Thierry Henry

Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional footballer who plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.

Henry was born in Les Ulis, Essonne (a suburb of Paris) where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Serie A defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £11 million in 1999.

It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premier League, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the Gunners; he was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year twice, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to Barcelona for a fee of €24 million. His first honours with the Catalan club came in 2009 when they won the league, cup and Champions League treble. He went on to achieve an unprecedented sextuple by also winning the Spanish Supercup, the UEFA Supercup and the Club World Cup. In total, Henry has been named in the UEFA Team of the Year five times. In 2010, he joined New York Red Bulls.

Henry enjoyed similar success with the French national team, having won the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000 and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Henry retired from international football after the 2010 World Cup. Off the pitch, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football, partially due to his own experiences. He married English model Nicole Merry in 2003 and had a daughter with her, but they divorced in 2007. Henry was also one of the top commercially marketed footballers; he was ranked ninth in the world in 2006. [source : Henry]

Thierry Henry Wallpapers

 

Raymond Kopa

Raymond Kopa (born Kopaszewski, on October 13, 1931 in Nœux-les-Mines, Pas-de-Calais), is a former French football striker, integral to the French national team of the 1950s. He was a great and versatile playmaker, who also scored plenty of goals.

Born into a family of Polish immigrants, Kopa began his professional career at the age of 17 with SCO Angers in France's second level, and was transferred two years later to Stade de Reims, with whom he won French championships in 1953 and 1955. He helped Reims reach the first European Cup final in 1956, which the team lost to Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid, 4-3.

Kopa was transferred to Real Madrid the subsequent season, where he was soon joined by Ferenc Puskás. At Real Madrid, Kopa won the Spanish league in 1957 and 1958. Kopa also became the first French player to win the European Cup when Madrid defeated Fiorentina 2-0 in the 1957 final. He would go on to be European champion again in 1958 and 1959, the last against former side Stade de Reims, where Just Fontaine played.

In the 1959-60 season, Kopa returned to France to finish his career with Reims, where he won further Championnats in 1960 and 1962. In total, he scored 75 goals in 346 matches in France's top flight, and was given the Ballon d'or by France Football in 1958.

With the France national football team, Kopa scored 18 goals in 45 games between 1952 and 1962. He played in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, where the French team finished third, losing to the Brazilian team. He was also voted as the 1958 Best Player of the Tournament and retroactively as the 1954 Best Young Player of the Tournament, being the only footballer to receive both honours. 

[source : Kopa]

Just Fontaine

Just "Justo" Fontaine (born 18 August 1933 in Marrakech, French Morocco) is a former French football player whose father was Moroccan and mother was Spanish.

He holds the record for most goals scored in a single FIFA World Cup finals tournament, with 13 in 1958. He has also scored the fourth most goals of any player in the World Cup finals overall, beaten only by Ronaldo, who scored fifteen goals (in four World Cup tournaments), Gerd Müller (in two World Cup tournaments) and Miroslav Klose (in three World Cup tournaments), who both scored fourteen goals. Although France did not win the 1958 World Cup, Fontaine became the second player after Alcides Ghiggia to score in every match of a World Cup.

Though born in Marrakech, he moved to Casablanca, where he attended the Lycée Lyautey.

Fontaine began his amateur career at USM Casablanca, where he played from 1950 to 1953. Nice recruited him in 1953, and he went on to score 44 goals in three seasons for the club. In 1956, he moved on to Stade de Reims where he teamed up with Raymond Kopa, Kopa went to Real Madrid in 1958, Fontaine scored 121 goals in six seasons at the Stade de Reims. In total, Fontaine scored 165 goals in 200 matches in the Ligue 1, and twice won the championship; in 1958 and 1960.

Wearing the blue shirt of France, Fontaine's statistics are even more impressive. On his debut with the team on 17 December 1953, Fontaine scored a hat trick as France defeated Luxembourg 8-0. In seven years, he scored 30 goals in 21 matches for the national team. However, Fontaine will best be remembered for his 1958 FIFA World Cup performance, where he scored 13 goals in just six matches—a feat which included putting four past the defending champions West Germany. It was also the highest number of goals ever scored by one player at a single World Cup tournament - a record which still stands today. This tally secured him the Golden Boot for that tournament.

Fontaine played his last match in July 1962, being forced to retire early because of a recurring injury. He briefly managed the French national team in 1967, but was replaced after only two games, both friendlies that ended in defeats. As coach of Morocco, he led the Atlas Lions to 3rd in the 1980 African Cup of Nations, overseeing the emergence of such players as Badou Zaki, Mohammed Timoumi and Aziz Bouderbala. Morocco reached the final stage of 1982 World Cup qualifying but were beaten by Cameroon. [source : Fontaine]

Just Fontaine Pictures

Eric Cantona : King Eric

Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (born 24 May 1966) is a French actor and former footballer. He ended his professional footballing career at Manchester United where he won four Premier League titles in five years, including two League and FA Cup Doubles.

Cantona is often regarded as having played a major talismanic role in the revival of Manchester United as a footballing powerhouse and he enjoys iconic status at the club and in English football. In 2001, he was voted as Manchester United's player of the century and is affectionately nicknamed "King Eric".

Following his retirement from football, he took up a career in cinema and had a role in the 1998 film Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett, and the 2009 Looking for Eric.

In 2010, he debuts as a stage actor in Face au paradis, a French play directed by his wife - Rachida Brakni. [source : Cantona]

Cantona's Pictures

Zinedine "Zizou" Zidane : The Football Maestro

Zinedine Yazid Zidane  was born 23 June 1972 in Marseille to Smaïl and Malika, both Algerians of Kabyle descent. His parents emigrated to Paris from Algeria in 1953 from the village of Aguemone in the Kabylie region of Algeria. They moved to Marseille a few years later, where Zidane was born. Zidane describes himself as a practicing Muslim.

Zidane joined the junior team of US Saint-Henri, a local club in the La Castellane district of Marseille. At the age of 14, he participated in the first-year junior selection for the league championship, where he caught the attention of AS Cannes scout Jean Varraud. He went to Cannes for a six-week stay, but ended up remaining at the club for four years to play at the professional level. Zidane played his first Ligue 1 match at seventeen, and scored his first goal on 8 February 1991, for which he received a car as a gift from the team president. His first season with Cannes culminated in a UEFA Cup berth.

Zidane was transferred to Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup and finishing runner-up in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup in four years with the club. He played a set of midfield combinations with Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, which would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers coach Ray Harford had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which team owner Jack Walker reportedly replied, "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?."

In 1996, Zidane moved to Champions League winners Juventus for a fee of £3.2 million and won the 1996–97 Scudetto and the Intercontinental Cup, but lost the 1997 UEFA Champions League final 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund. He netted seven goals in 32 matches to help Juventus retain the Scudetto the next season and make their third consecutive UEFA Champions League final appearance, losing 1-0 to Real Madrid which would be his next destination. Juventus were runners-up in 2000–01, but were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, during which Zidane was sent off for headbutting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz.

In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a then world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire (about €70.5 million) and signed a four-year contract. He scored a famous match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrid's 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final completing this personal quadruple. The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the Spanish league title and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time. In 2004, fans voted him as the best European footballer of the previous 50 years in UEFA's fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll.

Despite scoring his first-ever hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Sevilla, Zidane's final season of club football ended trophyless. On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup, played his last home match and scored in a 3-3 draw with Villarreal CF. The squad wore commemorative jerseys with ZIDANE 2001–2006 below the club logo. [source : Zidane]

Zinedine Zidane Pictures and Wallpapers

Michel Platini

Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French former football player, manager and current president of UEFA. Platini was a member of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was voted the best player and top goalscorer. He participated in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups, reaching the semi-finals in the latter two. Platini, Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana together made up the "carré magique" (French for "magic square"), the group of midfield players that formed the heart of the French national team throughout the 1980s. He is also widely regarded as one of the best passers in football history as well as one of history's greatest free kick specialists and finishers. He holds the record for most goals (9) scored in European Championship final tournaments despite only appearing in one such tournament (1984). Despite being a midfielder, he held the national team top scorer record until striker Thierry Henry surpassed the 41 goals mark in 2007.

Platini was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 29 April 1985 and became Officier in 1988. He was the French national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. He has also been the chairman of the FIFA Technical and Development Committee, and vice-president of the French Football Federation. His Italian father Aldo was also a professional footballer and a long-time director for AS Nancy, the club where Michel started his professional career. [for detailed information visit : Platini]

Platini's Pictures