Philippe Julien Albert (born 10 August 1967) is a Belgian 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 ...

and television pundit. As a player he was a defender. He played for

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, KV Mechelen and

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

in his native Belgium, and for English clubs

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. It was at Newcastle that he became known as an attack-minded

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 s ...

for his forward runs from defence in the team dubbed as "the Entertainers". Albert made 41 appearances for the Belgium national team from 1987 to 1997, and represented his country at the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

World Cups.

Club career

Albert started his career with

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

before moving to KV Mechelen where his performances won him Belgian Golden Shoe and a move to

. While playing at Anderlecht, he won the Belgian League twice and helped his national side qualify for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

. Albert's exploits at the World Cup earned him a £2.6 million transfer to

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

; he was issued the number 27 shirt, and completed the transfer on his 27th birthday. He later claimed he turned down moves to Italian clubs

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and

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 ...

the year before as he did not like the hot climate or having to play on Sundays, and moved to Newcastle as he was a fan of Keegan and the team he played for,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, in his youth. He was an immediate success in the side as he helped them win their first six league games of the 1994–95 season, but missed the later stages of the season through injury and Newcastle finished sixth – not even enough for a

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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

place. He became a cult hero at Newcastle United due to his less-than-defensive tendencies in "the Entertainers'" central defence, would often make runs forward and be found roaming on the edge of the opposition box. His most famous moment arguably came when he scored an audacious chip from 20 yards over Peter Schmeichel in a 5–0 win over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

on 20 October 1996. Fans at Newcastle created a terrace chant for the player, singing "Phillipe, Phillipe Albert, everyone knows his name" to the words of the theme song of 1970s children's TV series ''

The Adventures of Rupert Bear ''The Adventures of Rupert Bear'' (''My Little Rupert'' in the US) was a live-action puppet television series, based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, produced by ATV. It aired from 28 October 1970 to 24 August 1977 on the ITV network, ...

''. Injuries towards the end of the decade limited his first-team chances and he spent 13 games on loan to third-tier club

(managed at the time by his former Newcastle boss Keegan), scoring twice during the 1998–99 season as they were promoted from

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

as champions. On leaving Newcastle in 1999, Albert returned to Belgium, rejoining Charleroi for £600,000. He spent one season with the club before retiring from football.

International career

Albert made 41 appearances for the Belgium national team, making his debut in 1987, but came to worldwide prominence at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

. There he played in four of Belgium's matches, scoring against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in his first game and against

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 ...

in the second round match, which Belgium lost 3–2.

Post-playing career

Albert is now working as a pundit for Belgian TV, and also runs a successful fruit and vegetable company.

Honours

Club

KV Mechelen * Belgian First Division: 1988–89 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

* Amsterdam Tournament: 1989 * Joan Gamper Trophy: 1989 *

Jules Pappaert Cup Trophy Jules Pappaert or Pappaert cup is a Belgian football trophy since 1953 and is awarded annually to a club in the first, second or third division of the Belgian Pro League with the longest uninterrupted series of unbeaten games. The award is ...

: 1990 Anderlecht * Belgian First Division: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94 * Belgian Cup: 1993–94 * Belgian Super Cup: 1993

Newcastle

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 Foo ...

runner up: 1995-96, 1996-97 Fulham *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1998–99

Individual

* Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 1991–92 * Belgian Golden Shoe: 1992 * Ballon 'd Or nomination:

* Greatest Newcastle United XI: 2017 * DH Best Anderlecht Team Ever: 2020 *

RBFA The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, ...

125 Years Icons Team: 2020

References

External links

* *
Premier League profile
at Belgian FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Philippe 1967 births Living people People from Bouillon 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian First Division A players Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Expatriate footballers in England Association football central defenders Newcastle United F.C. players Premier League players R. Charleroi S.C. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players English Football League players Walloon sportspeople K.V. Mechelen players Fulham F.C. players Footballers from Luxembourg (Belgium)