Marc Keller (born 14 January 1968) 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, rugb ...

who played primarily 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 ...

. In his club career he played in France, Germany and England. For the national side he played seven times, scoring one goal against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He later became general director of

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

and

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

Club career

Early career

Keller began his career in France playing for

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...

. In 1991 he moved to

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

whom he helped win the

1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the first edition of the tournament administered by the UEFA. It saw Strasbourg and Bordeaux win their semi-finals to advance to the UEFA Cup, the latter eventually finishing runners-up. It also saw English repres ...

, scoring a hat-trick in the second leg of the final against

FC Tirol Innsbruck FC Tirol Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol which existed between 1993 and 2002, when bankruptcy was declared. History It was – after the establishment of FC Swarovski Tirol in 1986 – the se ...

. In 1996 he moved to Germany to play for

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the ...

West Ham United

Keller was signed by West Ham in July 1998 on a free transfer from

by manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In h ...

. He made his debut on 12 September 1998 in a 2–1 home win against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

coming on as a substitute for

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional association football, footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker (association football), stri ...

. His first West Ham goal came on 22 November 1998 in a 2–0 away win against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. Keller played 22 games in his first season in all competitions scoring five goals as West Ham finished in fifth place in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

to qualify for the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

. The following season, he played four games in the tournament including the second leg of the final away against

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 ...

. West Ham won the game 3–1 to win the trophy 3–2 on aggregate, this being the second time Keller had won the tournament having also won it four years previously at Strasbourg. West Ham therefore qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

as one of the three winners of the competition for that season. Keller played in three of West Ham's four games in the UEFA Cup and 34 games with one goal in all competitions during the 2000–01 season. However, in the 2001–02 season he played just a single game, against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. In September 2000 Keller was sent on loan to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

, then playing in

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...

. He played three games before returning to West Ham. In January 2001 he was allowed to leave, on a free transfer, to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. This was part of a deal which saw

Christian Dailly Christian Eduard Dailly (born 23 October 1973) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Dailly started his professional career as a teenager, playing as a striker for Dundee United. He helped them win the 199 ...

move to West Ham for £1.7 million.

Blackburn Rovers

Keller played only five games for Blackburn Rovers, two in the league and three in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

, all as substitute appearances. His last game came on 7 March 2001, a 3–0 home win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

, when he was a 73rd-minute substitute for

Damien Duff Damien Anthony Duff (born 2 March 1979) is an Irish professional football manager and former player who played predominantly as a winger. He has been the manager of League of Ireland club Shelbourne F.C. since November 2021. He began his prof ...

. It was his last game in professional football.

International career

Keller made his debut for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in January 1993 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

against

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Corentin Martins. He played seven times for France, scoring once. On 3 June 1997 in a match in Le Tournoi, Keller equalised an earlier goal by

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...

in a 1–1 draw against

. His last game was in March 1998 against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

References

External links

Player profile at Sporting Heroes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Marc 1968 births Living people French footballers French expatriate footballers Footballers from Alsace Sportspeople from Colmar France international footballers FC Mulhouse players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Karlsruher SC players West Ham United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Premier League players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany English Football League players French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Association football midfielders