Jean-Michel Larqué (born 8 September 1947) 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 ...

, and now a sports journalist. He has also been player-coach of

RC Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

, his only experience as head-coach.

Career

Larqué was born in

Bizanos Bizanos (; oc, Visanòs ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in southwestern France. Population Sports The home ground of local football club Pau FC, the Nouste Camp, is located in Bizanos. See also *Communes of the Py ...

, Pyrénées-Atlantiques. As a player, Larqué 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 ...

, and was one of the most important players for

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

in the 1960s and 70s where he won all his titles. He finished his playing career in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and

. He holds the joint–record for most

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 ...

titles won (seven), along with his Saint-Étienne teammate

Hervé Revelli Hervé Revelli (born 5 May 1946) is a French former footballer who played as a forward. He is well–known for having won the French Championship a joint–record seven times. Career Revelli scored 31 Ligue 1 goals during the calendar year of ...

, as well as

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea and captains the Brazil national team. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he is known f ...

and

Marco Verratti Marco Verratti (; born 5 November 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Italy national team. He is often considered as one of the best midfielders in the wor ...

of Paris Saint–Germain, and

Grégory Coupet Grégory Coupet (born 31 December 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Throughout his playing career, he represented Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Atlético Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as the France n ...

, Juninho, and

Sidney Govou Sidney Rodrigue Noukpo Govou (born 27 July 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played primarily as a winger, but was occasionally deployed as a striker. He holds the record for most Ligue 1 titles won (seven), along with Her ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. After having retired as a player, he became a football journalist: redactor for ''Onze Mondial'' magazine, but also on the radio

Radio Monte Carlo Radio Monte Carlo (RMC) is the name of radio stations owned and managed by several different entities: * RMC (France) is a French-speaking station, broadcasting in France and Monaco owned by NextRadioTV. **RMC Sport, a French bouquet of paid T ...

with his programme, Larqué foot and on TV where he is a commentator. Between 1980 and 1984 he commented football matches on

Antenne 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 Ap ...

and between 1985 and 2005 on TF1 with

Thierry Roland Thierry José Roland (; 4 August 1937 – 16 June 2012) was a French sports commentator who was France's leading football commentator for 59 years. He began his career as a radio journalist for the ORTF when he was just 16 years old. Roland the ...

. With the departure of

for M6, TF1 chose

Thierry Gilardi Thierry Gilardi (26 July 1958 – 25 March 2008) was a French football commentator. Biography Gilardi was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines to a family of Italian ancestry. He was an avid reader of the French sports newspaper ''L'Équi ...

(died on 25 March 2008) of

Canal + Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or river engineering, engineered channel (geography), channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport watercraft, vehicles (e.g. ...

to comment with Larqué. His style is notable for his constant repetition of the same phrase. In 1983, he also created training schools for young footballers from 7 to 19 where came

Florent Malouda Florent Johan Malouda (born 13 June 1980) is a French football coach and former professional player. A left winger, he spent most of his career at Lyon and Chelsea, winning four consecutive Ligue 1 titles with the former and the UEFA Champions ...

Bruno Cheyrou Bruno Olivier Cheyrou (born 10 May 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Cheyrou was born in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine. After success with Lille OSC, where he scored against Manchester Unite ...

, Benoït Cheyrou and

Fabrice Fernandes Fabrice Fernandes (born 29 October 1979 in Aubervilliers) is a French former footballer who played for several clubs, most particularly Southampton. Playing career Fabrice Fernandes spent three years at the INF Clairefontaine academy, before mov ...

Honours

Saint-Étienne * Division 1: 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76 *

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 ...

: 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75 Orders * Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 1999

References

External links

Official site of his training schools (in French "stages")photo and international career
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larque, Jean-Michel 1947 births Living people Sportspeople from Pyrénées-Atlantiques French footballers France international footballers Association football midfielders AS Saint-Étienne players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Racing Club de France Football players Ligue 1 players Olympic footballers of France Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics French football managers Paris Saint-Germain F.C. managers French sports journalists Association football commentators French male non-fiction writers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Association football player-managers Footballers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine