Bixente Jean-Michel Lizarazu (, born 9 December 1969) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

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 ...

, among other teams. He also had 97 caps for the France national team. In a twelve-year international career from 1992 to 2004, Lizarazu played in three European championships and two World Cups for France, winning the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for t ...

and

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

Early life

Lizarazu was born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

Club career

Bordeaux

An enthusiast in several sports from a young age, Lizarazu began his professional career with

, joining the club's youth setup as a 15-year-old in 1984 and initially playing as a winger. After being told he would not make a career from football due to his frail physicality as a teenager, he impressed the staff with his determination and became a member of the senior squad in 1988 alongside forward Christophe Dugarry. He was retrained to play as a counter-attacking left back at the suggestion of coach Didier Couécou and soon replaced the veteran Gernot Rohr (later to be the club's manager) in the position. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

Bordeaux finished runners-up in the French championship, but the following year they were administratively relegated amid financial problems. Lizarazu remained with the club and helped them immediately regain their top tier status in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

. The club also signed

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

, who became another important element of the team, which went on to achieve two 4th- and a 7th-place finish over the next three seasons, Lizarazu contributing 101 appearances and 15 goals. In summer 1995, Bordeaux won the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Fo ...

to qualify for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup. They would go all the way to

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

under coach Rohr, beating

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito ...

, A.C. Milan and Slavia Prague before losing to

5–1 on aggregate. However their league form suffered, dropping to 16th. Following

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, in which Dugarry, Zidane and Lizarazu were part of the French squad which reached the semi-finals, the three moved abroad seeking a new challenge: Zidane joining

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, Dugarry going to Milan and Lizarazu staying local but changing nations by moving to

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los L ...

, based the same distance from his home in the French Basque Country as

. He appeared 299 times for his formative club, scoring 28 goals.

Athletic Bilbao

Lizarazu spent just one season with the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

club after becoming the first Frenchman to play for Athletic, which has a policy of selecting only players of Basque birth or heritage. Suffering from a persistent groin injury, he was unable to displace the experienced

Aitor Larrazábal Aitor Larrazábal Bilbao (born 21 June 1971) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played solely for Athletic Bilbao, currently manager of Gernika Club. A left-back of attacking penchant, he appeared in 445 competitive matches for h ...

at left back, received two red cards among the 16 league appearances he did make, and had disagreements with the head coach, compatriot Luis Fernández. In the 1997 close season, he transferred to Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich

Before even playing a

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

match, Lizarazu lifted a trophy with his new club, winning the inaugural edition of the preseason

DFL-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

. It was the start of a highly successful spell in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, despite the interruption of some serious injuries, as he went on to win six

championships (including three in a row between

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

), as well as five

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

s, the Champions League in

(scoring his penalty in the shootout), and the Intercontinental Cup. On winning the Intercontinental Cup in 2001, he became the first player to be a current European and World champion in both club and international football. Lizarazu said that he would leave Bayern in the summer of 2004 and eventually signed with Olympique Marseille. However, after only six months back in France, he returned to Bayern Munich in January 2005. During his second spell with Bayern, ending in 2006 when he gave way to the emerging Philipp Lahm, Lizarazu wore the shirt number 69; clarifying that it was not a lewd gesture, he said this was because he was born in 1969, his height is 1.69 m and he weighed 69 kg. He made 268 appearances in all competitions for Bayern between 1997 and 2006, scoring eight goals. 183 of these games were in the German top-flight.

International career

Lizarazu was capped 97 times for France (for the first time on 14 November 1992 against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

), scoring two goals, and helped them win the

and Euro 2000, starting in the final of both tournaments. He retired from international football after France were surprisingly eliminated by eventual winners

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

at Euro 2004.

Style of play

Regarded by pundits as one of the best left-backs of his generation, Lizarazu was an attacking full-back or wing-back, who was known for his passing, technique, pace, stamina, and his ability to get up the flank and provide accurate

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

from the touch-line. In addition to his offensive prowess, he was also known for his defensive abilities, despite his diminutive stature, which, along with his speed, allowed him to track back.

Personal life

After retirement, Lizarazu got involved in

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

. He competed in a jiu-jitsu competition in Europe in 2009, where he became European champion in the Blue Belt Senior 1 Light Division. He is also a keen surfer and works as a football pundit for French television and radio. In 2013, Lizarazu was described as a "tramp" by his successor as France's left back, Patrice Evra, after he and other pundits criticised Evra for giving an impromptu team talk during half-time of a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. Lizarazu was formerly engaged to singer

Elsa Lunghini Elsa Lunghini, stage name Elsa (born 20 May 1973), is a French singer and actress. She was a teenage pop-star in the late-1980s. In 1986, she was the youngest singer to reach number one in the French charts, with the single " T'en va pas", and sh ...

from 1999 to 2006. Lizarazu is a native speaker of Basque and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. In addition, he also speaks Spanish,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lizarazu goal.''

Honours

Bordeaux * Division 2: 1991–92 *

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

runner-up: 1995–96 Bayern Munich *

: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 *

: 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 * DFB-Ligapokal:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, 1998,

, 2000 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: 2000–01; runner-up: 1998–99 * Intercontinental Cup:

France *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

: 1998 *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: 2000 *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Individual * ESM Team of the Year: 1998–99 * UEFA Team of the Year:

* FIFA XI: 2002 * Équipe type spéciale 20 ans des trophées UNFP: 2011 Orders * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 1998

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lizarazu, Bixente 1969 births Living people People from Saint-Jean-de-Luz French-Basque people French footballers France international footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Lizaru, Bixente Olympique de Marseille players FC Bayern Munich footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Germany La Liga players Expatriate footballers in Spain UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players FIFA World Cup-winning players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players UEFA European Championship-winning players Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Association football defenders UEFA Champions League winning players Sportspeople from Pyrénées-Atlantiques French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Basque Country international footballers Footballers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine