Laurent Paganelli

Paganelli (left) at work for Canal + in 2008

Laurent Paganelli (born October 20, 1962 in Aubenas ) is a former French football player who made his debut in 1978 at the age of 15 years, ten months and five days, making him the youngest player in the history of French Ligue 1 . In 1997 he began a second career as a sports journalist .

Player career

The 168 centimeter tall midfielder Paganelli grew up in the southern French city of Avignon and played there for five years for the youth teams of a club called MJC Avignon . Thanks to his achievements, the then 15-year-old was appointed to the French U-16 squad for the Montaigu tournament in 1978 . Through his appearances at the tournament, he aroused the interest of numerous clubs and was then considered the "great talent" of French football; his parents and representatives of the club from Avignon ultimately helped the youngster to move to the first division club AS Saint-Étienne , which took place in the summer of 1978. Despite his young age, he received an employment contract with a monthly salary of 2,000 francs and was a member of the professional squad. On August 25, 1978, he came in a first division game against Paris Saint-Germain as a replacement for the injured Dominique Rocheteau at halftime and became the youngest first division player of all time at 15 years, ten months and five days. He was nicknamed petit Mozart (little Mozart) for his playing style . However, for the attacking midfielder, who belonged to various youth national teams, there were no more than sporadic appointments to the first team between 1978 and 1980. During this time he continued to play for both the reserve and the youth team, so the burden was equal to that of a permanent professional despite his rare appearances in the first division.

In the 1980/81 season he made his breakthrough at Saint-Étienne and he ran regularly in the top French league. So he was part of the team that won the French championship in 1981. In addition to his first title win at national level, he made the leap with his club into the national cup final in 1981 , which, however, did not bring a second title due to a 2-1 defeat against the SEC Bastia . He also made his debut at European level during the same season. Then he lost ground again within the team, but was still allowed to contest the cup final in 1982 , where he failed for the second time due to a possible win of the trophy. After that, he did not make a permanent return to the regular eleven and also experienced a black money affair around his club. In 1983 he turned his back on Saint-Étienne and had played more league games for the second than for the first team in his five years there. He later justified the unfulfilled expectations with “lack of professionalism” and high pressure that he was exposed to from the media.

In the same year he had offers from SC Toulon and AJ Auxerre . He decided to switch to the first division club from Toulon, as he preferred the south of France, where he grew up, for private reasons. At Toulon he first became a regular player and was also regularly called up in the following seasons, although he was no longer set from 1984. With the team, he shuttled between relegation battle and battle for European places, whereby neither the entry into the European Cup nor the fall into the second division became a reality, until he left the club in 1988 and thus at the age of 25 also the first class.

Following his departure from Toulon, he signed with the second division club FC Grenoble . He was on the field a few times for Grenoble, but gave up his activity there after a few weeks. In his hometown Avignon he got a new chance at the also second-rate club Olympique Avignon and ran in the second division again in the 1990/91 season. In 1991, at the age of 28, he finally ended his career after 164 first division games with 28 goals and 32 second division games with three goals. The player, who, despite the early start of his career, could not establish himself permanently, was denied an appointment to the French national team .

Life after the active time

After the end of his career, the former professional returned to his youth club MJC Avignon , where he then devoted himself as a supervisor to young people to help them out of difficult life situations. In 1997 Paganelli was hired as a sports commentator for the private television broadcaster Canal + and remained in this position for a long time. Due to his popularity in his job, he was also allowed to take on the role of commentator in the game Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 . In addition, he received a post as an employee of Laurent Ruquier at the radio station Europe 1 and joined the conservative UMP in local politics in Avignon.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Laurent Paganelli: "Je suis resté dans un trou noir"
2. ↑ Laurent Paganelli ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , afterfoot.fr 
3. ↑ Biography Laurent PAGANELLI , asse-live.com
4. ↑ Laurent Paganelli - Fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
5. ↑ PAGANELLI Laurent , anciensverts.com