Jean Tigana

Football player infobox| playername= Jean Tigana
fullname = Jean Amadou Tigana
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1955|6|23
cityofbirth = Bamako
countryofbirth = Mali
height = height|m=1.68
currentclub =
position = Midfielder
youthyears = 1965–1972
1972–1974
1974–1975
youthclubs = ASPTT Marseille
SO Les Caillols
Cassis
years = 1975–1978
1978–1981
1981–1989
1989–1991
clubs = Sporting Toulon Var
Olympique Lyonnais
Girondins de Bordeaux
Olympique Marseille
caps(goals) = 076 (10)
104 (15)
251 (11)
056 0(0)
nationalyears = 1980–1988
nationalteam = France
nationalcaps(goals) = 052 0(1)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =
manageryears = 1993–1995
1995–1999
2000–2003
2005–2007
managerclubs = Olympique Lyonnais
AS Monaco
Fulham F.C.
Beşiktaş J.K.

Jean Amadou Tigana (born 23 June 1955 in Bamako, Mali) is a football manager and former player, having played in midfield and managed professional football extensively throughout France, including 52 appearances and 1 goal for the France national football team during the 1980s.

Playing career

Tigana started his professional career as a player at Toulon, having been spotted fairly late playing part-time while employed in a spaghetti factory and then as a postman. He moved to Lyon in 1978 and then to Bordeaux in a $4million transfer. He was part of the French national football team that won the European Championship in 1984, defeating Spain in the final. In Bordeaux's midfield for eight years, Tigana helped them to three league titles and three French cups, as well as taking them close to European glory on two occasions, losing in the semi-final of the European Cup and Cup Winners' Cup in 1985 and 1987 respectively.

He moved in 1989 to Olympique Marseille, and ended his career there following the 1990/91 season.

As an international, he joined Michel Platini, Luis Fernandez and Alain Giresse in what was termed "the Magic Square" (le Carre Magique) - one of the great midfield foursomes of all time.

Jean has now taken a break from football management and currently resides in Salzburg with his wife and three kids.

Managerial career

For his first managerial role, Tigana returned to Lyon, coaching them form 1993–1995, before moving on to AS Monaco, where he remained until 1999.

He took over as manager of English club Fulham F.C. in 2000 and helped them to promotion from the Football League First Division to the Premiership, and later the UEFA Cup (via the Intertoto Cup), but was sacked in April 2003.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Tigana sacked by Fulham
work =
publisher = The Scotsman
date = 18 April 2007
url = http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=446362003
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-11-09 ] The club later took him to court, claiming he had wrongly overpaid for certain players such as Steve Marlet, but the charges were dropped. Tigana then took Fulham to court for wrongful dismissal and won, winning a payout of over £2 million.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Fayed must pay £2.5m to ex-Fulham manager
work =
publisher = The Independent
date = 13 November 2004
url = http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article20102.ece
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-11-09 ]

In October 2005, he signed a two and a half year contract with Turkish side Beşiktaş. During that same season, Beşiktaş won their first Turkish Cup in eight years.

Immediately after winning the 2007 Turkish Cup, Tigana announced that he was to leave Beşiktaş at the end of the season. He left Beşiktaş with two games to play, after a contract termination agreement with club board. After a short period out of the game, he was interviewed for the vacant managers job at Leicester City, but lost out to Ian Holloway.

External links

* [http://www.euro2004.co.uk/players_past/490_jean_tigana.html A Profile]
*http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheJoueur9660.html
*http://www.fff.fr/servfff/historique/historique.php?cherche_joueur=TIGANA&submit=go

References