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Willy Sagnol

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Willy Sagnol
Personal information
Full name Willy Sagnol
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Defender

William "Willy" Sagnol (born 18 March 1977 in Saint-Étienne, France) is a former French international defender. He had his most successful times playing for Bayern Munich in Germany's Bundesliga. He was part of the French squad at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. Because of continuing problems with his Achilles tendon, Sagnol quit his football career on January 22, 2009, and will begin an administrative position with AS Monaco on July 1, 2009.

Biography

Willy first made his way in the world of football at his father's former club in Haute-Loire, Montfaucon-en-Velay where he developed his defensive game at right-back, as well as performing exceptionally on the right-hand side of midfield.

From there he progressed, eventually joining the region's flagship club Saint-Étienne. An impressive two year spell saw him earn a transfer to AS Monaco in 1997 and he experienced his first taste of success, winning Ligue 1 in 2000. His excellent form saw him pressing for a call up to represent Les Bleus, but he was initially overlooked by national coach Roger Lemerre.

The summer of 2000 saw Sagnol's career take on a completely different dimension. Transferred to the prestigious German club Bayern Munich, he didn't take long to finally break into the national team. At Bayern Sagnol consolidated his reputation as one of the best full-backs of his generation. A solid defender but also equally comfortable operating in attacking positions (often as a wing-back) Sagnol's superb crossing ability marked him out as a key player in Bayern's attacking play. With the Bavarian club, he won the Bundesliga in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as the Champions League in 2001 and the German Cup in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008. At international level he had less success, often finding himself on the bench playing second fiddle to Lilian Thuram on the right-hand side of the French defense. It wasn't until the retirement of Marcel Desailly and Thuram's consequent move into the centre of the French defense that Sagnol finally became first choice right-back in 2004.

Sagnol was part of France's squad for the World Cup in Germany, starting each of his country's seven games en route to the Final. His competent performances, aided by France's progression to the final led to him being named as one of the outstanding defensive performers in the tournament. He saved his best dispay for the biggest stage of them all, the World Cup Final, and was one of the game's better performers in a game largely remembered for off the ball events rather than on the field performances. Indeed, Sagnol’s name could have been immortalized had his strong effort on goal not been successfully repelled by Gianluigi Buffon. Nonetheless, his performance was notable for a solid defensive contribution as well as important involvement in several attacking moves, such as when he provided a cross for his captain Zinédine Zidane, whose header was again superbly saved by Buffon.

In the qualification campaign for Euro 2008, fans saw a completely new side of Sagnol. On several occasions, Willy had good efforts on goal as well as still supplying his trademark crosses for teammates like Thierry Henry. Against Scotland at Hampden Park on 7 October 2006 Sagnol was one of his country's better performers in France's shock loss, having an impressive three efforts on goal from his right-back spot, one in particular forcing a superb save from the goalkeeper. The following match, against the Faroe Isles in Paris, was his fiftieth for his country. His displays in that qualification campaign once more provided proof that Sagnol can be counted on for his consistent defensive play and also to provide extra quality when joining the attack.

Because of continuing problems with his Achilles tendon, Sagnol quit his football career on 22January 2009.[1]

Coaching Career

He will work as Director of Sport at AS Monaco FC, beginning on July 1, 2009.[2]

Personal life

He has two children, Chiara and Sandro, with his ex-girlfriend, and one child, Samuel with his wife Gwendolyn

Lifestyle

Sagnol was elected 'Face of The Year 2006' by Elle Magazine

Career statistics

As of 28 December 2008

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1995–96||rowspan="2"|Saint-Étienne||Division 1||10||0||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1996–97||Division 2||36||1||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1997–98||rowspan="3"|Monaco||rowspan="3"|Division 1||25||0||||||||||8||0|||| |- |1998–99||20||0||||||||||4||0|||| |- |1999–00||26||0||||||||||6||0|||| Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2000–01||rowspan="9"|Bayern Munich||rowspan="9"|Bundesliga||27||0||1||0||1||0||14||0||43||0 |- |2001–02||28||1||1||0||0||0||12*||0||41||1 |- |2002–03||23||2||5||1||1||0||4||0||33||3 |- |2003–04||21||1||3||0||0||0||6||0||30||1 |- |2004–05||22||1||4||0||0||0||7||0||33||1 |- |2005–06||31||1||5||0||1||0||7||0||44||1 |- |2006–07||23||1||3||0||2||0||9||0||37||1 |- |2007–08||9||0||3||0||0||0||5||0||17||0 |- |2008–09||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 Template:Football player statistics 3118||1||||||||||18||0|||| Template:Football player statistics 4184||7||25||1||5||0||64||0||278||8 Template:Football player statistics 5302||8||||||||||82||0|||| |} *Includes UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup.

Honours

Club Titles

References

  1. ^ "Sagnol beendet Karriere mit sofortiger Wirkung". transfermarkt.de (in German). 22 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
  2. ^ "Bayern-Verteidiger Sagnol zurückgetreten". tagesschau.sf.tv (in German). 22 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
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