Nicolas Sébastien Frey (born 6 March 1984) 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, rugby le ...

who played as a

right 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 s ...

Club career

Born in

Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is ...

, Haute-Savoie, Frey played exclusively at amateur level in his country, joining AS Cannes' youth system at the age of 10 and spending two seasons with its reserves as a senior. In 2004, aged 20, he moved to Italy with

A.C. Legnano Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano, commonly referred to as Legnano, is an Italian football club based in Legnano, Lombardy. Founded in 1913, Legnano played three seasons in Serie A and a total of eleven seasons in the top tier of the It ...

, in

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

. After one year, Frey signed for

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Modena FC Modena Football Club 2018, commonly referred to as Modena, is an Italian football club based in Modena, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1912, and refounded in 2018, and had spent the majority of its existence playing in Serie B. They are ...

, being an important first-team member during his spell and totalling 62 league games in his last two years. In the summer of 2008, he joined A.C. ChievoVerona in a co-ownership deal along with

Angelo Antonazzo Angelo Antonazzo (born 2 October 1981) is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for Hellas Taranto. Antonazzo previously played 5 Serie D seasons, one Serie C2, one Serie C1, three Serie B before signed by A.C. ChievoVerona on 25 June ...

, in exchange for Salvatore Bruno and Michele Troiano. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

debut on 5 October 2008 in a 0–2 home loss against

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, and finished his debut campaign with 21 league matches as the

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

side retained their division status. On 17 July 2009, Chievo signed Frey on a permanent basis. During his spell with the club, he often shared right-back duties with

Gennaro Sardo Gennaro Sardo (born 8 May 1979) is a former Italian footballer who played as a right back. Career Early career Sardo started his professional career in 1997 when he played for Palmese. In 1998, he moved on loan to Giugliano. He played 16 tota ...

. Frey returned to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

on 31 January 2018, with the 33-year-old being loaned to

Venezia FC Venezia Football Club, commonly referred to as Venezia, is a professional football club based in Venice, Italy, that currently plays in Serie B. Originally founded as Venezia Foot Ball Club in 1907, the club have spent a large part of their hi ...

. After initially leaving Chievo at the end of 2018–19, he rejoined the team on a one-year contract on 6 September 2019.

Personal life

Frey's older brother,

Sébastien Sébastien is a common French given name. It is a French form of pasté Latin name ''Sebastianus'' meaning "from Sebaste". Sebaste was a common placename in classical Antiquity, derived from the Greek word ''σεβαστος'', or ''sebastos'', ...

, was also a footballer. 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 ...

, he too was brought up at Cannes, and also played most of his career in Italy, mainly with Parma F.C. and Fiorentina. His father, Raymond, was a professional goalkeeper, while his grandfather André was a defender who played several years with

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club is French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the premier division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse lo ...

, reaching the France national team as Sébastien.

References

External links

Chievo Verona official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Nicolas 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Haute-Savoie French footballers Association football defenders AS Cannes players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players A.C. Legnano players Modena F.C. players A.C. ChievoVerona players Venezia F.C. players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes