Yohann Denis Patrick Pelé (born 4 November 1982) 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

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 ...

Club career

Le Mans

Born in

Brou-sur-Chantereine Brou-sur-Chantereine () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department, in the Île-de-France regions of France, region, north-central France. Population Inhabitants are called ''Breuillois'' in French. ...

, Seine-et-Marne, Pelé spent most of his career at

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

, making his debut 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 ...

in a 1–0 defeat at

FC Istres Istres Football Club (; commonly referred to as simply Istres) is a French association football club based in Istres. The club was formed in 1920 and currently play their home matches at the Stade Parsemain in Fos-sur-Mer, a commune in the A ...

in September 2002. He established himself as the club's first-choice goalkeeper in the 2004–05 season, as the club won promotion to

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 ...

. He ultimately made 164 appearances for the club before his departure in 2009.

Toulouse

On 29 June 2009, he was transferred from Le Mans to

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional association football, football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France, French football. Toulouse plays it ...

where he signed a four-year contract. On 12 October 2010, Toulouse announced that Pelé was suffering from a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

. He ended up missing two seasons of football and at the end of the 2011–12 season he left the club.

Sochaux

In January and August 2013, Pelé trained with

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; ), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French Football in France, football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in the city, and co ...

and

Vannes OC Vannes Olympique Club (; commonly referred to as simply Vannes) is a professional French football club based in Vannes. The club was formed in 1998 as a result of the merger of ''Véloce vannetais'' founded in 1911 and ''FC Vannes'' known before ...

respectively in order to regain fitness. In January the following year, more than three years after his last competitive game, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a Football in France, French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Championnat N ...

. He played 49 competitive matches for the club over the next two seasons before leaving to join

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 ...

in 2015.

Marseille

In July 2015, Pelé joined

club Marseille. After the departure of

Steve Mandanda Steve Mandanda Mpidi (; born 28 March 1985) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais FC, Rennes. A product of the Le Havre AC, Le Havre academ ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, he became Marseille's first choice goalkeeper. He finished the 2016–17 season playing all league matches, and with the most clean sheets in all of Europe's top five leagues. On 3 May 2018, he played in the Europa League semi-finals away to

FC Red Bull Salzburg Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg, commonly known as simply Red Bull Salzburg, is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Football in Austria ...

as Marseilles played out a 2–1 away loss but a 3–2 aggregate win to secure a place in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final played at the

Parc Olympique Lyonnais Parc Olympique Lyonnais, known for sponsorship reasons as Groupama Stadium, is a 59,186-seat stadium in Décines-Charpieu, in the Metropolis of Lyon. The home of French football club Olympique Lyonnais (OL), it replaced their previous stadium, ...

Décines-Charpieu Décines-Charpieu (; ) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central-eastern France. The name of the city is often shortened and simply called Décines. Geography The centre of Décines is located southwe ...

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 ...

, France on 16 May 2018, versus

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

International career

Pelé was called up to the France U21s in 2008, and made two starts. He received his first call-up to the senior team in October 2008 for a friendly against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, but did not feature.

Personal life

Yohann is the brother of Steven Pelé, a former footballer who played as a defender for various clubs in France, Israel and Romania.

Honours

Marseille *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pele, Yohann 1982 births Living people Footballers from Seine-et-Marne French men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Le Mans FC players Toulouse FC players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Olympique de Marseille players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players France men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century French sportsmen