Basile Boli (born 2 January 1967) is a Ivorian-born French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender, and a current television sports presenter. He spent the majority of his career with

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

before ending his career with spells at Scottish club Rangers, at

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, and at Japanese side

Urawa Reds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

. At international level, he made 45 appearances and scored one goal representing the France national team.

Career

Born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

, Ivory Coast, Boli moved to France at an early age and began his career in local youth football in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

before signing for

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

in 1982. A powerful defender, Boli made his way into the Auxerre first team and soon made his debut for the France national team in 1986 for whom he went on to win 45 caps. His form meant that he soon became a transfer target for the leading clubs in France. Finally in 1990 Boli signed for

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

who, under

Bernard Tapie Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy. Life and career Tapie was bor ...

, were fast becoming the leading club in France. Boli starred as the club won

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

in 1991 and 1992 and was also a regular in the club's 1992–93 UEFA Champions League campaign, topping the season off by scoring the only goal of the final against

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

that gave the cup to OM. Whilst at the club he even joined teammate

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He currently works as a commentator. Nicknamed "Magic Chris", football journalist Luke Ginnell wrote that Waddle was "widely ackn ...

in recording a song entitled 'We've Got a Feeling'. He is remembered by football fans in England for his appearance for France against the England team in

Euro 92 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

where he

headbutt A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

. Despite his success at Marseille Boli was forced to leave in 1994 following revelations of a match fixing scandal and the relegation of the club. He signed for Rangers for £2 million in the summer of that year and went on to make 28 league appearances (two goals) during the 1994–95 season, securing a league winners' medal. Boli left Rangers at the end of that season and wound down his career with a season back in France with

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

before ending his career in 1997 after a spell in Japan with

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

Danse avec les stars

* In 2018 he participated in

season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of '' Danse avec les stars'' (the French version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'') with his partner

Katrina Patchett Katrina Patchett (born 12 December 1986) is a professional ballroom dancer from Perth, Western Australia. Early life She has been dancing since the age of three and competing since the age of seven. She was brought up in her mother (Julie Patch ...

and finished 7th out of 11 contestants. This table shows the route of Basile Boli and Katrina Patchett in Danse Avec Les Stars. Face to face aren't rated.

Personal life

Basile is the uncle of current players

Yannick Boli Yannick Toapri Boli (born 13 January 1988) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, forward. His previous clubs include Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain, Le Ha ...

Charles Boli Charles Boli (born 30 August 1998) is a French-Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 2 club Pau FC. He is the son of footballer Roger Boli, and as a result he also holds French and Ivorian citizenships. Career O ...

, and

Kévin Boli Kévin Gnonher Boli (born 21 June 1991) is a professional footballer who plays for Romanian Liga I club Farul Constanța. Primarily a centre-back, he can also play as a full back. After starting his professional career with Sedan in the Fre ...

, and is the younger brother of former striker

Roger Boli Roger Zokou Boli (born 26 September 1965) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward for clubs in the French and British leagues. Born in Ivory Coast, he represented France at youth level. He is currently a sports agent. Caree ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Boli goal.''

Honours

Marseille * Division 1: 1990–91, 1991–92 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 1992–93 Rangers *

Scottish Football League Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...

: 1994–95 Individual *Division 1 Rookie of the Year: 1984 *Etoile d'Or: 1989 *The Dream Team 110 years of OM: 2010 Orders * Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 2008

References

External links

* *
Profile of Rangers careerBasile Boli at IMDB
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boli, Basile 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Abidjan French footballers France international footballers Association football defenders AJ Auxerre players Olympique de Marseille players Rangers F.C. players AS Monaco FC players Urawa Red Diamonds players Ligue 1 players Scottish Football League players J1 League players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Euro 1992 players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in Japan French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Black French sportspeople Ivorian emigrants to France Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Boli family