Jean-Pierre Papin

Jean-Pierre Papin

Papin in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Jean-Pierre Papin
Date of birth	(1963-11-05) 5 November 1963
Place of birth	Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
1983–1984	INF Vichy
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1985	Valenciennes	33	(15)
1985–1986	Club Brugge	31	(20)
1986–1992	Marseille	215	(134)
1992–1994	Milan	40	(18)
1994–1996	Bayern Munich	27	(3)
1996–1998	Bordeaux	55	(22)
1998–1999	Guingamp	10	(3)
1999–2001	Saint-Pierroise	27	(13)
Total		438	(228)
National team
1986–1995	France	54	(30)
Teams managed
2004–2006	Bassin d'Arcachon
2006–2007	Strasbourg
2007–2008	Lens
2009–2010	Châteauroux
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Jean-Pierre Papin (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ papɛ̃]; born 5 November 1963) is a former French professional footballer, who played as a forward, and who was named the European Footballer of the Year in 1991.

Papin achieved his greatest success while playing for Marseille between 1986 and 1992. He later played for A.C. Milan, FC Bayern Munich, Bordeaux, Guingamp, JS Saint-Pierroise and US Cap-Ferret. Papin also played 54 times for the French national team. After a short time as manager of French clubs, he joined the local amateur club AS Facture-Biganos Boïen as a player in 2009, aged 45.

Papin was known for his goalscoring, striking ability, and volleys, which his fans nicknamed Papinades in his honour.^[1]

In 1996, after their eight-month-old daughter Emily was shown to have serious cerebral lesions, Jean-Pierre and his wife, Florence, set up an association "Neuf de Coeur" (Nine of Hearts; Papin's shirt number was 9) to help others in that situation and, particularly, to find and apply methods to mentally and physically educate such children.

Although Papin played only 31 matches for Club Bruges, he was elected as its best foreign player by the supporters in April 2008.

In a 17-year career in many of Europe's biggest leagues, he scored nearly 350 goals in over 620 matches.

Playing career

Papin was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Papin scored 30 goals for France in 54 matches. He played at the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico, where France finished third, and at the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. His last game for the national team was in 1995.

At club level, he played for Valenciennes (1984–1985), Club Brugge (1985–1986), Olympique Marseille (1986–1992), A.C. Milan (1992–1994), FC Bayern Munich (1994–1996), Bordeaux (1996–1998), Guingamp (1998–1999) and Saint-Pierroise (1999–2001).

During Papin's hugely successful spell at Olympique Marseille, with the Frenchman as striker and skipper Marseille won four French league championships in a row (1989–1992), a league and cup double in 1989 and reached the final of the European Champions Cup in 1991, losing to Red Star Belgrade after a penalty shootout. During this period, Papin was the league's top scorer for five consecutive seasons (from 1988 to 1992). While at Marseille he won the Ballon d'Or, awarded to Europe's top footballer, in 1991. He is the only player to win this award while playing for a French club.

In 1992, Papin joined Italian giants A.C. Milan for a world record fee of £10 million (equivalent to £19 million today), and was the first high-profile French player to join the Italian league since Michel Platini. However, he never established himself as a regular first team member with the rossoneri due to injuries and adaptation problems. He entered as a substitute during the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final where Milan lost to his former club, Marseille. Nevertheless, Papin has kept good memories of his spell in Italy and frequently cites former Milan managers Fabio Capello and Arrigo Sacchi as his models when coaching is concerned. In 1994, he was transferred to Bayern Munich where his season was again plagued by injuries. In his second season in Germany he was part of the side that won the UEFA Cup against Girondins de Bordeaux, a club that Papin would join the following season. With Bordeaux, he lost the final of the 1997 Coupe de la Ligue against Strasbourg. Papin's career ended in 1998 with Second Division side EA Guingamp.

Papin was a prolific striker on the French scene but, contrary to many other French great players, never really became dominant abroad. He was also part of the 'cursed generation' of French players that came between the Platini era of the 80's and the 1998 world champions boasting the likes of Zidane, Thuram, Henry and company. Despite some talented players like Papin, Éric Cantona or David Ginola the French national team fared disappointingly, missing the 1990 and 1994 World Cups – the later after two humiliating defeats at home against Israel and Bulgaria – and being ousted in the group stage of Euro 1992 by Denmark after a perfect record in the qualifications. It was the only period (1989–1996) in French football where clubs actually did better than the national team.

Papin was also iconic in French pop culture because of his caricature in the satirical TV puppet show Les Guignols de l'Info. At first, Papin was depicted as a rather dumb football player (a common stereotype in France), his only obsession being the many different ways to score goals. When Papin experienced difficulties in Italy, the coverage became more sympathetic, especially with the infamous Reviens JPP !^[2] song where even God Himself would urge Papin to come back to his home country, because "France needs you !"

He was twice linked with clubs in England later in his playing career. First, in March 1994, he was a transfer target for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.^[3] Towards the end of his spell with Bordeaux in 1998, he was a target for ambitious Fulham, then a Division Two (third tier) side, and even expressed his desire to sign for the club. However, neither transfer ever happened and Papin finished his career without having spent any time in England.^[4]

After a short time as manager of French clubs, he joined the local amateur club AS Facture-Biganos Boïen as a player in 2009, aged 45.

Managerial career

In May 2006, Papin took over from Jacky Duguépéroux as the new coach of RC Strasbourg, who were relegated to the Second Division. He had previously been coaching FC Bassin d'Arcachon, an amateur team, and helped them to be promoted from CFA 2 to CFA. In 2006–07, he guided Strasbourg back to Ligue 1 with a third-placed finish but came under pressure shortly after the end of the season when internal conflicts at the club surfaced in the press. Several players, including '05 league cup final hero Jean-Christophe Devaux, also openly criticized Papin's methods. Initially confirmed as manager for the 2007–08 season, he was forced to resign a week later after it was revealed that he had interviewed for the vacant managerial job at RC Lens only hours after his confirmation at Strasbourg. He was replaced by Jean-Marc Furlan, former manager of ES Troyes AC, while Lens selected Guy Roux as their new manager. Ironically, Papin eventually became the manager of Lens after the club lost at Strasbourg,^[5] as Roux resigned only five games into the 2007–08 season. In the midst of the season, Lens and Papin were fighting to avoid relegation to the Second Division. Lens was also eliminated in the first round of both the UEFA cup and the Coupe de France by, respectively, FC Copenhagen (1–1; 1–2) and Second Division side Chamois Niortais (0–1, at home). On 29 December 2009, Châteauroux hired the coach^[6] to replace Dominique Bijotat. He left his position in May 2010 and was replaced by Didier Tholot.^[7]

Career statistics

International goals

Scores and results list France's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	1 June 1986	Estadio Nou Camp, León	Canada	1–0	1986 World Cup	1
2	28 June 1986	Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla	Belgium	4–2 (a.e.t.)	1986 World Cup	1
3	28 September 1988	Parc des Princes, Paris	Norway	1–0	1990 World Cup qualifier	1
4,5	16 August 1989	Malmö Stadion, Malmö	Sweden	4–2	Friendly	2
6	5 September 1989	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo	Norway	1–1	1990 World Cup qualifier	1
7	28 February 1990	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier	West Germany	2–1	Friendly	1
8	5 September 1990	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík	Iceland	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier	1
9, 10	13 October 1990	Parc des Princes, Paris	Czechoslovakia	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier	2
11	20 February 1991	Parc des Princes, Paris	Spain	3–1	Euro 1992 qualifier	1
12, 13	30 March 1991	Parc des Princes, Paris	Albania	5–0	Euro 1992 qualifier	2
14	14 August 1991	Stadion Miejski, Poznań	Poland	5–1	Friendly	1
15, 16	4 September 1991	Tehelné Pole Stadium, Bratislava	Czechoslovakia	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier	2
17	12 October 1991	Benito Villamarín, Sevilla	Spain	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier	1
18, 19	25 March 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	Belgium	3–3	Friendly	2
20	5 June 1992	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens	Netherlands	1–1	Friendly	1
21	10 June 1992	Råsunda Stadium, Solna	Sweden	1–1	Euro 1992	1
22	17 June 1992	Malmö Stadion, Malmö	Denmark	1–2	Euro 1992	1
23	14 October 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	Austria	2–0	1994 World Cup qualifier	1
24	14 November 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	Finland	2–1	1994 World Cup qualifier	1
25	27 March 1993	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna	Austria	1–0	1994 World Cup qualifier	1
26	28 July 1993	Stade Michel d'Ornano, Caen	Russia	3–1	Friendly	1
27	8 September 1993	Ratina Stadion, Tampere	Finland	2–0	1994 World Cup qualifier	1
28	22 March 1994	Stade Gerland, Lyon	Chile	3–1	Friendly	1
29	29 May 1994	Olympic Stadium (Tokyo), Tokyo	Japan	4–1	Kirin Cup	1
30	13 December 1994	Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon	Azerbaijan	2–0	Euro 1996 qualifier	1
Correct as of 1 December 2014[8]

Honours

References

External links

• French Football Federation Profile (in French)