Daniel Congré (born 5 April 1985) 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 played as a defender. He could operate all across

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

, although he was most adept at

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is noted for his pace.

Club career

Born in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France to Martiniquais parents. Congré arrived at his hometown club

in the summer of 1996 at the age of 11, joining as a youth player. He quickly ascended through the ranks and eventually made his professional debut during the 2004–05 season in a league match against

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 ...

coming on as a halftime substitute. He remained on the senior squad for the rest of the season making 23 total appearances that season. The following two seasons, his play was heavily limited, mainly due to fracturing his left foot in a match against

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 ...

on 20 March 2006. The injury forced him to miss not only the rest of the 2005–06 season, but also the beginning of the 2006–07 season, in which Toulouse qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Congré endured more injuries during the 2007–08 season. A shoulder injury forced him to miss Toulouse's Champions League third round qualifying matches with

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, where Toulouse were eliminated 0–5 on aggregate. He returned for

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 ...

play, but picked up another injury forcing him to miss the rest of the season. He appeared in only 42 league matches over those three years. He returned to form for the 2008–09 season appearing in 29 league matches and scoring one goal 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 ...

contributing to Toulouse's 5th-place finish. He also scored a goal in Toulouse's 8–0 defeat of local side FCE Schirrhein in the

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 ...

. He recently signed a contract extension with the club through 2014, but on 21 June 2012 he agreed to a transfer to

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (; ), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional association football, football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie. The original club was ...

. On 5 July 2021, Congré joined

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

club

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

on a two-year deal.

International career

Congré has played on various youth football teams of France. He was a member of the France U-21 team collecting 7 caps and scoring two goals. Due to fracturing his foot, he missed the

2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

. He has yet to be capped by the senior national side. Of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

an descent, he was named to the Guadeloupe national team's preliminary squad to participate in the

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United Stat ...

, but did not make the final squad. His call-up and participation would have not hindered future selections from France for Congré, as Guadeloupe (a French overseas department) is not a member of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Personal life

On 9 June 2025, Congré was found seriously injured at his home in

Pérols Pérols (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Close to the city of Montpellier, it is mostly a quiet village with beautiful old buildings. Population See also *Communes of the Hérault dep ...

. When contacted, the Montpellier public prosecutor's office said it was “a suicide attempt”. It was revealed that the 40-year-old former player had been found unconscious and losing a lot of blood, due to a knife wound around his heart.

References

External links

Toulouse FC Profile

LFP Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Congre, Daniel Living people 1985 births Footballers from Toulouse French people of Martiniquais descent Men's association football defenders French men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Toulouse FC players Montpellier HSC players Dijon FCO players 21st-century French sportsmen