Étienne Didot (born 24 July 1983) 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 lea ...

who primarily played as a

centre midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Didot made over 400 appearances in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

playing for Stade Rennais F.C.,

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional association football, football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France, French football. Toulouse plays it ...

, and

En Avant de Guingamp En Avant Guingamp (, ), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (), is a French professional football club based in the commune of Guingamp, in France's Brittany region. The club was founded in 1912 and play in Ligue 2, ...

Club career

Rennes

Born in

Paimpol Paimpol (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwest France. It is a tourist destination, especially during the summer months when people are attracted by its port and beaches. Geography The town is located in t ...

, Côtes-d'Armor, Didot began his career playing for his hometown club Stade Paimpolais, before moving to

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

in 1997. After successfully performing on the youth level, he was promoted to the senior squad during the winter break of the 2001–02 season and subsequently made his debut in a

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

match against

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

. He made his league debut just four days later against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

coming on as a substitute in a 1–2 loss. Over the next two seasons, he was slowly integrated into the side appearing in 20 matches during the 2002–03 season and making 28 appearances during the 2003–04 season. The 2004–05 season was Didot's best season to date making 33 league appearances and also scoring his first league goal against

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a professional club in ...

in a 4–0 win. The club finished fourth in the league and qualified for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, a first in the club's history. Didot's 2005–06 league campaign was partially limited due to injury. After featuring in 19 of the first 20 league matches, he was forced out of the squad after separating his shoulder. He missed two months and did not play in the league again that season. In his last appearance before suffering the injury, he scored the game-winning goal against rivals

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

in the

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

derby. After to the departure of Olivier Monterrubio to

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

in 2007, Didot was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the squad for the 2007–08 season. However, despite being captain and pre-selected by Raymond Domenech to France's squad in August, the season was off par by Didot's standards, partly due to the firing of manager Pierre Dréossi, who was replaced by Guy Lacombe. Didot appeared on and off in the squad often, usually being dropped by Lacombe due to injuries and bad play. He made only 24 league appearances scoring two goals in his final season at Rennes.

Toulouse

On 18 June 2008, it was announced that Didot would transfer to Toulouse. The transfer fee was priced at €3 million. He made his debut in their opening league match against

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

losing 0–3. However, Toulouse responded by going undefeated in their next seven matches. Toulouse finished the season fifth in the standings, despite finishing 17th the previous season, and also made it to the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

with Didot making 34 total appearances and scoring two goals. On 18 April 2014, Didot signed a new three-year deal with the ''le Téfécé'' side, keeping him contracted until June 2017.

Guingamp

On 1 July 2016, Didot joined French club

International career

Didot has earned caps with all of France's youth teams beginning with the U-15s. He was a regular with the under-21 squad making 16 appearances and scoring no goals.

Personal life

Didot's brother Sylvain Didot, and his nephew Mathéo Didot also play football professionally.

Honours

Guingamp *

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 ...

runner-up: 2018–19

References

External links

* *
EA Guingamp Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Didot, Etienne 1983 births Living people People from Paimpol Footballers from Côtes-d'Armor Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Stade Rennais FC players Toulouse FC players En Avant Guingamp players Ligue 1 players 21st-century French sportsmen