Michel
Platini Biography – Introduction - Until Zinedine Zidane walked on the stage of
professional soccer, Platini was undoubtedly France's biggest hero and
best all-time player, but now the fight favors Zizou, since Platini
only managed to bring France a European Championship, whereas Zinedine
Zidane took it through a successful World Cup, a European
Championship and helped France reach another World Cup final. Still,
Platini remains an important figure in French soccer and most
importantly, his career after retirement is equally impressive as the
one he spent on the grass.
Full
name
Michel
Francois Platini
Date
of birth
June
21, 1955
Place
of birth
Joeuf,
France
Height
5.10FT
- 1.78M
Playing
position
Midfielder
Michel
Platini
Biography – Youth Period and AS Nancy - Born
in the town of Joeuf, in North
Eastern
France, Platini started learning soccer on the streets, together with
the other neighborhood children. His father, Aldo, was a former
professional soccer player and helped young Michel hone his skills and
thought him the importance of anticipating his opponents (a skill that
would become a trademark for Platini throughout his career).
He joined his first
club, AS
Joeuf, when he was 11 years old, for which Platini played for 6
seasons and during this time, he trialed for FC Metz' youth
squad twice, Metz being his favorite childhood team. Unfortunately, he
missed one of the trials due to injury and he had some breathing
problems on his second, so he never managed to move to his favorites,
instead he was accepted in the Reserve team of Nancy, a smaller team at
that time.
Season
Club
Games
Goals
1972-1979
AS
Nancy
175
98
1979-1982
Saint-Etienne
107
58
1982-1987
Juventus
147
68
Platini didn't take long
to
make the first team's eyes turn towards him. Scoring a hattrick
for the reserve team in a match against Wittelsheim, he was taken to
the first squad but before he could debut as a professional soccer
player, Michel Platini had the misfortune of being at the receiving end
of a fierce tackle in another reserve match, which left him with a
badly injured ankle (he did however recover at the end of the season
and made a debut on May 3rd 1973).
His second season with
Nancy
was also pretty miserable, as Platini suffered an arm fracture that
kept him off the pitch for a long time and to top it all, Nancy was
also relegated in the second division. With Michel Platini back on the
pitch, Nancy managed to get back in the first division after just one
year, with the young player scoring 17 goals and
having numerous assists. But his contract with Nancy was running short
and in 1979, he decided to move to Saint Etienne, hoping for a fresh
new start.
Years
National
Team
Games
Goals
1976-1987
France
72
41
Michel
Platini Biography –
Saint Etienne and Juventus His 3 seasons with Saint
Etienne weren't
necessarily memorable, but they did bring Michel Platini his first
trophy, namely the league title in 1981. Although he also lost two
French Cup finals with Saint Etienne, at last he had a break from his
string of injuries and was finally able to show what he was capable of.
In 1982, he made the move of his career, when Juventus Torino offered
him a contract.
When the
Frenchman joined
Juventus, he found a star-studded team with many Italian
players that were successful in the World Cup that just
ended, so he had to fight hard to get a spot in the team. His first
season at Juve was unimpressive, but in 1983 he became the Serie A top
scorer with 16 goals and he was also named European
Footballer of the Year due to his excellent performances in
the league and European Cup.
1984 was
probably his most
impressive: he managed to win the Serie A with Juventus, become top
scorer in Italy again (with 20 goals this time), bring the first
international trophy for his national side, winning the European
Championship practically by himself (he was named player of the
tournament and was also top goalscorer of the tournament with 9 goals)
as well as being named European Footballer of the Year again and also
World Soccer Player of the Year. Take that for a successful year...
The next
season would have
been almost as successful, if not for the price this success came
with...as Juventus with a top form Michel Platini reached the European
Cup final; it should have been the moment of triumph he was waiting
for. And indeed, Juventus won that final 1-0 against Liverpool at the
Heysel Stadium, but a tragic event shadowed their success, as the
stadium collapsed under the weight of both clubs' supporters,
killing 39 people and injuring 600 more.
Besides this
sad European Cup
title, Michel Platini was again named European Footballer of the Year,
World Soccer Player of the Year and won the Serie A top scorer
competition yet again.
Unfortunately,
at age 32,
Michel Platini was getting worn down by his numerous injuries and the
high pace he played most of his career in. After the 1986 Mexico World
Cup, he played one more season for Juventus, before retiring
in full glory.
After 1 year
of break, he
became the coach of France, Michel Platini staying with the team for 4
years. He took the France
soccer team when its chances to qualify for the 1990 World
Cup were already slim and failed to turn things around, but their
qualifying campaign for Euro 1992 was brilliant and many thought Michel
Platini would take France all the way to winning yet another European
Championship, this time from a manager's posture.
Unfortunately,
France was
eliminated after the first round being hit by bad luck and bad form and
Platini stepped down as a manager.
15 years
later and after
serving in several Administrative roles at UEFA and FIFA, Platini was
elected to the UEFA presidency position On January 2007.
