de España (1): 1996
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1996-97

Auxerre

• Division 1 (1): 1995-96
• Coupe de France (1): 1995-96

Manchester United

• Premier League (1): 2002-03

International

France U-21

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship (1): 1988

France

• FIFA World Cup (1): 1998
• UEFA European Football Championship (1): 2000

Individual

• 1990 French Player of the Year
• 1996 UEFA Euro All-Star Team
• 1998 Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur^[17][18]
• 2000 Internazionale Player Of The Year (Pirata d'oro)^[19]
• 2000 UEFA Euro All-Star Team
• 2004 Trophée d'honneur UNFP
• 2009 French Manager of the Year

Manager

Bordeaux

• Ligue 1 (1): 2008-09
• Coupe de la Ligue (1): 2008-09
• Trophée des Champions (2): 2008, 2009

Statistics

Player

^{[20] [21]}

^{[22] [23]}

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	18 November 1989	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse, France	Cyprus	2 – 0	2–0	1990 World Cup Qualification
2	21 January 1990	Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	Kuwait	0 – 1	0–1	Friendly
3	20 February 1991	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	Spain	3 – 1	3–1	Euro '92 Qualification
4	14 August 1991	Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland	Poland	1 – 4	1–5	Friendly
5	17 February 1993	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel	Israel	0 – 2	0–4	1994 World Cup Qualification
6	17 February 1993	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel	Israel	0 – 3	0–4	1994 World Cup Qualification
7	8 September 1993	Ratina Stadion, Tampere, Finland	Finland	0 – 1	0–2	1994 World Cup Qualification
8	26 April 1995	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France	Slovakia	3 – 0	4–0	Euro '96 Qualification
9	1 June 1996	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart, Germany	Germany	0 – 1	0–1	Friendly
10	18 June 1996	St James' Park, Newcastle, England	Bulgaria	1 – 0	3–1	Euro '96 Group Stage
11	9 October 1996	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	Turkey	1 – 0	4–0	Friendly
12	25 February 1998	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France	Norway	1 – 1	3–3	Friendly
13	29 May 1998	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca, Morocco	Morocco	1 – 1	2–2	Hassan II Trophy
14	28 June 1998	Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens, France	Paraguay	1 – 0	1–0	1998 World Cup Round of 16
15	26 April 2000	Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France	Slovenia	2 – 2	3–2	Friendly
16	11 June 2000	Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium	Denmark	1 – 0	3–0	Euro 2000 Group Stage

Managerial stats

Last updated 2 June 2009

Nat	Team	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %	GF	GA	+/-
	Bordeaux	2007	2010	150	90	32	28	60%	248	153	+95
	France	2010		1	0	1	0	0%	1	2	−1
Total Career				78	47	18	13	60.26%	134	74	+60

References

External links

• Laurent Blanc career stats at Soccerbase

France squads France squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Martini • 2 Amoros (c) • 3 Silvestre • 4 Petit • 5 Blanc • 6 Casoni • 7 Deschamps • 8 Sauzée • 9 Papin • 10 Fernández • 11 Perez • 12 Cocard • 13 Boli • 14 Durand • 15 Divert • 16 Vahirua • 17 Garde • 18 Cantona • 19 Rousset • 20 Angloma • Coach: Platini France squad – UEFA Euro 1996 semi-finalists 1 Lama • 2 Angloma • 3 Di Meco • 4 Leboeuf • 5 Blanc • 6 Guérin • 7 Deschamps (c) • 8 Desailly • 9 Djorkaeff • 10 Zidane • 11 Loko • 12 Lizarazu • 13 Dugarry • 14 Lamouchi • 15 Thuram • 16 Barthez • 17 Madar • 18 Pedros • 19 Karembeu • 20 Roche • 21 Martins • 22 Martini • Coach: Jacquet France squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Lama • 2 Candela • 3 Lizarazu • 4 Vieira • 5 Blanc • 6 Djorkaeff • 7 Deschamps (c) • 8 Desailly • 9 Guivarc'h • 10 Zidane • 11 Pirès • 12 Henry • 13 Diomède • 14 Boghossian • 15 Thuram • 16 Barthez • 17 Petit • 18 Leboeuf • 19 Karembeu • 20 Trezeguet • 21 Dugarry • 22 Charbonnier • Coach: Jacquet France squad – UEFA Euro 2000 Winners (2nd title) 1 Lama • 2 Candela • 3 Lizarazu • 4 Vieira • 5 Blanc • 6 Djorkaeff • 7 Deschamps (c) • 8 Desailly • 9 Anelka • 10 Zidane • 11 Pirès • 12 Henry • 13 Wiltord • 14 Micoud • 15 Thuram • 16 Barthez • 17 Petit • 18 Leboeuf • 19 Karembeu • 20 Trezeguet • 21 Dugarry • 22 Ramé • Coach: Lemerre