Michel André Yves Le Flochmoan (6 October 1951 – 10 August 2021) was a French professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. After an amateur career as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

with Mouzon, , and Entente Carignan-Linay, he became a manager. He notably coached Sedan and

Virton Virton (; Gaumais: ''Viertån''; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. It is also the administrative centre of the district (''arrondissement'') of the same name, as well as the principal town ...

, as well as

Jeunesse Esch Jeunesse Esch (full name ''Association Sportive la Jeunesse d'Esch/Alzette'') is a professional football club based in Esch-sur-Alzette, in south-western Luxembourg. The side play in the National Division, the highest league in the country, and ...

, which he coached to a championship in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He then coached

Dudelange Dudelange (; ; ) is a commune with town status in southern Luxembourg. It is the fourth-most populous commune, with 22,043 inhabitants. Dudelange is situated close to the border with France. The commune also includes the smaller town of Bude ...

to championships in

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 ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. He was coach of

Differdange Differdange (; or locally ; ) is a Communes of Luxembourg, commune with List of towns in Luxembourg, town status in south-western Luxembourg, west from the Luxembourg City, country's capital. It lies near the borders with Belgium and France an ...

from 2012 to 2014, which won the

Luxembourg Cup The Luxembourg Cup () is the national Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian Association football, football. It was first held in 1922, and has been held annually since, with the exception of the four seasons du ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. He returned to Dudelange in 2015 and won the Luxembourg Cup in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Playing career

Le Flochmoan did not start playing football until the age of 15, when he began playing youth football with ES Pure-Messempré. He had previously been prohibited from playing the sport for medical reasons. In 1973, he joined Mouzon as a

in the Division 3. He left the club following its merger with Sedan and joined US Maubeuge, where he stayed for two years. In 1976, he joined Entente Carignan-Linay, another amateur club where he played as a forward,

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, and defender. With the club, he won the Coupe des Ardennes in 1979. In 1980, the club was promoted to

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...

following a victorious shootout against US Blagny. After playing four seasons in the Division 4, he retired from his career as a player in 1984.

Managerial career

During his final season at Entente Carignan-Linay, Le Flochmoan held the role of

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

. That season, the club finished with a record of seven wins, seven draws, and twelve defeats. In 1984, Le Flochmoan became manager of Sedan's B team, which won the Coupe des Ardennes in 1987. The following year, he took over the first team and coached within Division 3, which was not a professional league. In 1991, the club won the Division 3 against

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. However, the promotion to Division 2 was difficult for the club. It narrowly escaped relegation in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

following a victory against

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

on the final day of the season. They finished 6th in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and 14th in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. He was fired shortly into the next season and replaced by Christian Sarramagna, although he had just signed a three-year contract. Additionally, he had just been named

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

of Sedan. After four months with no activity, Le Flochmoan was hired to be manager of the Belgian club . The club finished second in their group and qualified for the promotional tournament. They won against RCS Braine in the first round, but were defeated by Tienen-Hageland in the second round and were not promoted. He did not re-sign with the club. In 1996, Le Flochmoan was signed by

to coach the

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division (, ) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the same level. This competition, originall ...

team. The team won the division in 2001 after finishing as runners-up the previous year. Virton was promoted to the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

for the 2002 season, and it subsequently qualified for the

2002–03 Belgian Cup The 2002–03 Belgian Cup was the 48th season of the main knockout competition in Belgian association football, the Belgian Cup. For the first time the quarter-finals were played in two legs. Final rounds The final phase started in the round of ...

, where it was defeated by

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

in the first round. In June 2003, he joined the

Luxembourg National Division The National Division (, , ), known as the BGL Ligue for sponsorship reasons, is the highest association football, football league in Luxembourg. Until 2011, it was known as the BGL Ligue, after the Luxembourg Football Federation managed to sea ...

in his new coaching job with

. In his first season with the club, they won the division championship. The following year, he joined

. He led the team to qualify for second qualifying round 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 ...

in the 2005–06 season, a feat never before achieved by a football club in the country. The club was eliminated by

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

. Dudelange won the National Division Championship every year from 2005 to 2009. He left the club following the 2009 season. Le Flochmoan engaged in contract negotiations with

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 ...

, but he ultimately signed with Arlon again in June 2009. However, he resigned in January 2010 citing sporting and financial problems. In August 2010, he was nearly selected to succeed Guy Hellers as coach of the Luxembourg national team, but he did not ultimately get the job. In November 2011, talks fell through with

Pétange Pétange (; ; ) is a Communes of Luxembourg, commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the Esch-sur-Alzette (canton), canton of Esch-sur-Alzette and is the fifth-most populous commune in Luxembourg, as well as the most populous ...

. On 4 June 2012, Le Flochmoan returned to the Luxembourg National Division, signing a contract with

for two years. The team finished fourth in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and qualified for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at the Juventus Stadium in Tu ...

. The team reached the third round before it was defeated by

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on penalty shots. It was then a finalist for the

, losing to Le Flochmoan's former club Jeunesse Esch. The team won the 2014 Luxembourg Cup against Dudelange, and he subsequently stepped down as coach. However, he returned to Dudelange in June 2015 and won the 2016 Luxembourg Cup. He was not retained by the club and replaced by

Dino Toppmöller Dino Nicolas Toppmöller (born 23 November 1980) is a German football manager and former player. He is the head coach of Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt. Club career Over his career, Toppmöller played 31 Regionalliga matches with six goals ...

Death

Le Flochmoan died on 10 August 2021, at the age of 69.

Honours

Player

Entente Carignan-Linay * Coupe des Ardennes: 1978–79

Manager

Sedan B * Coupe des Ardennes: 1986–87 Sedan * Division 3: 1990–91 Virton *

Belgian Third Division B The Belgian Third Division B was one of the two leagues at the third level of the Belgian football league system, the other one being the Belgian Third Division A. This division existed from the 1952–53 until 2015–16 seasons and was played e ...

: 2000–01 Jeunesse Esch *

: 2003–04 Dudelange *Luxembourg National Division: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 *

: 2015–16 Differdange *Luxembourg Cup: 2013–14 Individual *Coach of the Decade of the

Province of Luxembourg Luxembourg (; ; ; ; ; ), also called Belgian Luxembourg or West Luxembourg, is the southernmost Provinces of regions in Belgium, province of Wallonia within Belgium. It borders the country of Luxembourg to the east, the France, French depart ...

: 2000–2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Flochmoan, Michel 1951 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Ardennes (department) French men's footballers Men's association football forwards AC Mouzon players French Division 3 (1971–1993) players French Division 4 (1978–1993) players French football managers CS Sedan Ardennes managers R.E. Virton managers Jeunesse Esch managers F91 Dudelange managers FC Differdange 03 managers French Division 4 (1978–1993) managers French Division 3 (1971–1993) managers Ligue 2 managers French expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Luxembourg French expatriate sportspeople in Luxembourg 20th-century French sportsmen