Jacques Santini

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Santini 1976 as a player

Jacques Santini (born April 25, 1952 in Delle , France ) is a French football coach and former football player . He was in charge of the French national team from 2002 to 2004.

Player career

As a twelve-year-old, the future French national coach had played in the youth of Fesches-le-Châtel before he moved to AS Saint-Étienne in 1969 at the age of 17 , at that time the flagship club of Division 1 (now Ligue 1 ). Here the midfielder experienced many sporting highlights. His club dominated the league and was four times champion and twice cup winners in Santini's time. Outstanding was reaching the final in the 1976 European Cup , when they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich . Santini hit the inside post once. The ricochet landed on the line because the posts were still square. In 1981 Santini moved to Montpellier HSC .

Coaching career

From 1983 to 1985 he acted as a player-coach in Lisieux, then began his professional career at Toulouse FC , where he stayed until 1989. He then worked for three years at OSC Lille . Finally, in 1992, his path as a football teacher led him back to the site of his greatest successes in the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, known as "chaudron" (cauldron) and for a long time feared by all clubs that had to visit there. But when Santini came in his new role, the best years of the "Stéphanois" were long over. From December 1994 to June 1995 the FC Sochaux station followed , one of the home clubs of the native of the Territoire de Belfort .

In 1995, the French Football Association (FFF) appointed him Directeur Technique National, a responsible post that Santini held until 1997. In a similar position, he then moved to Olympique Lyon as Technical Director and laid the foundation for the Lyonnais to establish themselves among the top French and even make the leap to European heights. In 2000 he took over the coaching job here and first won the league cup in 2001 and in 2002 brought the first championship title in the club's history to central France. In 2002 he was voted coach of the year .

When national coach Roger Lemerre had to resign after the unsuccessful World Cup in Japan and South Korea in 2002 , Santini succeeded him on July 19, 2002 and won the Confederations Cup in 2003 with an only slightly changed " Equipe Tricolore " . In 2003 he was named World National Coach of the Year.

When the FFF refused to extend Santini's contract before EURO 2004 in Portugal and instead wanted to wait for the performance there, the coach announced his departure after the tournament in which France failed in the quarter-finals against eventual European champions Greece .

Even before EURO 2004, Santini had agreed on a commitment with the English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur . He brought along Dominique Cuperly, his former assistant at Olympique Lyon, who had previously worked with Guy Roux for many years, as a cotrainer . Tottenham Hotspur, long since fallen behind Arsenal and Chelsea in the competition between the big London clubs , were hoping for a renaissance, and Santini immediately announced his philosophy: “What do I ask of my footballers? Talent, ambition and perspective. I need players who are proud to wear their club's shirts and who are annoyed after defeat. "

“Jacques the Architect,” he was called in the English press, and the early successes seemed to justify the advance praise for the French, who speaks poor English. But when sporting failure set in and no longer wanted to stop, the continental system installed by Chairman Daniel Lévy with sports manager Frank Arnesen , trainer Santini and his assistant Martin Jol fell apart and proved to be the main reason for many irritations that began in November 2004 Santini's resignation.

From 2005 to 2006 Santini coached the AJ Auxerre first division team as the successor to Guy Roux .

His stations as a trainer:

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