Mickaël Debève

Mickaël Debève
Personal information
Full name Mickaёl Debève
Date of birth (1970-12-01) 1 December 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth Abbeville, France
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1976–1984 JS Cambron
1984–1986 Abbeville
1986–1987 Toulouse
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1994 Toulouse 139 (14)
1994–2002 Lens 198 (14)
1999–2000 → Le Havre (loan) 27 (2)
2002 Middlesbrough 4 (0)
2002–2004 Amiens 60 (1)
2004–2008 Abbeville
Total 428 (31)
International career
1990–1991 France U21 8 (1)
Managerial career
2004–2008 Abbeville (player-manager)
2008–2012 Toulouse B
2012–2013 Toulouse (academy manager)
2013–2015 Toulouse B
2018 Toulouse
2018–2020 Lens (assistant)
2020 Standard Liège (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mickaël Debève (born 1 December 1970) is a French football manager and former football player who played as a midfielder he is the currently assistant manager Ligue 1 club of Toulouse.

Football career

Born in Abbeville, Debève began his career at Toulouse; after a slow start - only four first-team appearances in three seasons, he became a main squad member. His first match in the top level came on 5 June 1987, in a 1–0 home win against Lens.

The most important part of Debève's career was spent at Lens, who he helped win the national league in 1998, adding the league cup the following year.[1] In the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, he scored the game's only goal at Wembley, against English champions Arsenal, making Lens the first club from France to win at that ground.[2]

After totalling more than 400 official matches in his country, Debève moved to England with Middlesbrough in February 2002, arriving for free and rejoining former Lens mate Franck Queudrue.[3] He made his debut as a substitute in the FA Cup 6th round victory over Everton.[4] He was then thrust into the starting line up for the semi-final against Arsenal due to various injuries, making only his second Boro appearance against the team he had knocked out of the UEFA Champions League four years earlier. However, he could not prevent Boro losing 1–0.[5] He left in the summer, and closed out his career in France's second level, with Amiens.

Managerial career

Immediately after retiring, Debève became a manager, starting as player-coach with hometown side Abbeville.

Debève was named manager of Toulouse, the club where he started his playing career, on 23 January 2018, replacing Pascal Dupraz. Upon his appointment, Toulouse was 19th in Ligue 1 on 20 points from 22 matches (five wins, five draws, twelve losses), and facing relegation. In his first match in charge of Toulouse, they lost 2–0 away to Bourg-en-Bresse in the 2017-18 Coupe de France Round of 32.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Finale Coupe de la Ligue 1998/99 RC Lens - FC Metz". sitercl.com. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Lens see off Arsenal's Euro hopes". The Guardian. 25 November 1998. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  3. ^ Debeve signs for Boro; BBC Sport, 27 February 2002
  4. ^ "Middlesbrough thrash Everton". BBC. 10 March 2002. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Arsenal break brave Boro". BBC. 14 April 2002. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  6. ^ "Fiche Toulouse Football Club". L'Équipe. Retrieved 24 January 2018.