Pierre Cangioni (born 29 July 1939) is a French sports journalist, best known for presenting the French

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

television programme ''

Téléfoot ''Téléfoot'' is a French Association football, football programme produced by TF1 Group, TF1 Production for TF1. The programme was created by Pierre Cangioni in 1977 to show French Ligue 1, Division 1 highlights. Téléfoot now covers France ...

'' from 1977 to 1982. He was the president of Olympique de Marseille from 1994–95.

Personal life

Cangioni was born in Paris in 1939. His parents were from

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, and he grew up in Bocognano, Corsica. He remembers Bocognano being protected by the Italian Army during the Second World War. He attended Bocognano school. His family later moved to

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

Career

Cangioni started working on the television coverage of French sport in 1972, commentating on

and boxing. He worked as a commentator on the French television coverage of the

1976 European Cup Final The 1976 European Cup Final was a football match held at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 12 May 1976, that saw Bayern Munich of West Germany defeat Saint-Étienne of France 1–0. This was the third consecutive European Cup title for Bayern Munich, ...

between

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1977, Cangioni had the idea for a French football television programme. He pitched the idea to bosses of

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

, who agreed to pay 700,000 F to acquire the rights for the coverage from Division 1. Cangioni presented the first episode of ''

'', France's first dedicated football television programme. He presented the programme for five years. Cangioni commentated with Jean Raynal at the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

in Argentina. In 1986, Cangioni also commentated on Formula One and the Paris–Dakar Rally. Fellow ''Téléfoot'' presenter

Christian Jeanpierre Christian Jeanpierre (also spelt Jean-Pierre, born 9 April 1965) is a French sports journalist who has worked for French television channels Canal+ and TF1, as well as radio station Europe 1. Jeanpierre presented TF1's football programme, Tél� ...

said that Cangioni had a distinctive Corsican accent. French footballer Zinedine Zidane said that Cangioni was one of "the three voices of French football commentary, along with Thierry Roland and

Thierry Gilardi Thierry Gilardi (26 July 1958 – 25 March 2008) was a French football commentator. Biography Gilardi was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines to a family of Italian ancestry. He was an avid reader of the French sports newspaper ''L'Équipe'' ...

." In December 1994, Cangioni became the president of Olympique de Marseille, replacing

Bernard Tapie Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy. Life and career Tapie was bo ...

, who had been forced to resign due to the

French football bribery scandal The French football bribery scandal (french: Affaire VA-OM) occurred during a 1992–93 French Division 1 match between Valenciennes and Olympique de Marseille. Marseille president Bernard Tapie and general manager Jean-Pierre Bernès contact ...

. Cangioni took ownership of 33% of the club, with the rest still belonging to Tapie. He left the role in May 1995, saying that the role was not well suited to him. In 2009, Cangioni was critical of the appointment of Jean-Claude Dassier as Marseille president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cangioni, Pierre 1939 births Living people Writers from Paris French sports journalists Olympique de Marseille chairmen People from Corse-du-Sud French television journalists Sportspeople from Paris French people of Corsican descent