Florent Balmont (born 2 February 1980) is a 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Balmont began his career at

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

in the

2002–03 Ligue 1 For the 2002–03 season, the French Division 1 was renamed as Ligue 1 and was expanded to contain 20 clubs, which played 38 matches against each other, rather than the 34 matches in previous seasons. Lyon won the 2002–03 Ligue 1 season of the ...

season after coming through the junior ranks. In the 2003–04 season, Balmont was sent out on loan to

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club is French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the premier division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse lo ...

making a total of 35 appearances. After returning from loan, Balmont signed with

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

. In his time with Lyon, Balmont won the 2002–03 championship and the 2004 Trophée des Champions, converting his penalty in the latter after the match went to a shoot-out. Balmont spent four seasons at Nice making 139 appearances before signing with

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

. Balmont won an historic double with the club during the 2010–11 season, making 39 appearances across all competitions as Lille won the

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 ...

title and the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

trophy. In July 2017, Balmont announced he had left Lille to join

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; literally "Dijon Football Gold Coast"), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in ...

, newly promoted to Ligue 1, on a two-year contract. On 11 May 2019, Balmont made his 500th Ligue 1 appearance in a 2–1 victory over

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. With the appearance, he moved up to 21st in the all-time Ligue 1 appearances and leads all active players in that category. Balmont announced his retirement from playing in May 2020 and stated his intention to go into coaching. In July 2020, after his retirement, Balmont began his training as a coach, as he was hired as a U-20 coach and member of the first team staff at

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

club FC Limonest Dardilly Saint-Didier. He left the club at the end of the season.L’ancien milieu du DFCO, Florent Balmont, décroche le BEF
bienpublic.com, 31 May 2021

Career statistics

Honours

Lyon *

: 2002–03 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Lille *

: 2010–11 *

: 2010–11

References

External links

* * * 1980 births Living people People from Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon Sportspeople from Lyon Metropolis Association football midfielders French footballers Olympique Lyonnais players Toulouse FC players OGC Nice players Lille OSC players Dijon FCO players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for France Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes {{france-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub