Sébastien Piocelle (born 10 November 1978) 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

defensive 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. ...

. He is the sporting director of

AC Arles-Avignon AC, A.C., A/C, or Ac often refers to: * Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C * Alternating current, a type of electrical current in which the current repeatedly changes direction AC, A.C. or Ac may also refer to: Arts and entertainment G ...

Playing career

Born in

Gouvieux Gouvieux () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Geography The commune is served by the Chantilly-Gouvieux station on the RER D line or the TER trains from the Parisian Gare du Nord station. The town is located in the urban ...

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

, Piocelle started his career at

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes, commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Naunnt''), is a French professional association football, football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 Ap ...

, where his made his debut on 16 October 1998, against

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. He was loaned to league rival

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastia (, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a French professional association football, football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football in France, ...

in September 2000 and the deal became permanent in summer 2001. He broke his right knee in February 2002 and again in February 2004, made him miss the rest of the 2001–02 and 2003–04 season. In his last season for Bastia, he managed to return to football on 13 November 2004 against

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

, but the club finished second from bottom and Piocelle left for

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

that summer. In summer 2007, after Crotone fall to

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

, newly promoted Serie B club

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

signed Piocelle. He was then signed by Serie C1 club

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, but failed to impress there and was consequently released on 24 June 2008. On 29 June 2009, Arles-Avignon signed the French midfielder from Italian third division club

S.S. Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 sea ...

. He captained Arles-Avignon from 2009 to 2011. Piocelle won the

1997 UEFA European Under-18 Championship The 1997 UEFA European Under-18 Championship Final Tournament was held in Iceland. Players born on or after 1 August 1978 were eligible to participate in this competition. Teams The following teams qualified for the tournament: * * * (host) ...

with

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 ...

Coaching and managerial career

In May 2014, Piocelle worked in a recruitment role at . He left the position in January 2015 Ahead of the 2016–17 season, he was appointed manager of French club ARC Cavaillon. However, in December 2017, he left the position as manager to become the club's sporting director. He worked for the club until the end of the 2017–18 season, and then joined Olympique Mallemortais in May 2018, still as a sporting director. Alongside, he also worked as a consultant and TV commentator for French TV channel RMC Sport, which he joined at the end of 2017. In July 2019, Piocelle was hired as sporting director by

Honours

Nantes *

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 ...

: 1998–99 *

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 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

*
Profile at USGrosseto.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piocelle, Sebastien 1978 births Living people Footballers from Oise Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers France men's youth international footballers FC Nantes players SC Bastia players FC Crotone players Hellas Verona FC players US Grosseto 1912 players SS Juve Stabia players AC Arlésien players Nîmes Olympique players US Le Pontet Grand Avignon 84 players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Serie B players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Israel French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Israel