Nicolas Jover

Nicolas Jover
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-10-28) 28 October 1981 (age 43)[1]
Place of birth Berlin, Germany[1]
Team information
Current team
 Arsenal (set-piece coach)
Managerial career
Years Team
2009–2016 Montpellier (video analyst)
2013 Croatia (match analyst)
2016–2019 Brentford (set-piece coach)
2019–2021 Manchester City (set-piece coach)
2021– Arsenal (set-piece coach)

Nicolas Jover (born 28 October 1981) is a German-born French football coach who is currently the set-piece coach of Premier League club Arsenal.[2]

Career

Born in Berlin, Germany, Jover was raised in France.[3] He moved to Quebec, Canada in his early twenties to study for a sports degree at the University of Sherbrooke,[4] courtesy of the link between University of Montpellier and Sherbrooke.[3] During his time there, Jover drew on the influence of North American sports such as the National Football League.[4] After studying for a master's degree, he joined Dynamik de Sherbrooke, a local amateur club, as their technical director.[3]

Jover returned to France and joined Montpellier as a video analyst in 2009.[3][4] He helped them claim their first Ligue 1 title in the 2011–12 season,[5] which saw Montpellier boss René Girard received UNFP Ligue 1 Manager of the Year[6] and striker Olivier Giroud was named the league's top scorer by the Ligue de Football Professionnel.[7] While working at Montpellier, he also took a match analyst role for Croatia for a brief spell in 2013.[8]

Jover moved to England as a set-piece coach of Dean Smith at Brentford from July 2016,[9] and was part of Smith's successor Thomas Frank's coaching team until June 2019.[10] In the 2018–19 season he shared the same office with goalkeeping coach Iñaki Caña,[11] who would join Arsenal in December 2019.[12][13]

In July 2019, Manchester City appointed Jover as an assistant to Pep Guardiola, specializing in set-pieces,[14][15] on the recommendation of Mikel Arteta who was the No.2 at the Etihad.[16][4] Arteta left Manchester City for the Arsenal's head coach job in December 2019.[17][18] In the 2020–21 season, Jover helped Manchester City claim the Premier League title and reach the Champions League final.[3] He left his role in June 2021, when his contract expired at the end of the month.[3][19]

On 5 July 2021, Jover was appointed as set-piece coach to manager Mikel Arteta at Arsenal,[20][19] working alongside assistant coaches Albert Stuivenberg, Steve Round, Carlos Cuesta and Miguel Molina, and goalkeeping coach Iñaki Caña.[12][21] In the 2023–24 season with Jover's help, Arsenal scored twenty set-piece goals (excluding penalties) in the Premier League, the most in the division. Sixteen of those came from corners, matching the record in a single Premier League campaign.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b "Nicolas Jover". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  2. ^ "How Nicolas Jover made Arsenal the kings of corners". www.premierleague.com. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Campbell, Jordan (20 December 2023). "Nicolas Jover is a master of deception and the man behind Arsenal's set-piece success". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Robertson, Gregor (2 February 2024). "How Nicolas Jover transformed Arsenal's set pieces". The Times. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  5. ^ Wright, Nick (19 November 2021). "Nicolas Jover: Arsenal's set-piece 'genius' is transforming their threat from dead-ball situations". Sky Sports. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  6. ^ "UNFP: Trophées UNFP du football: Le palmarès complet..." (in French). Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels. 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Olivier Giroud couronné". Ligue de Football Professionnel (in French). 20 May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012.
  8. ^ Thomas-Humphreys, Harry (24 February 2024). "Meet Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover – the guru behind their dead-ball dominance". Metro. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  9. ^ Aarons, Ed (3 May 2024). "'Identify weaknesses and exploit them': the rise of the set-piece coach". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  10. ^ Marsh, Dan (9 October 2023). "Who is Nicolas Jover? Arsenal's ex-Man City coach in Erling Haaland and Kyle Walker bust-up". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Thomas Frank: Actions speak louder than words". Brentford F.C. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  12. ^ a b "Coaching team named". Arsenal F.C. 24 December 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Mikel Arteta: Arsenal's new boss encouraged by early signs from players". BBC Sport. 26 December 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  14. ^ Walid, Ahmed (25 January 2023). "Arsenal's clever corners and their importance in the Premier League title race". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  15. ^ Keble, Alex (2 May 2024). "How Nicolas Jover has made Arsenal the kings of set-pieces". Premier League. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  16. ^ Campbell, Jordan (17 September 2024). "Arsenal's game-breaking goals have become a superpower Arteta can rely on". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Mikel Arteta joining as our new head coach". Arsenal F.C. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Mikel Arteta: Arsenal appoint ex-captain as head coach". BBC Sport. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  19. ^ a b Collings, Simon (5 July 2021). "Arsenal hire former Man City coach Nicolas Jover as Andreas Georgson leaves for Malmo". Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  20. ^ de Roché, Art (5 July 2021). "Arsenal appoint set-piece coach Nicolas Jover from Manchester City". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Coaching and backroom team". Arsenal F.C. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  22. ^ Sisneros, Matt (19 May 2024). "Arsenal Were the Best Team in the Premier League This Season, but Even That Wasn't Enough". The Analyst. Retrieved 16 October 2024.