Grégory Wimbée (born 19 August 1971) is a French retired

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He appeared in 282

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 ...

games over 11 seasons, representing in the competition Nancy,

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

and

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

. In a 19-year professional career, he added 297 matches in

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 career

Wimbée was born in

Essey-lès-Nancy Essey-lès-Nancy (, literally ''Essey near Nancy'') is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department The following is a list of the 591 commun ...

Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...

. After graduating from

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), known as AS Nancy Lorraine, and more commonly as Nancy, is a French football club founded in 1967 and based in Nancy, Grand Est. The club plays its home matches at the Stade Marcel Picot located in Tomb ...

's youth system and serving a loan to Division 2 side OFC Charleville, he became an undisputed starter for the former, helping them achieve promotion to Division 1. On 28 November 1996, in his first top flight season, he scored a

last-minute goal The term "last-minute goal" is used in sport, primarily association football, to describe a goal scored very late in a game, usually one that affects the outcome of the game. The definition of a "last-minute goal" commonly used is one scored eith ...

from a corner, in a 1–1 home draw 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 ...

, becoming the first goalkeeper to have scored in the competition's history. After an unassuming year with

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed in 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 2 ...

, Wimbée moved to

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...

, achieving another promotion and later qualifying to the 2001–02 edition of 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 ...

, the first-ever participation in the competition for the

Nord-Pas de Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (; ; West Flemish: ''Nôord-Nauw van Kales'') was a former regions of France, administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new Regions of France, region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the ...

club. During six seasons, he was an automatic first choice. After two seasons and a further 67 first division matches with

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

, Wimbée joined

Grenoble Foot 38 Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the c ...

in 2006. He made 36 appearances in 2007–08, as the campaign again ended in promotion and the team returned to the top flight after a 45-year absence. On 28 August 2009, the 38-year-old Wimbée signed a one-year deal with fellow league club

Valenciennes FC Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes, VA or VAFC) is a French professional football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1914 and currently play in Championnat National, the third tier of French footbal ...

. During the season, which ended with a tenth-place finish, he played only once, in a 1–3 home loss against

FC Toulouse Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse ...

on 16 January 2010, renewing his contract in July for one more year. After no additional league appearances, Wimbée retired from professional football in June 2011, two months shy of his 40th birthday.

References

External links

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Stats at ASNL Story
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wimbee, Gregory 1971 births Living people French men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players AS Nancy Lorraine players OFC Charleville players AS Cannes players Lille OSC players FC Metz players Grenoble Foot 38 players Valenciennes FC players Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in football Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for France 20th-century French sportsmen