Jérôme Leroy (born 4 November 1974) 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 an

attacking 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. ...

Playing career

Born in

Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a town in northern France, Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department. Geography Béthune is located in the Provinces of Fran ...

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

, Leroy started playing for

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 ...

. With PSG he participated in the final of the 1997 Cup Winners' Cup which was lost to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. During the 1995–96 season he joined Laval on loan. Following a stint at

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 ...

, he returned to PSG, where he reached the 2003 French Cup final. He moved to

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

during the 2003–04 winter transfer window.

Luis Fernández Luis Miguel Fernández Toledo (born 2 October 1959), known as Luis Fernandez, is a French football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez spent most of his playing career for Paris Saint-Germain. He earned ...

, Leroy's former mentor at Paris Saint-Germain, brought him to

Teddy Stadium Teddy Stadium () is a sports stadium in Jerusalem. Two major Israeli football clubs currently use it as their home ground: Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem. The Israel national football team also uses it for select home matches. The stadi ...

, home to

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

, in December 2005 from

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 ...

club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

, beating off competition from ''l'OM''. On 25 June 2006, Beitar took off from

Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, it is the busies ...

on an

El Al EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

flight to the Netherlands for preseason training. Leroy chose not to join the team opting to check options of staying in France for the 2006–07 season. A deal with

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

was ultimately arranged. With Sochaux he won the

2006–07 Coupe de France The Coupe de France's results of the 2006–07 season. 6577 clubs participated in the cup and the final was played on May 12. The cup winner qualified for UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is ...

. The game finished 2–2 and went to penalties, and Leroy scored his penalty in the shootout as his side emerged victorious. For 2007–08, Leroy joined

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 ...

, where he was dubbed "Leroy (le roi, "the king") de la passe" (king of assists). He stayed in Rennes until 2011. In 2011, Leroy moved to newly promoted Ligue 1 club

Évian Evian (, ; , stylized as evian) is a French brand that bottles mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. Evian is owned by Danone, a French multinational corporation. In addition to the miner ...

after signing a one-year contract on 5 July 2011. He spent one season with Évian. On 29 June 2013, after one year without a club, Leroy 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 ...

side

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location I ...

. A year later, he signed a one-year contract with

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 ...

. In January 2015, he signed for

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

Post-playing career

Following his retirement, Leroy became sports director of his last club,

. He left this position in June 2020. However, he was re-appointed in December 2020. He left again in 2021.

Personal life

Leroy's son

Léo Leroy Léo Leroy (born 14 February 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Swiss Super League club Basel. Career Leroy joined the youth academy of Rennes at the age of 8, and spent most of his football development ther ...

is also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain *

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 cup, super cups found in many other count ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Lens *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Sochaux *

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 ...

: 2006–07

References

External links

Jérôme Leroy's profile, stats & pics
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leroy, Jerome 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Béthune Footballers from Pas-de-Calais French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Olympique de Marseille players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Stade Lavallois players RC Lens players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players En Avant Guingamp players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Stade Rennais FC players Thonon Evian Grand Genève FC players Le Havre AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Israeli Premier League players French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Israel