Guy Marcel Roux (; born 18 October 1938) is a French former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager known for being in charge of

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

for more than 40 years and for leading the team to national and worldwide prominence.

Managerial career

A native of

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

, Roux played for AJ Auxerre between 1954 and 1957 and became player-manager of the then

Division d'Honneur Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

(fourth level) club in 1961 to become its living legend and symbol. In 1970 Auxerre got promoted to the Division 3 League, and Roux retired as a player. In 1974 Auxerre got promoted again, this time to Division 2. With Roux in charge the team made it to a

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 ...

final in 1979 and progressed to Division 1 in 1980. The team then went further to clinch the Division 1 title in 1995–96 and win the Coupe de France four times (1993–94, 1995–96, 2002–03, 2004–05). Among

's honours under Roux are also an

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

triumph and the

1992–93 UEFA Cup The 1992–93 UEFA Cup was won by Juventus, who beat Borussia Dortmund 6–1 on aggregate in the final, a record score for a UEFA Cup final. It was the third victory in the competition for the Italian team (first club to reach this record). Thr ...

semi-final. Roux retired in 2000, but returned the next year. Roux believed that a strong infrastructure was paramount to long-term success. In 1980, Roux rejected the chance to sign French international striker

Olivier Rouyer Olivier Rouyer (born 1 December 1955) is a retired football striker from France. He earned seventeen international caps (two goals) for the French national team during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A player of AS Nancy, he was a member of the ...

in favour of opening a state-of-the-art youth academy. During his period at the helm, the team established itself as a powerhouse in French football and became known worldwide as an academy for top players, since it was the club where football stars such as

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

Basile Boli Basile Boli (born 2 January 1967) is a Ivorian-born French former professional footballer who played as a defender, and a current television sports presenter. He spent the majority of his career with Auxerre and Marseille before ending his ca ...

Alain Goma Alain Goma (born 5 October 1972) is a French former footballer who played as a right back or a central defender. In a 16-year professional career he appeared in 196 Ligue 1 games, mostly for Auxerre. He then played 147 matches in the Premier L ...

, Frédéric Darras,

Pascal Vahirua Pascal Vahirua (born 9 March 1966) is a French former professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger. His career was intimately connected with AJ Auxerre. Vahirua appeared for the France natio ...

, Raphael Guerreiro. Stéphane Mazzolini,

Djibril Cissé Djibril Cissé (; born 12 August 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He started his career at AC Arles in 1989, at the age of eight. After seven years at the club, he had a six-month spell at Nîmes Olym ...

Philippe Mexès Philippe Mexès (; born 30 March 1982) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre back. He represented AJ Auxerre, Auxerre, A.S. Roma, Roma and A.C. Milan, AC Milan at club level during a career that ...

and

Teemu Tainio Teemu Mikael Tainio (born 27 November 1979) is a Finnish football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of FC Haka. Tainio began his career with his local club, TP-47, before moving to FC Haka in 1996. A year later, he moved to ...

won themselves a name being spotted and their talent further developed by Roux. He also helped rebuild the careers of players after poor spells like

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...

and

Enzo Scifo Vincenzo "Enzo" Daniele Scifo (; born 19 February 1966) is a retired Belgian football midfielder. He has also managed the Belgium national under-21 football team and several Belgian club sides. He played for clubs in Belgium, France and Italy, w ...

. In 2000, Roux was a recipient of the

UEFA President's Award The UEFA President's Award recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities. The accolade, first introduced by UEFA in 1998, is usually awarded annually to a football personality who is deemed to have adv ...

which recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities. Roux retired from managing Auxerre in June 2005 to be replaced by

Jacques Santini Jacques Jean Claude Santini (born 25 April 1952) is a French former professional footballer and manager. He played for Saint-Étienne during the 1970s, and reached the European Cup final with them in 1976. He has coached the French national tea ...

. At the end of his career as Auxerre manager, Roux led Auxerre through about 2,000 games, including a European record of 890 top-flight league matches. He briefly came out of retirement in June 2007 when he signed a two-year contract with

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

. However, he resigned on 25 August 2007 during a 2–1 defeat at Strasbourg after only four matches without a win at the helm.

Honours

Auxerre * Division 1: 1995–96 *

: 1993–94, 1995–96, 2002–03, 2004–05 * Division 2: 1979–80 * Division d'Honneur de Bourgogne: 1969–70 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Coppa delle Alpi Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a friendly football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

: 1985, 1987 Individual * Ligue 1 Manager of the Year: 1995–96 *

: 2000 Orders *

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

: 1999 * Officier of the Légion d'honneur: 2008

References

External links

General * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roux, Guy 1938 births Living people Sportspeople from Colmar Footballers from Alsace French footballers Association football midfielders AJ Auxerre players Stade Poitevin FC players Limoges FC players French football managers AJ Auxerre managers RC Lens managers Ligue 1 managers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Association football player-managers

Managerial career

Honours

See also

References

External links