Roger Léon Maurice Lemerre-Desprez (born 18 June 1941) is a French professional

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 ...

manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of the French, Tunisian and Moroccan national teams. He also managed numerous clubs in France, Tunisia, Turkey and Algeria. He is currently the head coach of

Étoile du Sahel Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Ét ...

Playing career

His professional playing career spanned 15 seasons, from 1961 to 1975: between 1961 and 1969 he played for Sedan and lost the Cup in 1965, before moving to

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

(1968–1971), Nancy (1971–1973) and

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''), ...

(1973–1975). He won six caps 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 ...

between 1968 and 1971.

Managerial career

Between 1975 and 1978, he was the coach of Red Star from Saint-Ouen, and then went back to RC Lens for a season as coach, before moving to

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade C ...

for two seasons. In the 1983–1984 season, he ran

Espérance Sportive de Tunis (; ar, الترجي الرياضي التونسي, Attarajī ar-Riyāḍi Attūnisī, link=yes), also known as ''ES Tunis'' and , is a Tunisian sports club based in Bab Souika neighbourhood of Tunis, Tunisia. The club was founded in 1919, thu ...

in Tunisia. On his return to France, he again took up his post as Red Star manager. For 10 seasons, he coached the French national military team, with whom he won the World Championships. In 1997, he finished the season with Lens and saved it from relegation. He assisted

Aimé Jacquet Aimé Étienne Jacquet (born 27 November 1941) is a French former professional Manager (association football), football manager and Football player, player. He was manager of the France national football team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup. B ...

in the French team's 1998

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 ...

victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

. This paved the way for him to take over as the national coach, winning

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

in Netherlands and Belgium and

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

next year. However, after the team suffered a stunning first-round exit in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, he was sacked by the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...

. Undeterred, the

Tunisian Football Federation The Tunisian Football Federation ( ar, الجامعة التونسية لكرة القدم, french: Fédération Tunisienne de Football, FTF) is the governing body of football in Tunisia. It was established in 1957. It became a member in the FI ...

soon hired Lemerre to be the manager of their national side. There, he guided them to victory in the

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

in 2004 making him first coach in football history to win two different continental tournaments i.e. Euro 2000 and AFCON 2004, and led them to qualification for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany. He was sacked in February 2008 following the team's exit from the 2008 African Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals. Lemerre was named the new head coach of Morocco national team in May 2008 and took charge on 1 July. He was fired on 9 July 2009, for disappointing results. On 18 December 2009, he accepted a managing job at Ankaragücü on a six-month deal that could be extended if both parties agreed. Former Turkey international

Ümit Özat Ümit Özat (born 30 October 1976) is a Turkish professional football manager and former player. Club career Born in Ankara, Özat initially played for Gençlerbirliği and for Fenerbahçe as a central defender or a defensive midfielder. Later ...

was appointed as his assistant coach. In May 2010, despite the fact that Lemerre had turned the team around and possibly saved them from relegation, the club decided not to extend Lemerre's contract and he was replaced by his assistant Ümit Özat for the 2009–10 season. In December 2013, Lemerre agreed a six-month deal to take a coaching job at Tunisian team

. In January 2016 he became new manager of

CS Sedan Ardennes Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes, commonly referred to as CS Sedan or simply Sedan (), is a French association football club based in Sedan. The club was formed in 1919 and plays its home matches at the Stade Louis Dugauguez located within the ci ...

Honours

As manager

France *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

: 2001 Tunisia * African Cup of Nations: 2004 Étoile du Sahel *

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup , officially named the President's Cup, is the official competition of the Cup in Tunisian football and is considered the second most important local title after the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. The first cup competition was h ...

: 2013–14 * Arab Club Champions Cup: 2018–19 Orders *

Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite Chevalier may refer to: Honours Belgium * a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II * a title in the Belgian nobility France * a rank in the French Legion d'h ...

: 1998 * Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 2001 * Grand Officer of the

National Order of Merit of Tunisia National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

: 2004

References

External links

* Frenc
Profile and pictures of Roger Lemerre
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemerre, Roger 1941 births Living people Sportspeople from Manche 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2002 FIFA World Cup managers 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2006 FIFA World Cup managers 2004 African Cup of Nations managers 2006 Africa Cup of Nations managers 2008 Africa Cup of Nations managers Association football defenders AS Nancy Lorraine players CS Sedan Ardennes players FC Nantes players France international footballers France national football team managers French football managers French footballers Ligue 1 players Paris FC managers RC Lens managers RC Lens players RC Strasbourg Alsace managers Red Star F.C. managers UEFA Euro 2000 managers UEFA European Championship-winning managers FIFA Confederations Cup-winning managers Tunisia national football team managers Morocco national football team managers Espérance Sportive de Tunis managers Étoile Sportive du Sahel managers French expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Tunisia Expatriate football managers in Turkey CS Constantine managers Expatriate football managers in Algeria Süper Lig managers French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Footballers from Normandy