Christian Lali Kake Karembeu (born 3 December 1970) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. Karembeu represented

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, Middlesbrough, Olympiacos, Servette, and Bastia. He found much success on the national stage as well representing France, having been born in the overseas territory New Caledonia, and was a vital part of the squad that won the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

on home soil and featured in one match in France's victorious UEFA Euro 2000 campaign.

Early life

Karembeu was born in

Lifou Lifou is a communes of France, commune of France in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. Geography Lifou is made up of Lifou Island, the largest and most heavily populated of the Loyalty Islands, its smaller neig ...

, New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. He played youth football for Nouméa-based FC Naitcha. At the age of 17, he moved to France on a scholarship to study and play football.

Club career

During his career Karembeu played for

(1990–95),

(1995–97),

(1997–2000), Middlesbrough (2000–01),

(2001–04), Servette Genève (2004–05), Bastia (2005–06). With Real Madrid, he won the Champions League in 1998 and 2000, starting in the former but remaining on the bench for the latter. He also played for the

Veterans against Barcelona in Qatar, on 13 November 2012. He last played midfield for Bastia in the French

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 ...

. He announced his retirement on 13 October 2006, although he added that he would "be having a kickabout from time to time". He also took part in a friendly competition for

Kettering Town FC Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

with Gianfranco Zola,

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand MBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit, who is currently the director of football at Queens Park Rangers. A striker, his playing career included notable spe ...

and Gus Poyet.

International career

Born in the French territory of

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, he was able to represent France on the international stage. He compiled 53 caps in his career, earning his first one on 14 November 1992 against Finland in a 2–1 victory. Karembeu was a member of the French team that won the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. He played in 4 matches in the tournament, including starts in the quarter-final, semi-final, and final, totalling 242 minutes. He was also part of the victorious French team at Euro 2000.

Style of play

Described as a "complete midfielder" by Paul Sarahs of ''FourFourTwo'', Karembeu was a physically imposing, energetic, and technically gifted two-way midfielder, who was known for his range of passing, dribbling skills, stamina, and hard-tackling playing style; he usually played in a holding role in midfield, although he was also capable of playing in various other positions, including in a box-to-box role, as a right–sided midfielder, or even as a right-back. Regarding his playing style and role in France's victory in the 1998 World Cup final, Michael Cox of ''ESPN FC'' described him as "a peculiar hybrid of a wing-back and a box-to-box midfielder," who "shuttled up and down on the right of a very defensive three-man midfield."

Post-retirement career

On 9 December 2005, Karembeu represented the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

at the draw for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

which took place in Leipzig, Germany. In May 2006 Karembeu became a scout for English Premiership side Portsmouth Football Club. In 2007, he was appointed as non-executive director of

Birmingham International Holdings Birmingham Sports Holdings () is an investment holding company owned by Chinese businessman Paul Suen through his investment company Trillion Trophy Asia. History Registered in the Cayman Islands, Grandtop International Holdings Limited (GIH), th ...

. He left after 2010 annual general meeting. However, in August 2009, Karembeu decided to join Arsenal's ever expanding scouting network. In June 2013, Karembeu was handed an administrative role at Greek club

along with former South African footballer

Pierre Issa Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

Commitment

Karembeu is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization. Deeply involved in Peace and Sport's activities, Karembeu visited

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

in August 2010 with Founder and President of Peace and Sport, Joel Bouzou, to strengthen the role of sport in the country's reconstruction efforts and attract the attention of the international community to urgent needs that prevail there. He went to meet sports instructors and young beneficiaries of the emergency program that the Haitian Olympic Committee has set up in survivor camps.

Personal life

The great-grandfather of Karembeu, who came from

, was one of a hundred Kanaks taken to Paris in 1931 for the Paris Colonial Exposition and exhibited there as "cannibals". Later the "cannibals" were swapped with Germany for some

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

s. Karembeu refuses to sing France's national anthem, La Marseillaise, due to the colonial past of the country. Karembeu was married to Slovak model Adriana Sklenařiková, whom he met on an aeroplane. The couple split in March 2011 and divorced in December 2012. Their marriage was childless. In May 2017, Karembeu married Jackie Chamoun, a Lebanese skier, in Greece, followed by a wedding ceremony in Lebanon. The couple announced the birth of their daughter on 27 September 2017. Following the 1998 World Cup, he was made a

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 1998.

Television

Karembeu is the host of French TV series "Des Iles et des Hommes" ( Of Islands and Men), aired on

Planete A planet, in astronomy, is one of a class of celestial bodies that orbit stars. (A dwarf planet is a similar, but officially mutually exclusive, class of body.) * For articles on specific types of planet, see List of planets Planet or Planets ...

in 2010 and 2011, a travel programme visiting among 6 of the most beautiful islands of the world. He also became part of the ITV broadcast team for Euro 2016.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Nantes * Division 1: 1994–95 * Coupe de France runner-up:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

Real Madrid * UEFA Champions League: 1997–98, 1999–2000 Olympiacos * Alpha Ethniki: 2001–02, 2002–03 * Greek Cup runner-up: 2001–02, 2003–04 France * FIFA World Cup:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

* UEFA European Championship:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Individual *

Oceania Footballer of the Year The Oceania Footballer of the Year award is presented each year to the best football (soccer) player from the Oceania region, as chosen by a panel of football journalists. The award was dominated by Australian players until that nation became part ...

: 1995, 1998 * UNFP 20 Year Special Team Trophy: 2011 Orders *

: 1998

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karembeu, Christian Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French footballers New Caledonian footballers France international footballers Association football midfielders SC Bastia players Servette FC players Olympiacos F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Greece FC Nantes players Middlesbrough F.C. players U.C. Sampdoria players Serie A players La Liga players Real Madrid CF players 1998 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA European Championship-winning players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players 1970 births Living people Premier League players Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff Ligue 1 players Super League Greece players Swiss Super League players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Switzerland French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland People from the Loyalty Islands French people of New Caledonian descent Black French sportspeople Kanak people