Matthieu Delpierre (born 26 April 1981 in Nancy, France) is a retired French

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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

. Delpierre's professional career started with Lille OSC, before a move to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

where he eventually became the club captain. Delpierre spent eight years at Stuttgart before moving on to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, then FC Utrecht and ended his career in Australia with

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

He represented France at U18, U20 and under-21 level, making appearances during the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qu ...

Club career

Lille

In his first season with Lille, Delpierre made few appearances but helped in the club's promotion to Ligue 1. Delpierre played more regularly in his second season, helping Lille finish third and thereby qualify for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. Delpierre continued to perform well for Lille though the club finished at a lower position in the league every season.

Stuttgart

Delpierre was signed by

on a free transfer after Lille refused to grant him a contract extension. Stuttgart struggled during the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, but Delpierre began to improve under the tutelage of coach

Armin Veh Armin Veh (; born 1 February 1961) is a German football manager and former player who last managed Eintracht Frankfurt. He won the German championship with Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart in 2007. Veh and his team also had the chance to win "the ...

. The following season, during which he missed only one game through illness, the French defender formed an almost impenetrable barrier alongside

Fernando Meira Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira (; born 5 June 1978) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a central defender. In his country, he represented most notably Vitória de Guimarães, also playing one year with Benfica. Afte ...

at the heart of the Stuttgart defence. Matthieu has also been a vital cog in Stuttgart's success in the 2006–07 DFB-Pokal, in which the team conceded only three goals before losing the final to Nürnberg. On 19 May 2007, Delpierre won the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

with Stuttgart, playing a significant part in their success. Delpierre Victory Training May 2015

His defensive performances attracted the attention of Arsenal and Bayern Munich and also French clubs

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

and Saint-Étienne. However, he remained at Stuttgart, extending his contract until the summer of 2012. On 1 December 2009, Delpierre was appointed the new captain of VfB Stuttgart by

Markus Babbel Markus Babbel (; born 8 September 1972) is a German professional football coach and former player who last managed the Western Sydney Wanderers FC. He played as a defender for clubs in Germany and England. Babbel won the UEFA Cup twice, in 1996 ...

. On 12 January 2012 he asked Bruno Labbadia to appoint another player. Delpierre joined Hoffenheim on a free transfer at the end of the 2011–12 season. He spent 18 months with Hoffenheim before moving to FC Utrecht in January 2014.

Move to Australia

On 7 July 2014, A-League club

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

announced the signing of Delpierre on a one-year deal. On 10 October 2014, Delpierre scored the first goal of the

2014–15 A-League The 2014–15 A-League was the 38th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 10th season of the A-League since its establishment in 2004. Brisbane Roar were both the defending A-League Premiers and Champions. The regular season commen ...

season in the Victory's first round match against the

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

, scoring from a

Guilherme Finkler Guilherme Finkler (born 24 September 1985) is a Brazilian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. He is known as Guilherme in Brazil and Gui Finkler in Australia and New Zealand. Early life Finkler was born in Caxias do Sul in the Bra ...

free kick in just the 8th minute of the match. The Victory eventually won the match 4–1. On 1 May 2015, Delpierre extended his contract with Melbourne Victory for one more year. Delpierre made 53 appearances in all competitions for the Victory during his two seasons in the A-League, scoring once. On 26 April 2016, Delpierre announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 35, having completed 17 seasons since his debut with Lille in 1999.

International career

Delpierre was called up to the senior France team in March 2008 but was ultimately never capped at that level.

Honours

Club

;Lille * Ligue 2: 1999–2000 ;Stuttgart *

: 2006–07 ;

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2014–15 * A-League Premiership: 2014–15 * FFA Cup: 2015 Individual * PFA Team of the Season: 2014–15, 2015–16 * Victory Medal: 2015–16 * Players' Player of the Year: 2015–16

References

External links

Matthieu Delpierre
at Stuttgart's official website

at Eurosport *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delpierre, Matthieu 1981 births Living people French footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers FC Nantes players Lille OSC players VfB Stuttgart II players VfB Stuttgart players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players FC Utrecht players Melbourne Victory FC players Association football fullbacks Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Eredivisie players A-League Men players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in Australia