Jean Fernandez

Jean Fernandez

Jean Fernandez (born October 8, 1954 in Mostaganem , Algeria ) is a former French football player and current coach .

player

Fernandez had come to France with his parents from Algeria in 1962; the family settled in Cers in the Hérault department . As a teenager, Jean laced his boots for the neighboring AS Béziers , where he was used as a defensive midfielder in the second division from 1972 and as a professional from 1974. In 1975 he moved to Olympique Marseille , for which he played five years. The Girondins Bordeaux (1980–1982) and AS Cannes (1982–1984) followed as further career stations . For Marseille and Bordeaux he played a total of 209 games in Division 1 , including 142 (one goal) at Olympique and 67 at the Girondins. With Marseille he also won the French Cup in 1976 . With the French Olympic selection, he took part in the 1976 Olympic Games and was eliminated in the quarterfinals against the eventual winner, the GDR . Jean Fernandez is the father of a son of now full age.

Trainer

At the end of his playing career he was already working as a coach in the youth center of his club: from 1984 to July 1990 he worked in Cannes , from 1987 also as head coach of the professional football in the first and second leagues. There he formed, among other things, the young Zinédine Zidane , which he used for the first time in a league match in May 1989. This was followed by a six-month commitment at OGC Nice and from January 1992 at his old club Olympique Marseille, where he initially worked in the youth field and as an assistant to the league team. At the beginning of the 1992/93 season he was temporarily responsible for the sidelines, then returned to the second line. He had already been voted Coach of the Year in 1987 .

A few years abroad followed: from 1993 with the Saudi club Al-Nasr , which he helped to the national championship in 1994 and where he returned after a family-related interlude at Lille OSC (1994/95). Fernandez moved to Al-Shabab in February 1996, where he even won two titles (Championship of the Gulf Region in 1996 and the Saudi Cup in 1997), coached a third club from the Kingdom with Al-Wahda from July to December 1997 and finally returned to Al-Nasr , with which he won the 1998 Asian Supercup for club teams . 1998/99 secured the Tunisian club Étoile Sportive du Sahel Fernandez 'services.

The Frenchman from Algeria then returned to French professional football and coached FC Sochaux (1999–2002) one after the other , with whom he was promoted to the top league in 2001, FC Metz (2002–2005, where he was also promoted to Ligue 1 ) and Olympique Marseille in the 2005/06 season . From summer 2006 to 2011, Jean Fernandez was head coach at AJ Auxerre . In total, by the end of the 2007/08 season in France's top division he had played 413 matches in the head coach's chair, but so far - in contrast to his "Arab years" - he had not yet won a national title. From 2011 he worked at AS Nancy , where he announced his resignation in January 2013 because he was no longer able to motivate the team - after the first half of the 2012/13 season was only bottom of the table. Six months later he accepted the offer to look after the HSC Montpellier ; however, this engagement only lasted five months.

Fernandez is a coach who relies heavily on the next generation and gives young players the chance to prove themselves and develop in the "rough air". In addition to Zidane, he has also made Francileudo Silva dos Santos (already with ES du Sahel), Emmanuel Adebayor , Mamadou Niang , Franck Ribéry and Toifilou Maoulida regular players, something the fans in Metz in particular still remember with great respect. Ribéry, meanwhile converted to Islam , called Fernandez, who was his trainer again in 2005/06, in an interview as his "spiritual father".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jean Fernandez in the database of FIFA (English)