Grégoire Margotton (born 9 November 1969) is a French

sports journalist Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

who has worked for French television channels

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

and

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

. Since 2018, he has been the main presenter of the TF1 football programme

Téléfoot ''Téléfoot'' is a French football programme produced by TF1 Production for TF1. The programme was created by Pierre Cangioni in 1977 to show French Division 1 highlights. Téléfoot now covers France international matches, European club c ...

Personal life

Margotton's father taught at

Lumière University Lyon 2 Lumière University Lyon 2 () is one of the three universities that comprise the current University of Lyon system, having splintered from an older university of the same name, and is primarily based on two campuses in Lyon itself. It has a total ...

. He studied his

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, before moving to Liverpool, England as an Erasmus student.

Career

Margotton studied journalism at Bietry school, which was named after French journalist . In 1992, he started working for

as an intern. Margotten and Darren Tulett were the French language commentators on the ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2013'' (''PES 2013'', known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2013'' in Japan and South Korea) is an association football video game, developed and published by Konami. The game was announced by Konami on April 18, 2012. For ...

'' game. In 2014, Margotten started presenting ''La Data Room de Canal +'' (''The Canal+ data room''), a weekly short programme that looks into the statistics of football matches. In the same year, Margotten suggested that matches between

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 ...

and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

should become a derby match. In 2016, Margotton moved from Canal+ to

, as he wanted to spend his weekends with his family rather than at football matches. His first match for TF1 was the Téléfoot coverage of an international friendly between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. He was chosen ahead of Christian Jeanpierre to present Téléfoot's coverage of France matches at

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

, and commentated alongside

Bixente Lizarazu Bixente Jean Michel Lizarazu (, born 9 December 1969) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He rose through the ranks at Bordeaux, where he was part of a team that finished second in the French First Division in ...

. In September 2017, Margotton began hosting ''Rendez-vous Sport'', a two-minute summary programme about football results and players. Prior to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

, Margotten and hosted a documentary ''98, secrets d'une victoire'' (''98, secrets of a victory'') about France's victory at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. After the 2018 World Cup, Margotten replaced Jeanpierre as the main presenter of Téléfoot. Margotten and Lizarazu commentated for the Téléfoot coverage of the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. Aside from football, Margotton has commentated for TF1 on

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

. He commentated on the 2017 Men's and Women's World Handball Championships, the 2018

Women's EHF Champions League The EHF Women's Champions League is the competition for the top women's handball clubs in Europe, organised annually by the European Handball Federation (EHF). It is the most prestigious tournament for clubs, with the champions of Europe's top na ...

, and the

2019 World Men's Handball Championship The 2019 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 26th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Denmark and Germany from 10 to 27 January 2019. It was the first IHF World Men's Handball Championship to include more t ...

. In 2019, Margotton appeared on a special edition of '' Qui veut gagner des millions ?'' to raise money for

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

following the fire there. Margotten and

Alessandra Sublet Alessandra Sublet (born Alexandra Sublet; 5 October 1976) is a French radio and television presenter. She hosted the daily television program ''C à vous'' from September 2009 to June 2013 on France 5. Early life and education Alessandra Sublet ...

won 24,000

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

Awards

In 2013, Margotton was awarded the ''Lucarnes d'Or'' award for best French sports journalist. In 2017, he was voted the French public's favourite commentator in a

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

poll.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Margotton, Gregoire French sports journalists 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Lyon French television presenters