Benoît Pedretti (born 12 November 1980) is a 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 ...

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 activitie ...

and former player who is the manager of the reserve team of Nancy. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he was a deep-lying

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativi ...

well-known for his wide range of passing. He started his professional career at Sochaux, and played there from 1999 to 2004. Following brief stints with

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

where he spent one season each he joined

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

in 2006. In 2011 he left the club for

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 No ...

before moving 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 Corsic ...

in 2013. His last stint was at Nancy, from 2015 to 2018. At international level, Pedretti gained 22

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the France national team between 2002 and 2005.

Club career

Sochaux

Pedretti began his career at

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Fre ...

in 1999, in the club's youth system, and in the same year, he played his first professional match. Sochaux finished the season in fourth place in the Division 2 missing out on promotion to the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

. The following season, Pedretti, despite his inexperience, became a mainstay of the team taking part in all matches and thereby contributing to Sochaux's championship in the Division 2 in 2001. He became a regular first team player in the 2002–2003 Ligue 1 season making 35 league appearances and scoring 3 goals. The team also had a strong cup run that year, reaching the final of the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

, but losing 4–1 to Monaco. Pedretti featured in the

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

with Sochaux the following year as they qualified for European football. However they struggled to make any significant impact on the competition.

Marseille

Pedretti then moved to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club p ...

for a transfer fee of €4.5 million in 2004. At Marseille, he found it difficult to cement his place in the starting line-up in a season marked by instability at the club with many players coming and going and coach José Anigo being replaced by Philippe Troussier during the season.

Lyon

Pedretti made 31 appearances in all competitions before moving to

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

in 2005 for €7 million after one season at Marseille. He was again used sparingly at the club which at the time had fierce competition for midfield places. Pedretti only amassed 21 appearances in all competitions and was often denied a place by the likes of Florent Malouda and Juninho Pernambucano spending much time on the bench. He made his Champions League debut but was involved in only 21 league games in his only season for Lyon.

Auxerre

Pedretti again moved, this time to

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division ...

for a €6 million fee in 2006 after he decided to make a fresh start. This move gave Pedretti the first team action he had desired with him being a mainstay in their midfield for several years. During his time at the club he featured in the

and the Champions League. During the subsequent 2007–08 season, he became captain of the "AJA", following the departure of

Benoît Cheyrou Benoît Benjamin Cheyrou (born 3 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, and often acted as a deep-lying playmaker for the attack. He is the assistant manager of French amateur club La Salesienne d ...

to Marseille. He continued to show good performances, especially during the quarterfinals of the League Cup where he scored a decisive goal in stoppage time against his former team Marseille. With multiple injuries keeping the Auxerre captain sidelined for several months during the 2010–11 season, Pedretti participated in 20 league games. After the end of the season, Pedretti stated his desire to leave Auxerre with league title holders

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played ...

being his preferred club. Pedretti amassed 170 appearances during his five-year stay. He was a highly influential member of the squad and featured for the national team, increasing his total to 22 caps.

Lille

Pedretti was signed by Lille for an undisclosed fee on the opening day of the summer 2011 transfer window as a replacement for

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 En ...

-bound

Yohan Cabaye Yohan Cabaye (; born 14 January 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Cabaye began his football career playing for hometown club US Tourcoing at the age of six. After seven years developing in the club's ...

. Pedretti said, “It illeis a very good club with great, interesting challenges. ��My choice is to come to Lille."

Ajaccio

On 4 August 2013, Pedretti agreed a two-year deal with AC Ajaccio. He scored a wonder goal for Ajaccio in his second game for the club, netting from 20 yards out, in a 1–1 draw with reigning champions PSG on 18 August. Ajaccio decided not to renew his contract in 2015. Thus, he became a free agent.

Nancy

On 1 August 2015, Pedretti signed a one-year contract with

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

, with an option for a second year. In January 2018, having struggled with injuries at the end of the 2016–17 and the beginning of the 2017–18 season, he announced his retirement from professional football. He took up the role of assistant coach to Patrick Gabriel.

International career

On 20 November 2002, Pedretti made his debut for the France national team that year, coming on as a late substitution for

Lilian Thuram Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien (; born 1 January 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He began playing football professionally in his homeland with Monaco and played in the top flight in France, Italy and Spai ...

in a 3–0 win over Serbia and Montenegro. He was part of the French squad that won the Confederations Cup in 2003 and reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2004 when France were knocked out by the eventual champions Greece in the quarter finals by the score 1–0. He played 22 internationals for France the last of which was against Hungary in a 2–1 win.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Sochaux * Division 2: 2000–01 *

: 2003–04 Lyon *

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 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

: 2005–06 France *

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, ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedretti, Benoit 1980 births Living people People from Audincourt Sportspeople from Doubs Association football midfielders French footballers France international footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Olympique de Marseille players Olympique Lyonnais players AJ Auxerre players Lille OSC players AC Ajaccio players AS Nancy Lorraine players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players French football managers Ligue 2 managers AS Nancy Lorraine managers Footballers from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté