french association football player
Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien ( french pronunciation : ​ [ li.ljɑ̃ ty.ʁam ] ; [ 4 ] born 1 January 1972 ) is a french writer and erstwhile master football player who played as a defender. He takes a public situation on issues related to equality, immigration, and racism and was a member of France ‘s High Council for Integration. In 2008, Thuram created the Lilian Thuram Foundation to educate against racism. [ 5 ] Thuram has authored four books, of which his most late is White Thinking: How Racial Bias Is Constructed and How to Move Beyond It ( french style : La pensée blanche ), angstrom well as three graphic novels.

Reading: Lilian Thuram

Thuram is the most cap player in the history of the France national team with 142 appearances between 1994 and 2008. He began playing football professionally in his fatherland with Monaco and played in the top flight in France, Italy and Spain for over 15 seasons, with noteworthy stints in Serie A with both Parma and Juventus before finishing his career with Barcelona. With France, Thuram was a winder musician for the team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup ; his slope besides won UEFA Euro 2000, and he was in the police squad for the 2006 World Cup ( where France finished as runner-up ). A quick, mighty and versatile player, he was capable of playing both as a centre-back or as a right-back, and was competent both offensively and defensively. Despite his physical and aggressive acting style, Thuram has been described as a “ bookish ” design off the gear ; [ 6 ] in 2010, he became a UNICEF ambassador, and has stood out for his initiatives to fight against racism. [ 7 ]

early life [edit ]

Thuram was born in Guadeloupe in the french West Indies. His family relocated to mainland France in 1981. [ 8 ]

Club career [edit ]

Thuram ‘s football career began with Monaco in Ligue 1 in 1991. He then transferred to Parma ( 1996–2001 ) and then to Juventus ( 2001–2006 ) for £25 million, and finally to Barcelona in 2006 .

monaco [edit ]

Thuram started his professional career with Monaco in 1991. He alone made one appearance that season, but was officially promoted to the first team the following season, when he would go on to make 19 appearances. He was inserted into the starting xi by the end of 1992 and would go on to make 155 league appearances for the Ligue 1 equip, before transferring to Parma in the summer of 1996. He made his national team introduction in 1994, while at Monaco. With Monaco, he most notably won the Coupe de France in 1991, besides reaching the final of the 1991–92 european Cup Winners ‘ Cup. however, Thuram scored his merely UEFA Champions League goal in his career for Monaco in a 4–1 victory over Spartak Moscow in the 1993–94 season. [ 9 ]

Parma [edit ]

In July 1996, Thuram made a high-profile transfer to Italy to join Serie A baseball club Parma. In his first season, he made over 40 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring one finish, as Parma finished second in the 1996–97 Serie A to Juventus. He maintained a starting position in defense throughout his meter with Parma, making 163 Serie A appearances and scoring one league finish. In all, he made over 200 appearances for the club, truly making a appoint for himself, besides earning caps for France. Following another excessively impressive season in 2000–01, where Parma reached the Coppa Italia final examination, and finishing the Serie A season in fourth place, Thuram, [ 10 ] along with teammate Gianluigi Buffon, transferred to Juventus. His remove monetary value the club 80 billion italian lira ( €41,316,552 ). [ 11 ] While at Parma, along with eventual Juventus teammates Buffon and Fabio Cannavaro, Thuram won both the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia during the 1998–99 season, immediately followed by the 1999 Supercoppa Italiana .

Juventus [edit ]

In the summer of 2001, Thuram made a transfer to Juventus, along with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Thuram formed defensive partnerships with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Paolo Montero, Gianluca Pessotto, Mark Iuliano, Alessandro Birindelli, Igor Tudor, Gianluca Zambrotta, Nicola Legrottaglie, Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Federico Balzaretti and Jonathan Zebina during his five-year tenure with the club. In his first gear season with the club, as a right spinal column under Marcello Lippi, Thuram won the 2001–02 Serie A title, besides reaching the final examination of the 2001–02 Coppa Italia. Juventus started the following temper by winning the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, and defended their Serie A deed, besides reaching the UEFA Champions League final examination, where they were defeated by rivals Milan on penalties. Juventus won the 2003 Supercoppa Italiana the following season, reaching another Coppa Italia final, but finished in a disappoint 3rd put in Serie A, and failed to progress past the irregular attack in the Champions League. During the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons under coach Fabio Capello, Thuram, along with Fabio Cannavaro in the center of defensive structure, [ 12 ] with Gianluigi Buffon in goal, [ 12 ] Jonathan Zebina at left back [ 12 ] and Gianluca Zambrotta at right back [ 12 ] formed one of the most expensive, but besides most reverence, defences in Europe and Italy. During these adjacent two seasons with the golf club, Thuram won the Scudetto two more times with Juventus, although these consecutive league titles were late revoked due to Juventus ‘ involvement in the 2006 italian football scandal ( calciopoli ). After five years with Juve, Thuram transferred to Barcelona in the spanish La Liga, in the wake island of the calciopoli scandal. He managed all over 200 total appearances for the club, with two goals .

Barcelona [edit ]

Thuram with Barcelona in 2008 On 24 July 2006, Thuram signed with Barcelona for €5 million after Juventus were relegated to Serie B due to the calciopoli scandal. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] In Thuram ‘s last season ( 2007–08 ), he was the third- or fourth-choice centre-back after Carles Puyol, Gabriel Milito and Rafael Márquez. [ 15 ] On 26 June 2008, he was reported as having signed a annual contract with an choice for another year with Paris Saint-Germain. [ 16 ] The cover, however, was cancelled soon after because he was diagnosed with a heart defect that had caused the death of his brother. [ 17 ] On 2 August, he announced his concluding retirement from professional football due to his stipulate. [ 18 ]

International career [edit ]

After becoming world champion in 1998, Thuram was an integral part of France ‘s victory at UEFA Euro 2000, which led to the team being ranked by FIFA as number one from 2001–2002. He besides played in the 2002 World Cup, 2006 World Cup, Euro 1996, Euro 2004 and Euro 2008, in summation to winning the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In France ‘s 2–1 group win over England at Euro 2004, Thuram became the third Frenchman to 100 caps, after fellow 1998 champions Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly. [ 19 ]

1998 World Cup [edit ]

Thuram was named in the french team for the 1998 World Cup and played a key character in their integral tournament, most notably in the trailer truck final against Croatia. After getting caught out of position and being at fault for Croatia ‘s open goal, Thuram went on to score a brace, his merely international goals, and give France a 2-1 win to take them to the final where the team defeated Brazil 3–0 to win their beginning World Cup. Thuram was awarded the Bronze Ball as the third base most valuable musician in the tournament. He, Bixente Lizarazu, Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly comprised the spinal column of the french defense that conceded lone two goals in seven matches. [ 20 ]

2006 World Cup [edit ]

After a brief external retirement, France coach Raymond Domenech convinced Thuram to return to the french team on 17 August 2005, along with fellow “ fortunate generation “ teammates Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makélélé, as Les Bleus struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Thuram ‘s center binding partnership with William Gallas was to be the basis for France ‘s progress to the concluding. Thuram earned his 116th cap for France in the group degree equal against South Korea in Leipzig on 18 June 2006. In that game he equalled Desailly ‘s record number of caps, which he broke in the final group degree equal, a 2–0 win over Togo in Cologne on 23 June 2006, winning his 117th cap. He was named the world of the peer in France ‘s semi-final 1–0 victory against Portugal, coincidentally the like distinction he had earned eight years earlier at the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup .

euro 2008 [edit ]

On 9 June 2008, Thuram took the field against Romania in a group equal, and became the first actor to make 15 UEFA european Championship finals appearances. The early record of 14 appearances was held by Zinedine Zidane, Luís Figo and Karel Poborský. [ 21 ] He played one more game during the tournament, raising the number of his appearances to 16, which record was then equaled a few days subsequently by Edwin van five hundred Sar from the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. Thuram was the captain of France in the tournament. Along with Claude Makélélé, he announced his retirement from international football on 17 June 2008, after France ‘s 2–0 loss to Italy. [ 22 ] He finished his career with the national team as France ‘s most capped player with 142 appearances .

vogue of playing period [edit ]

Thuram was an extremely dominant, coherent, acrobatic and heedful football player, who was considered by pundits to be one of the best defenders in the global in his choice. [ 6 ] [ 23 ] As a defender, he was known for his strength, pace, stamen and his outstanding physical, tactical, and technical attributes, vitamin a well as his elegance, intelligence, ability to read the game, his heavy distinguish of opponents, and his aggressive harness, which made him unmanageable to beat in one on one situations ; he besides excelled in the breeze. As a full-back, he was known for his ability to make attack runs up the flank and lend to his team ‘s offensive play after winning back the ball. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] A large, mighty and versatile actor, who was evenly competent offensively as he was defensively, he could play on either flank or in the center, due to his ability with either foot, much alternating between playing as a centre-back or as a right-back, and was even deployed in midfield on occasion. [ 6 ] [ 25 ] In hurt of his physical and coherent play expressive style, he was besides known to be a fair player. [ 29 ]

personal life [edit ]

Thuram ‘s cousin is Amiens player Yohann Thuram-Ulien. [ 30 ] He has two sons with his beginning wife Sandra, Marcus ( born 6 August 1997 ) and Khéphren ( born January 2001 ), and both became professional footballers. [ 31 ] From 2007 to 2013, Thuram was in a relationship with Karine Le Marchand, a french television receiver host. [ 32 ]

Media [edit ]

Thuram was sponsored by sportswear company Nike and appeared in Nike commercials. In a global Nike advertise campaign in the runup to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, he starred in a “ confidential tournament “ commercial ( branded “ Scorpion KO ” ) directed by Terry Gilliam, appearing aboard football players such as Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Edgar Davids, Fabio Cannavaro, Francesco Totti, Ronaldinho, Luís Figo and Hidetoshi Nakata, with erstwhile player Eric Cantona the tournament “ referee ”. [ 33 ] [ 34 ]

political betrothal [edit ]

Beyond his football career, Thuram has constantly shown political employment, and has frequently spoken out against racism. [ 7 ] In such, during the french riots in November 2005, Thuram took a place against Nicolas Sarkozy, the drumhead of the conservative political party ( and future president ) UMP and then Minister of the Interior. Thuram was opposed to the verbal attacks against young people that the then-Minister made when he talked about the “ scum ”, and he said that Nicolas Sarkozy never lived in a “ banlieue ”, areas of low-income housing surrounding french cities. [ 35 ] On 6 September 2006, Thuram sparked controversy when he invited 80 people, who were expelled by french Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy from a two-dimensional where they lived illegally, to the football match between France and Italy. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] He has besides engaged in campaigns that favour the Catalan lyric in Northern Catalonia. [ 38 ] In November 2011, Thuram curated an exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly entitled “ human menagerie : The Invention of the savage ”. It examined the human menagerie that traced the practice of using colonial subjects as exhibits in menagerie and freak shows. [ 39 ] The material in the exhibition runs from the parade of Brazil ‘s Tupinamba “ savages ” for the royal entrance of King Henry II of France in 1550 in Rouen, to the death “ live spectacle ” of Congo villagers exhibited in Brussels in 1958. [ 40 ] In January 2013, Thuram took region in a parade through Paris by supporters of the Ayrault government ‘s plan to legalise same-sex marriage. [ 41 ] He had previously explained that he supported same-sex marriage in the identify of equal rights ( comparing the defense of equality for homosexuals to the denial of equal rights for women and for black people in earlier periods of history ), and in the name of France ‘s secular principles ( laïcité ), rejecting religious arguments against civil marriage. He besides expressed corroborate for the correctly of same-sex couples to adopt children. [ 42 ]

career statistics [edit ]

club [edit ]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[43][44][45]

Club

Season

League

Cup

Continental

Other

Total

Division
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals

Monaco
1990–91
Division 1

1
0
0
0
0
0

1
0

1991–92

19
0
4
0
4
0

27
0

1992–93

37
0
2
0
4
0

43
0

1993–94

25
1
3
1
8
1

36
3

1994–95

37
2
2
0

3
1
42
3

1995–96

36
5
3
0
2
0
3
0
44
5

Total

155
8
14
1
18
1
6
1
193
11

Parma
1996–97
Serie A

34
1
1
0
2
0

37
1

1997–98

32
0
6
0
8
0

46
0

1998–99

34
0
8
0
11
0

53
0

1999–2000

33
0
2
0
10
0
2[a]
0
47
0

2000–01

30
0
8
0
7
0

45
0

Total

163
1
25
0
38
0
2
0
228
1

Juventus
2001–02

Serie A

30
0
3
0
8
0

41
0

2002–03

27
1
0
0
15
0
1
0
43
1

2003–04

23
0
4
0
5
0
0
0
32
0

2004–05

37
0
1
0
11
0

49
0

2005–06

27
0
4
0
8
0
0
0
39
0

Total

144
1
12
0
47
0
1
0
204
1

Barcelona
2006–07
La Liga

23
0
2
0
4
0
1
0
30
0

2007–08

18
0
4
0
6
0

28
0

Total

41
0
6
0
10
0
1
0
58
0

Career total

503
10
57
1
113
1
10
1
683
13

International [edit ]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[46]

National team
Year
Apps
Goals

France

1994
1
0

1995
5
0

1996
13
0

1997
8
0

1998
16
2

1999
9
0

2000
14
0

2001
4
0

2002
12
0

2003
12
0

2004
9
0

2005
7
0

2006
16
0

2007
10
0

2008
6
0

Total
142
2

Scores and results list France’s goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Thuram goal.

List of international goals scored by Lilian Thuram

No.

Date

Venue

Opponent

Score

Result

Competition

1
8 July 1998
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
 Croatia
1–1
2–1
1998 FIFA World Cup

2
2–1

Honours [edit ]

Monaco [ 47 ]
Parma [ 47 ]
Juventus [ 47 ]
Barcelona [ 47 ]
France [ 47 ]
Individual
Orders

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]