Grégory Coupet

Grégory Coupet

Personal information
Full name	Grégory Coupet[1]
Date of birth	(1972-12-31) 31 December 1972
Place of birth	Le Puy-en-Velay, France
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Olympique Le Puy
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1997	Saint-Étienne	88	(0)
1997–2008	Lyon	370	(0)
2008–2009	Atlético Madrid	6	(0)
2009–2011	Paris Saint-Germain	31	(0)
Total		495	(0)
National team
2001–2008	France	34	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Grégory Coupet (born 31 December 1972) is French former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Throughout his playing career, he represented Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Atlético Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as the France national team.

Club career

Coupet began his club career with hometown team Club Olympique Le Puy, before turning professional with Saint-Étienne in 1994. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 26 March 1994 in a 2–0 victory against Angers.^[2] After three seasons, he surprisingly moved to league rival Lyon (the two cities are only 80 kilometres apart, and are long-time local and national rivals) as a replacement for Pascal Olmeta in January 1997.^[3] His gamble paid off as Lyon have regularly dominated Le Championnat since 2002 and were also regular fixtures in the UEFA Champions League.

Coupet performed a memorable double save against Barcelona during an 2001–02 UEFA Champions League match, when he first acrobatically headed an unintended lob by a defender to his own crossbar, and then immediately parried a close header by the arriving Barcelona striker Rivaldo.^[4][5]

He openly wept during the group photo before France faced Turkey in a 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final match, which had taken place just hours after the shocking death of his close friend and former Lyon teammate Marc-Vivien Foé.^[6] Coupet credits the aftermath of Foé's death in helping him gain a new perspective on life, in the process settling his differences with Lyon after having been engaged in nasty contract imbroglios for most of the 2002–03 season, which included at one point his vowing never to play for the club again.

In 2005, Coupet was voted for the first time, at age 33, into the top 10 for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award. He finished with 43 votes in fourth-place behind winner Petr Čech, Dida and Gianluigi Buffon respectively. He has also twice been named Ligue 1 Keeper of the Year, in 2004 and 2005.^[7]

On 2 August 2007, Coupet suffered a torn internal medial ligament in his left knee after catching his foot in the net during a training session. He underwent surgery four days later and missed the remainder of 2007, including France's final Euro 2008 qualifiers. He later joked on Lyon's official television network:

"The good side...is that [France] have a rugby World Cup coming and I’ll be able to enjoy every bit of it."^[8]

Coupet returned to the squad in the new year, making his return in Lyon's 4–0 victory over Ligue 2 side Créteil in the Coupe de France on 6 January 2008.^[9]

On 18 July 2008, Coupet was sold to Atlético Madrid for €1.5 million and an additional €250,000 bonus.^[10]

International career

Born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, Coupet has 34 caps with France. He made his international debut against Australia during France's 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup-winning campaign. He was called up for the 2002 World Cup as the backup to Fabien Barthez, but did not play. The following year, Coupet kept three clean sheets and conceded only three goals in five games as France won the 2003 Confederations Cup, which marked their second victory in the competition in three years. During a commemoration for the late Cameroon player Marc-Vivien Foé, Coupet broke down on tears, since they both were teammates while playing for Lyon in the French league.

In February 2006, France Football magazine conducted a poll among its readers as to who should be France's first-choice goalkeeper for the upcoming 2006 World Cup; Coupet received 69 percent of the votes (Barthez received 28 percent).^[11]

Though Coupet started six of ten games in the 2006 World Cup qualifying rounds, coach Raymond Domenech surprisingly elected Barthez as his number one, which would relegate Coupet to the bench once again. Many had expected Coupet to be chosen as the starter due to his excellent performances with Lyon that had contributed greatly to their streak of five Ligue 1 championships. This ultimately led to a row on 25 May 2006 between Coupet and Domenech that resulted in Coupet storming out of the team's training camp in Tignes with his family in tow, although he later returned and made amends with the coach.^[12]

Coupet became France's number one after Barthez announced his retirement from both club and country football in August 2006. His first regular stint – during the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers – however, got off to a less-than-desired start; France were upset by Scotland 1–0 on 7 October and a hand injury suffered in that match kept him out of France's 5–0 victory over the Faroe Islands four days later.

He was first choice goalkeeper for the tournament proper stage of Euro 2008, conceding six goals in three matches as France were eliminated in the group stage.

During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda were favored by Domenech for the goalkeeping job, with Coupet called up as a reserve for a few games. Coupet was not selected to France's final World Cup squad, as Cédric Carrasso instead was chosen to join Lloris and Mandanda on the roster.

On 1 July 2010, Coupet announced his retirement from international football, saying, "I will be 39 years old when Euro 2012 commences, and I can't see myself being included in another squad for France, with Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda favoured over me. It happened with Fabien Barthez, he was just too good for me. When he retired, I thought I'd have 4–6 years as France's number 1, but of course it isn't to be as it seems. I therefore declare my retirement from international football, and will not be included in any more France squads. I will not reconsider my retirement now, as I have made up my mind."

Career statisics

Club

^[13][14][15]

1. ↑ Seven appearances in UEFA Intertoto Cup, four appearances in UEFA Cup
2. ↑ All Appearance(s) in UEFA Cup
3. ↑ Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances in UEFA Cup
4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
5. ↑ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, four appearances in UEFA Cup
6. ↑ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Cup
7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Appearance in Trophée des Champions
8. ↑ Apeearance in UEFA Europa League

International

^[16][15]

Honours

Club

Lyon^[17]

• Ligue 1: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08
• Trophée des Champions – 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
• Coupe de la Ligue: 2001
• Coupe de France: 2007–08

International

France^[17]

• FIFA Confederations Cup – 2001, 2003

Individual

• Ligue 1Goalkeeper of the Year: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06^[18]
• Ligue 1Team of the Year: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06^[19]

References

External links

• Grégory Coupet – FIFA competition record
• Career Statistics
• Playing the waiting game
• Ambitious Coupet lays claim to Barthez's goalkeeping spot
• Not Yet at 100% (translated interview)
• Grégory Coupet face à Rivaldo en 1999

France squads
France squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Ramé 2 Sagnol 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Gillet 6 Djorkaeff 7 Pirès 8 Desailly (c) 9 Anelka 10 Carrière 11 Wiltord 12 Coupet 13 Silvestre 14 Née 15 Bréchet 16 Dacourt 17 Marlet 18 Leboeuf 19 Karembeu 20 Camara 21 Dugarry 22 Robert 23 Landreau Coach: Lemerre France squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Ramé 2 Candela 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Christanval 6 Djorkaeff 7 Makélélé 8 Desailly (c) 9 Cissé 10 Zidane 11 Wiltord 12 Henry 13 Silvestre 14 Boghossian 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Petit 18 Leboeuf 19 Sagnol 20 Trezeguet 21 Dugarry 22 Micoud 23 Coupet Coach: Lemerre France squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup Winners (2nd Title) 1 Landreau 2 Mexès 3 Lizarazu 4 Boumsong 5 Gallas 6 Dacourt 7 Pirès 8 Desailly (c) 9 Cissé 10 Giuly 11 Wiltord 12 Henry 13 Silvestre 14 Rothen 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Kapo 18 Pedretti 19 Sagnol 20 Marlet 21 Dabo 22 Govou 23 Coupet Coach: Santini France squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Landreau 2 Boumsong 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Gallas 6 Makélélé 7 Pirès 8 Desailly (c) 9 Saha 10 Zidane 11 Wiltord 12 Henry 13 Silvestre 14 Rothen 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Dacourt 18 Pedretti 19 Sagnol 20 Trezeguet 21 Marlet 22 Govou 23 Coupet Coach: Santini France squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up 1 Landreau 2 Boumsong 3 Abidal 4 Vieira 5 Gallas 6 Makélélé 7 Malouda 8 Dhorasoo 9 Govou 10 Zidane (c) 11 Wiltord 12 Henry 13 Silvestre 14 Saha 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Givet 18 Diarra 19 Sagnol 20 Trezeguet 21 Chimbonda 22 Ribéry 23 Coupet Coach: Domenech France squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Mandanda 2 Boumsong 3 Abidal 4 Vieira (c) 5 Gallas 6 Makélélé 7 Malouda 8 Anelka 9 Benzema 10 Govou 11 Nasri 12 Henry 13 Evra 14 Clerc 15 Thuram 16 Frey 17 Squillaci 18 Gomis 19 Sagnol 20 Toulalan 21 Diarra 22 Ribéry 23 Coupet Coach: Domenech