Fabien Galthié (; born 20 March 1969) is a French

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach and former player, he is currently the head coach of the French national team. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played much of his club rugby for

Colomiers Colomiers (; oc, Colomèrs; Languedocien dialect: ''Colomièrs'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southwester ...

, and later on in his career,

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

. Galthié won 64 caps for France, including four

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

appearances, as well as captaining the side at the 2003 World Cup. Former France national coach

Bernard Laporte Bernard Laporte (born 1 July 1964) is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Sa ...

has described him as the greatest scrum-half in French history. He was the

IRB International Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

in 2002. After retiring as a player, Galthie took up coaching, and spent several seasons coaching teams in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

competition.

Playing career

Born in

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Quer ...

, Galthié began his career at a club in

Tournefeuille Tournefeuille (; Languedocien: ''Tornafuèlha'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It is the second-largest suburb of the city of Toulouse, and is adjacent to it on the west side. It is a member of the Toulo ...

, before joining Colomiers. He made his international debut for France in a match against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

in June 1991. He was called into

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

squad, replacing the injured

Pierre Berbizier Pierre Berbizier (born 17 June 1958) is a French former rugby union footballer and a current coach. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played 56 times for France. Biography Berbizier was born in Saint-Gaudens. He made his international deb ...

. At the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

he played in the semifinal defeat to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Galthié was a crucial member of the French team that upset

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the semifinal of the 1999 Rugby World Cup at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. In 2000, Colomiers reached the French championship final, but Galthié had to watch from the stands due to a knee injury. The club lost 28–23 to Stade Français, whom he joined the following season. In 2001 Galthié was appointed captain of France. A successful year in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, including a Six Nations

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

, saw France dominate the 2002 IRB Awards, with Galthié named

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

, as well as French coach Bernard Laporte being named Coach of the Year. Galthié captained France at the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

in Australia, and secured France's bonus point against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in their third game, scoring the fourth

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

in the game. He did not play in France's final pool game against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Galthié returned for the next game, the quarterfinal against Ireland which they won convincingly, but in the semi-final they lost to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

24–7. Following their semi-final defeat, France contested the third place play-off with

. Afterwards Galthié announced his retirement from international rugby. Galthié won his only club trophy on his last competitive match, the French championship final with Stade Français against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

on 7 June 2003 at

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

(32–18).

Coaching

Galthié became the coach of Stade Français in 2004 after head coach

Nick Mallet Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett (born 30 October 1956) is a former South African rugby union player who played for the South Africa national rugby union team, Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Sprin ...

departed the Paris club. Galthié was contacted by Max Guazzini to take up the coaching job. In the first season, Paris made it to the final of both the

and

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

finals, but were beaten by

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Basque city of Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine which competes in the Pro D2, the second division of French rugby. Biarritz p ...

and

respectively. The following season Paris were beaten by Toulouse in the Top 14 semi-final, and they were knocked out of the Heineken Cup by

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. He eventually won the Top 14 by beating Clermont 23–18 in 2007. He left Paris in 2008. He became a TV pundit with the French public national channel

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

and private radio

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pro ...

. He joined the

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

coaching staff during their end-of-the-year tour of Europe in November and December 2008. Galthié signed a three-year coaching contract with

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

in 2010. Galthié led Montpellier to a Top 14 Final in his first year. His stint as coach came to an abrupt end at the end of 2014 due to poor relations with the President of Montpellier Rugby Club. In 2017–2018 he coached

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

France

In 2019 Galthié was appointed as vice-head coach of the French national team, having been scheduled to succeed Jacques Brunel as head coach in 2020.

Coaching statistics

France

International matches as head coach

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking France was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches

Record by country

Honors

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

**Winner : 2022 **Runner-up : 2020, 2021 *

**Winner : 2022 *

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoiding extended travel due to the COVID- ...

**Runner-up : 2020 *

Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy The Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy ( it, Trofeo Garibaldi; french: Trophée Garibaldi) is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between France and Italy. The trophy, designed by former French internati ...

**Winner : 2020, 2021, 2022 *

Dave Gallaher Trophy The Dave Gallaher Trophy is a rugby union trophy contested between and . It is named after Dave Gallaher, the 1905–06 All Black captain who was killed in Belgium during World War I. History When it comes to rugby, France and New Zealand have a ...

**Winner : 2021 *

Auld Alliance Trophy The Auld Alliance Trophy is a trophy in rugby union awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between France and Scotland. The Trophy was first awarded in 2018, the centenary of the end of World War I, to commemorate the ...

**Winner : 2022 *

Trophée des Bicentenaires To celebrate the bi-centenaries of the First Fleet and of the French Revolution, in 1988 and 1989 respectively, the French Rugby Union donated the Trophée des Bicentenaires (, "Trophy of the Bicentenaries") to be played in perpetuity between th ...

**Winner : 2022

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galthie, Fabien 1969 births Living people People from Cahors French rugby union coaches French rugby union players World Rugby Players of the Year Rugby union scrum-halves US Colomiers players Stade Français players Stade Français coaches France international rugby union players Montpellier Hérault Rugby France national rugby union team coaches Sportspeople from Lot (department) Expatriate rugby union players in South Africa French expatriate rugby union players French expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Western Province (rugby union) players