Gilles Grimandi (born 11 November 1970) 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

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 ...

. In his playing career, he went from hometown team Gap to top-flight

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 ...

before arriving at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in 1997. He won two league-and-cup doubles with them before leaving in 2002.

Playing career

Born in

Gap, Hautes-Alpes Gap (, ) is the prefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, the commune had a population of 40,631, making it the most populated city in Hautes-Alpes. At a height of 750 m ...

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 ...

Grimandi began his professional career with

in 1990 and made his first-team debut in 1991 against

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

in Division 1. His career briefly interrupted by French military service, he went on to make 67 appearances and score three goals for the club, mostly as a centre back. He helped the club reach both a

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 ...

and a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

semifinal, and won the league title in 1996–97. The following season, Grimandi left to join his former manager

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

, making his debut at Elland Road against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

, and helped achieve The Double in his first season. He made 113 league appearances as a midfielder, centre back, and right wingback, winning a second Double in his final season (2001–02) with the club. Grimandi signed with the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

on 8 January 2003, after turning down an offer from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Grimandi was the first Frenchman to sign for MLS, and played a pre-season friendly against

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

of Mexico on 12 March. On 30 April he quit the club for family reasons to return to France. The Rapids' management described themselves as "deeply saddened" by his decision.

Post-playing career

Grimandi has remained active in the sport, taking his first administrative position in 2004 as football director at ASOA Valence. Valence were playing in the Championnats National, the French third division at the time of his appointment. Grimandi became a French-based scout for

in 2006. He also took part in

Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...

's testimonial game at

's new

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

in July of that year, making a controversial tackle on

Edgar Davids Edgar Steven Davids (; born 13 March 1973) is a Dutch-Surinamese former professional footballer and current coach. After beginning his career with Ajax, winning several domestic and international titles, he subsequently played in Italy for AC Mi ...

as the Dutchman looked to tap into an empty net to open the scoring for Ajax. Grimandi was linked with a

director of football 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 ...

position at

in July 2007, in charge of acquiring new players. However, no appointment to the role was made. In March 2019, Grimandi left his position at Arsenal to become technical director at

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. ...

, joining forces with former teammate

Patrick Vieira Patrick Vieira (born 23 June 1976) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Crystal Palace. He is widely considered as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. Vieira began his career at ...

. Grimandi resigned by mutual agreement on 7 October 2019. Grimandi now runs a wine yard in Banbury.

Honours

Monaco * Division 1: 1996–97 Arsenal *

: 1997–98, 2001–02 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 1997–98; runner-up: 2000–01 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

runner-up: 1999–2000

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimandi, Gilles 1970 births Living people People from Gap, Hautes-Alpes Sportspeople from Hautes-Alpes Association football defenders Association football midfielders French footballers AS Monaco FC players Arsenal F.C. players Colorado Rapids players Ligue 1 players Premier League players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate soccer players in the United States French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in the United States Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players Footballers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur