Grégoire Margotton (born 9 November 1969) is a French

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

who has worked for French television channels Canal+ and

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

. Since 2018, he has been the main presenter of the TF1 football programme

Téléfoot ''Téléfoot'' is a French Association football, football programme produced by TF1 Group, TF1 Production for TF1. The programme was created by Pierre Cangioni in 1977 to show French Ligue 1, Division 1 highlights. Téléfoot now covers France ...

Personal life

Margotton's father taught at Lumière University Lyon 2. He studied his

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

in Lyon, before moving to Liverpool, England as an Erasmus student.

Career

Margotton studied journalism at Bietry school, which was named after French journalist . In 1992, he started working for Canal+ as an intern. Margotten and

Darren Tulett Darren Tulett (born 2 June 1965) is an English journalist who became a sports anchorman, presenting mainly football on French television. He was a presenter for Canal+ for a decade, and has worked for beIN Sport since helping to launch the channel ...

were the French language commentators on the '' Pro Evolution Soccer 2013'' game. In 2014, Margotten started presenting ''La Data Room de Canal +'' (''The Canal+ data room''), a weekly short programme that looks into the statistics of football matches. In the same year, Margotten suggested that matches between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille should become a derby match. In 2016, Margotton moved from Canal+ to

, as he wanted to spend his weekends with his family rather than at football matches. His first match for TF1 was the Téléfoot coverage of an international friendly between France and Cameroon. He was chosen ahead of

Christian Jeanpierre Christian Jeanpierre (also spelt Jean-Pierre, born 9 April 1965) is a French sports journalist who has worked for French television channels Canal+ and TF1, as well as radio station Europe 1. Jeanpierre presented TF1's football programme, Tél� ...

to present Téléfoot's coverage of France matches at UEFA Euro 2016, and commentated alongside Bixente Lizarazu. In September 2017, Margotton began hosting ''Rendez-vous Sport'', a two-minute summary programme about football results and players. Prior to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, Margotten and hosted a documentary ''98, secrets d'une victoire'' (''98, secrets of a victory'') about France's victory at 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 ...

. After the 2018 World Cup, Margotten replaced Jeanpierre as the main presenter of Téléfoot. Margotten and Lizarazu commentated for the Téléfoot coverage of the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

. Aside from football, Margotton has commentated for TF1 on

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

. He commentated on the 2017 Men's and Women's World Handball Championships, the 2018 Women's EHF Champions League, and the

2019 World Men's Handball Championship The 2019 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 26th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Denmark and Germany from 10 to 27 January 2019. It was the first IHF World Men's Handball Championship to include more t ...

. In 2019, Margotton appeared on a special edition of '' Qui veut gagner des millions ?'' to raise money for

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

following the fire there. Margotten and Alessandra Sublet won 24,000 €.

Awards

In 2013, Margotton was awarded the ''Lucarnes d'Or'' award for best French sports journalist. In 2017, he was voted the French public's favourite commentator in a

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...

poll.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Margotton, Gregoire French sports journalists 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Lyon French television presenters