Marama Vahirua (born 12 May 1980) is a Tahitian 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 striker. He spent most of his career in France before finishing his professional career in Greece with Panthrakikos F.C. In July 2018, he became president of Tahitian club A.S. Dragon. Between 2013 and 2014, he was the technical director of the

Tahitian Football Federation The Tahitian Football Federation (french: Fédération tahitienne de football) is the governing body of football in French Polynesia. The Tahiti's men national football team is after Australia and New Zealand the 3rd most successful nation repres ...

Club career

Vahirua started his career at the famed youth academy of

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, winning several honors including a

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 ...

championship. Vahirua became known for being a "super sub" in the 2000–01 championship season as he often scored goals coming on as a substitute. His goal celebration was to mimic kayaking, a tribute to his Tahitian roots. He scored a goal in the 2001–02 Champions League when Nantes played against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

. Vahirua then went to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

in August 2004, where he enjoyed two spectacular seasons, being reconverted to attacking midfielder in the process. After falling out with coach

Frédéric Antonetti Frédéric Antonetti (born 19 August 1961) is a French professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of French club Metz. He previously managed Bastia, Gamba Osaka, Saint-Étienne, Nice, Rennes and Lille. E ...

, he would leave the club in the Summer of 2007, joining fellow Ligue 1 side

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. The striker of Lorient announced on 12 May 2010 that he would play the following season with Nancy, and signed a three-year-deal. On 11 August 2011, he joined

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

side

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 ...

on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. On 12 October 2013, he had signed with his hometown club

A.S. Pirae Association Sportive Pirae is a football club from Pirae in Tahiti. They are one of the most successful teams in Tahiti having won the Tahiti Division Fédérale nine times. They are also the first French Polynesian team to have reached the fi ...

. In 2016, he joined Temanava. In May 2017 he scored in the semi-final of the

Tahiti Cup The Tahiti Cup (also known as Coupe de Polynésie or Coupe de Tahiti Nui) is the premier football knockout tournament in French Polynesia. It was created in 1938, and gives the winner of the tournament a berth in the Coupe de France. Between the ...

against

A.S. Dragon A.S. Dragon is a French rock group, consisting of the members Stéphane Salvi (guitar), Michaël Garçon (piano), David Forgione remplace Fred Jimenez (bass) and Hervé Bouétard (drums). Natacha Le Jeune (singer) quit the group in 2007 in music, ...

but his team lost after penalties. In summer 2017, he transferred to A.S. Dragon where he would play in the

OFC Champions League The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club soccer competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been ...

in March 2018. In September 2018, he retired as a player.

International career

Vahirua is a former France under-21 international, being given his chance by former senior team coach

Raymond Domenech Raymond Manuel Albert Domenech (; born 24 January 1952) is a French football manager and former player. He managed the France national team from 2004 to 2010, reaching the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. He was dismissed after their elimination from ...

. After winning

2012 OFC Nations Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

coach Eddy Etaeta called Vahirua up for

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

matches against

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

and

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

in September 2012 and for the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. Vahirua was the only full-time footballer in the mostly

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

squad, as well as the only one to play outside Tahiti. He earned his first full cap for Tahiti on 17 June 2013 against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in a 6–1 losing effort at the

Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

. He played the first 70 minutes of the game, setting up Tahiti's first goal of the tournament with a corner. After the tournament, Vahirua announced his retirement from the professional game, considering that he was leaving at the pinnacle of his career. On 20 March 2018, Vahirua returned for Tahiti, playing in a 0–0 draw in a friendly against

Non-playing career

In July 2018, Vahirua became president of Tahitian club A.S. Dragon, whom he last played for.

Personal life

His cousin,

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 ...

, is a former French international. After his last professional contract, at Panthrakikos in 2013, Vahirua suffered from depression for two years.

Honours

Nantes * Division 1: 2000–01 *

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 ...

: 1998–99, 1999–2000 Pirae * Super Ligue Mana: 2013–14 Individual *

Oceania Footballer of the Year The Oceania Footballer of the Year award is presented each year to the best football (soccer) player from the Oceania region, as chosen by a panel of football journalists. The award was dominated by Australian players until that nation became part ...

: 2005

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vahirua, Marama 1980 births Living people People from Papeete French footballers French expatriate footballers French Polynesian footballers French Polynesian expatriate footballers Tahiti international footballers France under-21 international footballers Association football forwards FC Nantes players OGC Nice players FC Lorient players AS Nancy Lorraine players AS Monaco FC players Panthrakikos F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Greece Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Super League Greece players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players A.S. Pirae players