Eric Cantona | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cantona in 2011
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Born |
Marseille, France |
24 May 1966 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Actor, former professional footballer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse(s) |
Isabelle Ferrer (m. 1987; div. 2003) Rachida Brakni (m. 2007) |
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Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent(s) | Albert Cantona Éléonore Raurich |
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Association football career
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Playing position | Forward | ||
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Youth career | |||
1980–1981 | SO Les Caillols | ||
1981–1983 | Auxerre | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1983–1988 | Auxerre | 82 | (23) |
1985–1986 | → Martigues (loan) | 15 | (4) |
1988–1991 | Marseille | 40 | (13) |
1989 | → Bordeaux (loan) | 11 | (6) |
1989–1990 | → Montpellier (loan) | 33 | (10) |
1991 | Nîmes | 17 | (2) |
1992 | Leeds United | 28 | (9) |
1992–1997 | Manchester United | 143 | (64) |
Total | 369 | (131) | |
National team | |||
1987–1995 | France | 45 | (20) |
1997–2008 | France (beach) | ||
Teams managed | |||
1997–2008 | France (beach) | ||
2010–2012 | New York Cosmos (Director of Soccer) | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Éric Daniel Pierre Cantona (French pronunciation: [e'ʁik kɑ̃to'na]; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor and former international footballer for the French national team. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes and Leeds United before ending his career at Manchester United where he won four Premier League titles in five years and two League and FA Cup Doubles.
A large, physically strong, hard-working, and tenacious forward, who combined technical skill and creativity with power and goalscoring ability, Cantona is often regarded as having played a key role in the revival of Manchester United as a footballing force in the 1990s and having an iconic status at the club. He wore the number 7 shirt at Manchester United with his trademark upturned collar. Cantona is affectionately nicknamed by Manchester United fans as "King Eric", and was voted as Manchester United's greatest ever player by Inside United magazine. Set against his achievements in football was a poor disciplinary record for much of his career, including a 1995 conviction for an assault on a fan. His disciplinary record, however, was much improved after he returned from the eight-month suspension.
Following his retirement from football in 1997, he took up a career in cinema and had a role in the 1998 film Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett, the 2008 film French Film, and the 2009 film Looking for Eric. In 2010, he débuted as a stage actor in Face au Paradis, a French play directed by his wife, Rachida Brakni.