Lionel Letizi (born 28 May 1973) is a former French 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

France

Born in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, Letizi took his first steps as a professional player with OGC Nice where his team won the French second division in 1994. Upon reaching the French first division he was observed by a number of football clubs before joining

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

in 1996. At this new club, he and his team became runner-ups in the French first division in 1998 and finalists of the

French League Cup The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France, ...

in 1999. The chance to take a step up arrived when he joined

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 ...

in 2000, which enabled him to play in the Champions’ League. He remained first choice at PSG for 6 years, but the signing of Mickael Landreau instigated his leave.

Move to Scotland

On 16 June 2006, he moved to

Rangers FC Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

on a free transfer. On 13 August 2006, his blunder led directly to a 1–1 draw with Dunfermline. Letizi soon redeemed himself in the next game, which saw Rangers achieve a 2–0 win against the Hearts. Unfortunately for the team, this match resulted in an injury for Letizi. After two months on the sidelines, Letizi controversially made an automatic return to the side despite impressive performances from his replacement

Allan McGregor Allan James McGregor (born 31 January 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Rangers. McGregor has also previously played for St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Turkish team Beşikta ...

. Manager

Paul Le Guen Paul Joseph Marie Le Guen (, ; born 1 March 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Ligue 2 club Le Havre. During his playing career, Le Guen played as a midfielder, and enjoyed a su ...

had made it clear at the start of the season that Letizi was going to be number one, which was not entirely unexpected. But the decision was soon put under dubious light when a fumble on the 14 October 2006 gave

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

an unforeseen 1–0 win at

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox, Glasgow, Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers F.C., Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest List of foot ...

, and left Rangers 10 points behind

Celtic FC The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

after just ten Scottish Premier League matches. After the departure of Le Guen, Letizi's future at Rangers was uncertain, and not long after, he was released from the club on the 30 January 2007. Letizi has not played since October 2006 and featured in just eight matches in his six-month stay at Rangers.

International career

While capped four times for the French national team, he never managed to displace

Fabien Barthez Fabien Alain Barthez (born 28 June 1971) is a French racing driver and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, AS Monaco, Manchester United ...

. He was in France's preliminary squad of 28 players for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in his native country. However, he was one of 6 players removed from the tournament by head coach Aime Jacquet just before the tournament began. France went on to be victorious in the tournament and become national heroes.

Trivia

His father Alain Letizi was also a goalkeeper and played for

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, t ...

Honours

Club

Nice * French second division champion: 1994 Metz * Finalist of the

: 1999 Paris Saint-Germain * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001 *

French Cup 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 professiona ...

: 2004, 2006

References

External links

PSG profile

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Letizi, Lionel Living people 1973 births Footballers from Nice Association football goalkeepers French footballers France international footballers French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Scotland OGC Nice players FC Metz players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Scottish Premier League players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of France France youth international footballers