Michel Der Zakarian ( hy, Միշել Տեր-Զաքարյան, born on 18 February 1963) is an Armenian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former professional player who played as a defender. Raised in France, he played for Nantes and Montpellier, and earned five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Armenia national team in the mid-1990s. As a manager, he led Nantes (two spells), Montpellier and

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

in Ligue 1, and Clermont and Reims in Ligue 2.

Playing career

Der Zakarian lived in France from a young age (he was raised in

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 spent his entire professional career in the country with Nantes and Montpellier, winning the league with the former in 1983. He was a member of the Armenia national team, participating in five international matches after his debut in a home 1998 World Cup qualifying match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Managerial career

Nantes and Clermont

Der Zakarian was assistant to

Georges Eo Georges Eo (born 7 November 1948 in Lorient) is a French football manager and former midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and ...

at Nantes, and succeeded him on 12 February 2007 when the team was 19th in Ligue 1; this was their fifth change of the position since winning the league title in 2001. The ''Canaris'' were relegated, and he brought them back immediately from Ligue 2 as runners up to

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, but was sacked on 26 August 2008 after gaining one point from the first three games of the season, and was replaced by

Alain Perrin Alain André Christian Perrin (born 7 October 1956) is a French professional football manager and former player. Perrin made his managerial breakthrough at Troyes, whom he took from the fourth tier to Ligue 1 and UEFA Cup qualification by winni ...

. On 1 June 2009, Der Zakarian succeeded

Didier Ollé-Nicolle Didier Ollé-Nicolle (born 2 September 1961) is French football manager and former player who played as a defender. He recently managed Division 1 Féminine side Paris Saint-Germain Féminine. Club career Ollé-Nicolle was born in Belley, A ...

at Ligue 2 club Clermont. Despite the club having one of the lowest budgets in the league, he led them to respective finishes of 6th, 7th and 5th in his three seasons before returning to Nantes. In 2012–13, his first season back at the Stade de la Beaujoire, Der Zakarian again won Nantes promotion to Ligue 1, in third place. He kept them in the top flight in each of the following three seasons, though goals were hard to come by; they netted 38, 29 and 33 respectively over the 38-game campaigns. Club owner Waldemar Kita disliked Der Zakarian and his management, but allowed him to see out his contract instead of paying for a dismissal.

Reims and Montpellier

Der Zakarian left Nantes in May 2016 to sign for two years at Reims, newly relegated to Ligue 2. A year later, he was back in the top flight after leaving by mutual accord to join Montpellier. In April 2019, Der Zakarian signed a new contract to stay at Montpellier until 2021. The club ended that season in 6th, missing out on

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

qualification only due to the results of the domestic cup finals. Der Zakarian announced in May 2021 that he was leaving Montpellier at the end of the season. He won 2–1 against former club Nantes on his final day, securing 8th place.

Brest

On 22 June 2021, Der Zakarian signed with fellow Ligue 1 side

. The team did not win any of their first 11 games, followed by six successive victories including over

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 ...

and

. Having stayed up in his first season, his contract was automatically extended to 2024. Der Zakarian was fired on 11 October 2022 with the club in last place, having won once in ten games. Results that season included a 7–0 home loss to Montpellier on 28 August.

Personal life

Der Zakarian and his wife Véronique married in 1983.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Nantes * Ligue 1: 1982–83 *

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 ...

runners-up: 1982–83 Montpellier *Coupe de France: 1989–90; runners-up: 1993–94 * Coupe de la Ligue: 1991–92; runners-up: 1993–94

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Der Zakarian, Michel 1963 births Living people Footballers from Yerevan Association football defenders Armenian footballers Armenia international footballers Armenian emigrants to France FC Nantes players Montpellier HSC players Ligue 1 players Armenian football managers FC Nantes managers Clermont Foot managers Stade de Reims managers Montpellier HSC managers Stade Brestois 29 managers Soviet emigrants to France Ligue 1 managers Ligue 2 managers French footballers French football managers Footballers from Marseille