Aimé Jacquet
Aimé Jacquet (born November 27, 1941) is a French soccer coach and former player, and manager of the France national football team when it won the
Biography
Aimé Jacquet was born in Sail-sous-Couzan, Loire. He began his career as an amateur player for his local club, US Couzan, while working in a factory. Scouted by Saint-Étienne, he joined Les Verts in 1959 and signed his first professional contract in 1961. One of the most successful soccer clubs of the time, Saint-Étienne, won an impressive 5 league titles and 3 French Cups in his 11 years with the club. He also played for the national side, but his international career failed to take off because Les Bleus performed poorly during his years on the team. In 1973, he left Saint-Étienne for bitter regional rivals Olympique Lyonnais , where he ended his career as a soccer player.
A "provisional" manager
Jacquet worked as a manager for clubs around France and gained an impressive list of accolades for Bordeaux during the 1980s, leading them to 3 league titles, 2 French Cups, 2 European semi-finals and 1 quarter-final. Dismissed by President Claude Bez, he left Bordeaux to hone his managerial skills with more modest teams like Montpellier and Nancy.
In 1991, he accepted a position with the National Technical Training Centre (Direction Technique Nationale).
In 1992, he was appointed the assistant to then national team manager Gérard Houllier.
After the French national team was knocked out of the running for the
by Israel and Bulgaria, Aimé Jacquet was made the manager of the national team, but only provisionally. After a promising series of friendly matches (notably a victory over Italy in Naples in February 1994), his provisional status was upgraded to permanent.
He succeeded in helping France qualify for the 1996 European Nations Cup and was favored to win. Jacquet's choice of players for the tournament caused some fans to grit their teeth. Despite their elimination in the semi-finals, Les Bleus nevertheless managed to show that players such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona, and David Ginola were worthy of their spots on the team. The team's good showing in the tournament meant that Jacquet stayed in the media's good graces, for the time-being.
From doubt to victory
In the months that followed the Euro Cup, Jacquet honed his team's skills in a series of friendly matches. He adopted a very defensive strategy and made fans anxious because his team never seemed to develop a definitive offensive tactic. The press began to attack the team manager, calling his methods "paleolithic" and claiming that the team had no hope for the World Cup. Jacquet, taciturn by nature, never sunk to the baiting, preferring to concentrate on helping his team rather than playing the media game.
In June 1997 at the Tournament of France, cries of "Resign!" could be heard from the stadium as the French team came in under Brazil, England and Italy. The press continued to label Jacquet incompetent.
The media's distrust of Jacquet reached fever pitch in May 1998 when, instead of a list of 22 players meant to play in the World Cup, Jacquet gave a list of 28 players, causing the sports daily L'Équipe to say Jacquet was not the right man to lead the French team to victory.
However, all that would change when the team began to play in the qualifying rounds for the
. It was clear that though Jacquet's team was far from being the most flamboyant in French history, it was a perfectly well-oiled machine that neither injury, nor explusions, nor suspensions, managed to stop. On July 12, 1998, France soundly beat Brazil 3-0 in the World Cup Final.
The evening of the victory, Jacquet announced that he was leaving his position as manager. He took a job as head of the National Technical Training Centre, where he began his career behind the scenes in football. He still works there to date.
Career as footballer
Teams
- A.S Saint-Étienne: 1961 to 1973
- Olympiques Lyonnais: 1973 to 1976
Honours
- French League Champion in 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970
- French Cup Champion en 1962, 1968, 1970
- Two international appearances en 1968
Management
Teams
- Olympique Lyonnais: 1976 to 1980
- Girondins de Bordeaux: 1980 to 1989
- Montpellier HSC: 1989-1990
- AS Nancy-Lorraine: 1990-1991
- French National Team: 1993 to 1998
Titles
- French League Champion in 1984, 1985, 1987
- French Cup Champion in 1986 et 1987
- World Champion in 1998