Alain Casanova (born 18 September 1961) is a French former

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 ...

who played as 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 most recently was

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of Swiss side

FC Lausanne-Sport FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football i ...

Career

Born in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attract ...

, Casanova played for Cournon, INF Vichy,

Le Havre AC Le Havre Athletic Club (; commonly referred to as Le Havre) is a French association football club based in Le Havre, Normandy. The club was founded as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, making Le Havre AC the oldest professional French fo ...

, Olympique de Marseille and Toulouse FC. At Marseille, he made no professional appearances, but was on the bench at the 1991 European Cup Final, which the team lost to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in Bari. On 30 May 2008, he was named manager of former club Toulouse, after the sacking of Élie Baup. In his first season in charge, the team came fourth, and qualified for the renamed

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

, while striker

André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. Gignac is described as a "powerful and dangerous" striker who is known for his "aerial presence". He ...

was the league's top scorer with 24 goals. The side also reached the semi-finals of the

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 ...

, where they lost 2–1 to

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...

; in the

2009–10 Coupe de la Ligue The 2009–10 Coupe de la Ligue was the 16th edition of France's league cup, organized by the LFP. The defending champions were Ligue 1 club Bordeaux who defeated second division club Vannes 4–0 in the 2009 final. The competition began on 25 ...

, Toulouse reached the same round and were eliminated by the same score after extra time by Marseille. He was dismissed in March 2015, with the club three points from safety in 18th with nine games to play; he was Ligue 1's longest-serving incumbent manager at the time. On 13 June 2016, Casanova was named as the new manager of Ligue 2 club

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 ...

, succeeding

Antoine Kombouaré Antoine Krilone Kombouaré (; born 16 November 1963) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Ligue 1 club Nantes. Playing career Born in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, Kombouaré ...

on a two-year deal with the option of a third. He was sacked on 20 August 2017 after losing all four of the team's first matches of the new season. On 22 June 2018, Casanova was named once again as the manager of Toulouse in Ligue 1, replacing Michaël Debève. He was sacked on 10 October 2019, with the side down in 18th place. On 3 February 2022, he was confirmed as the new head coach of struggling Swiss Super League club

. Despite improving on their performance, he was unable to fend off the looming disaster and three rounds before the end of the season, the club's relegation was already confirmed with a twelve point deficit. On 22 May 2022, his contract at Lausanne was terminated.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Le Havre * French Division 2: 1984–85

References

External links

Alain Casanova
at Om.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Casanova, Alain Living people 1961 births French footballers Le Havre AC players Olympique de Marseille players Toulouse FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players French football managers Toulouse FC managers RC Lens managers Ligue 1 managers Ligue 2 managers Sportspeople from Clermont-Ferrand Association football goalkeepers INF Vichy players Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes