Pierre-Alain Frau (born 15 April 1980) 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 ...

. He played as a striker or winger for

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...

(two spells),

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, and Caen in France and for

Al-Wakrah Al Wakrah ( ar, الوكرة, al-Wakra) is the capital city of the Al Wakrah Municipality in Qatar. Al Wakrah's eastern edge is the shores of the Persian Gulf and Qatar's capital Doha is situated to the city's immediate north. Governed by Sheikh ...

Career

Nicknamed ''PAF'' after his initials, Frau was born on 15 April 1980 in

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

, France, where he became a young find of his hometown club FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, and it was there he got his first opportunity to play in the France national league. After completing what would have been a prospective move to Lyon from Montbéliard, he found his playing time in the 2004–05 season hampered by the presence of other established frontmen like

Sylvain Wiltord Sylvain Claude Wiltord (born 10 May 1974) is a French former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also played as a centre-forward, second striker and on the left wing. Wiltord had a four-season spell at Arsenal, with whom he won ...

Nilmar Nilmar Honorato da Silva (born 14 July 1984), commonly known as Nilmar, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He won club and personal honours with Internacional and Corinthians in Brazil, and also played in ...

and later, John Carew. Realising that it was a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

year with a slim chance to catch the attention of national coach

Raymond Domenech Raymond Manuel Albert Domenech (; born 24 January 1952) is a French football manager and former player. He managed the France national team from 2004 to 2010, reaching the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. He was dismissed after their elimination from ...

, Frau secured a half-season loan to

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), co ...

, but failed to make the cut to the final

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

squad. Frau was called up to the senior

squad by Raymond Domenech in August 2004 but did not make it off the bench. For the following season, RC Lens wanted to keep him in

, but Frau preferred a move to

. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but Olympique Lyonnais priced the striker at £4 million. On 1 January 2008, Frau signed a three-and-a-half year deal with

and was given the shirt number 17. Frau is known as one of the more famous players at his hometown club FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.

Honors

Sochaux * Coupe de la Ligue: 2003–04 * Ligue 2: 2000–01 Lyon * Ligue 1: 2004–05 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

: 2004, 2005 Lille * Ligue 1:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

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 ...

References

External links

* *
Profile and pictures of Frau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frau, Pierre-Alain 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Montbéliard French footballers Footballers from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Association football forwards France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Qatar Stars League players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Olympique Lyonnais players RC Lens players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Lille OSC players Stade Malherbe Caen players Al-Wakrah SC players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Qatar