Matthieu Delpierre (born 26 April 1981 in Nancy, France) is a retired French footballer who played as a centre back. Delpierre's professional career started with

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

, before a move to VfB Stuttgart in Germany where he eventually became the club captain. Delpierre spent eight years at Stuttgart before moving on to

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1899 ...

, then

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

and ended his career in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

with Melbourne Victory FC He represented France at U18, U20 and under-21 level, making appearances during the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qua ...

Club career

Lille

In his first season with Lille, Delpierre made few appearances but helped in the club's promotion to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. Delpierre played more regularly in his second season, helping Lille finish third and thereby qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Delpierre continued to perform well for Lille though the club finished at a lower position in the league every season.

Stuttgart

Delpierre was signed by VfB Stuttgart on a free transfer after Lille refused to grant him a contract extension. Stuttgart struggled during the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, but Delpierre began to improve under the tutelage of coach Armin Veh. The following season, during which he missed only one game through illness, the French defender formed an almost impenetrable barrier alongside Fernando Meira at the heart of the Stuttgart defence. Matthieu has also been a vital cog in Stuttgart's success in the

2006–07 DFB-Pokal The 2006–07 DFB-Pokal was the 64th season of the annual German football cup competition. 64 teams competed in the tournament of six rounds which began on 8 September 2006 and ended on 26 May 2007. In the final, 1. FC Nürnberg defeated VfB Stut ...

, in which the team conceded only three goals before losing the final to

Nürnberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ci ...

. On 19 May 2007, Delpierre won the German Bundesliga with Stuttgart, playing a significant part in their success. Delpierre Victory Training May 2015

His defensive performances attracted the attention of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and also French clubs Marseille and

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

. However, he remained at Stuttgart, extending his contract until the summer of 2012. On 1 December 2009, Delpierre was appointed the new captain of VfB Stuttgart by Markus Babbel. On 12 January 2012 he asked Bruno Labbadia to appoint another player. Delpierre joined Hoffenheim on a free transfer at the end of the 2011–12 season. He spent 18 months with Hoffenheim before moving to

in January 2014.

Move to Australia

On 7 July 2014,

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club Melbourne Victory announced the signing of Delpierre on a one-year deal. On 10 October 2014, Delpierre scored the first goal of the

2014–15 A-League The 2014–15 A-League was the 38th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 10th season of the A-League since its establishment in 2004. Brisbane Roar were both the defending A-League Premiers and Champions. The regular season commenc ...

season in the Victory's first round match against the Western Sydney Wanderers, scoring from a Guilherme Finkler free kick in just the 8th minute of the match. The Victory eventually won the match 4–1. On 1 May 2015, Delpierre extended his contract with Melbourne Victory for one more year. Delpierre made 53 appearances in all competitions for the Victory during his two seasons in the A-League, scoring once. On 26 April 2016, Delpierre announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 35, having completed 17 seasons since his debut with Lille in 1999.

International career

Delpierre was called up to the senior France team in March 2008 but was ultimately never capped at that level.

Honours

Club

;Lille *

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

: 1999–2000 ;Stuttgart * Bundesliga: 2006–07 ; Melbourne Victory * A-League Championship: 2014–15 * A-League Premiership: 2014–15 * FFA Cup: 2015 Individual * PFA Team of the Season: 2014–15, 2015–16 * Victory Medal: 2015–16 * Players' Player of the Year: 2015–16

References

External links

Matthieu Delpierre
at Stuttgart's official website

at Eurosport *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delpierre, Matthieu 1981 births Living people French footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers FC Nantes players Lille OSC players VfB Stuttgart II players VfB Stuttgart players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players FC Utrecht players Melbourne Victory FC players Association football fullbacks Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Eredivisie players A-League Men players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in Australia