Internationally, Dhorasoo earned 18 caps and scored once for France from 1999 to 2006. He was part of their team that came runners-up at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
He had a brief spell at league rivals FC Girondins de Bordeaux from 2001 to 2002. He won two French Ligue 1 championships with Lyon in 2003 and 2004.[4]
In April 2004, Dhorasoo agreed to move abroad to play for Italian club AC Milan, on a two-year deal.[4] He was an unused substitute in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, when Liverpool beat A.C. Milan on penalties, but won a runners-up medal.[5]
Dhorasoo moved back to France in 2005, signing for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).[6] He was part of the PSG squad that won the 2006 Coupe de France, as he scored a 25-yard shot in the final and secured the victory against fierce rivals Marseille.[7]
In September 2006, he criticised manager Guy Lacombe in an interview with L'Equipe, and a month later his contract with PSG was terminated, being the first player to be sacked from a French club since the Professional Footballers Charter was set up in 1973. The reasons listed for dismissal were "His refusal to play for the reserves, his lack of loyalty, also his insubordination, disobedience and his permanent air of provocation".[3]
Livorno
On 3 July 2007, Livorno announced to have signed Dhorasoo with a statement on their official website.[8] However, Livorno rescinded his contract in October of the same year due to differences with the club, before having played. According to club president Aldo Spinelli, he refused to play a game for them.[9]
International career
These [fans] who come to the stadium hissing and hating me, I defend them because they are the masses, people who came from tough estates just like me.
—Dhorasoo on falling out of favour playing for France.[10]
While at Lyon, Dhorasoo made his debut for the France national team in a goalless draw against Ukraine on 27 March 1999. He played another national team match in June 1999, before his national team career went into a five-year hiatus.[citation needed]
Dhorasoo was called up for the France national team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification in September 2004, and he represented the country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. After the World Cup, Dhorasoo publicly revealed the time spent in the French squad during the month-long tournament, through a documentary titled Substitute, much to the anger of France national team manager Raymond Domenech and the French Football Federation. Dhorasoo was warned against publishing the documentary. He retired from the France national team, saying "I am not interested in playing for Les Bleus any more. It's over."[11]
Dhorasoo made 18 national team appearances between 1999 and 2006, scoring a single goal in a 4–0 home win over Cyprus on 12 October 2005, ensuring a place at the 2006 World Cup.[12]
As of 2023, Dhorasoo was a football consultant for the French sports channel L’Equipe. In 2008 he acted in the film La très très grande entreprise. He authored four books; Substitute, Comme Ses Pieds, L’Engagement – explique a ma fille et ses potes du quartier and the 2020 graphic novel J’perds pas la boule, illustrated by Emilie Gleason. He ran in the 2020 Paris municipal election.[13][14]
After his dismissal from PSG in 2006, Dhorasoo became a professional poker player for Winamax. He quit the game in September 2011 after a defeat at the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes.[20] He earned $527,453 in his poker career, and as of November 2020 is ranked 142nd on France's all-time winners.[21]
Dhorasoo is married and father of two daughters, born in 2003 and 2005.[23]
He has spoken out against bigotry and in 2003 he started actively supporting Paris Foot Gay, a football club which combats homophobia and other discrimination in the sport.[24]
^"Comunicato Stampa N. 10 del 20 Agosto 2004" [Press Release No. 10 of 20 August 2004] (PDF) (in Italian). Lega Nazionale Professionisti. 20 August 2004. p. 1. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
^Rao, Dasu Kesava (22 June 2010). "Mana boy in world soccer". The Hindu. ISSN0971-751X. Retrieved 22 October 2020. Vikash's Telugu-speaking forefathers hailed from Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh (then part of Madras Presidency), migrated to Shiraz in Iran and then to Mauritius to work on the sugarcane plantations of the paradise islands.
^"Footballer Vikash Dhorasoo turns filmmaker". DNA India. 26 April 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2020. Dhorasoo, 34, is of Indo-Mauritian extraction, his Telugu-speaking ancestors hailing from Andhra Pradesh.
