François Masson (born 15 November 1979) is a retired French

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.

Career

A native of

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, Masson began playing youth football with

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

and

Angers SCO Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest, commonly referred to as Angers SCO or simply Angers (), is a French professional football club based in Angers in Pays de la Loire in western France. The club was founded in 1919 and plays in Ligue 1, the fir ...

. He made his senior football debut with Pontivy GS, scoring 13 goals in 32 matches. Then, he signed his first professional contract with

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

. After the club was relegated from

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

, he joined

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 ...

in 2002. Masson immediately established himself in Dijon's first team, helping the club reach the semi-finals of the

2003–04 Coupe de France The 2003–04 Coupe de France was the 87th edition of the annual French cup competition. It was won by Paris Saint-Germain. The cup finalist LB Châteauroux qualified for the UEFA Cup because PSG qualified to 2004–05 UEFA Champions League th ...

and achieve promotion to

during the 2003–04 season. After five seasons with Dijon, when manager

Rudi Garcia Rudi José Garcia (; ; born 20 February 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr. Early life Rudi Garcia's father, José, was a Spanish expatriate who played ...

(who had brought him to the club) left, Masson left for

Stade Brestois 29 Stade Brestois 29 or simply Brest, is a French football club based in Brest. It was founded in 1950 following the merger of five local patronages, including Armoricaine de Brest, founded in 1903. In its early years, the club made a rapid rise ...

References

External links

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Profile
at Soccerway * 1979 births Living people Footballers from Rennes Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers Angers SCO players AS Cannes players Dijon FCO players Stade Brestois 29 players GSI Pontivy players {{france-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub