Christophe Galtier (born 23 August 1966) is a French professional football coach and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who is the head coach of

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. ...

club Paris Saint-Germain. A defender, Galtier was a journeyman professional who spent many of his 15 years as a player at

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

with spells at six other clubs, four in France and one each in Italy and China. Galtier won the Best Manager of the Year award at the

Trophées UNFP du football The Trophées UNFP du football are a number of awards given annually by the National Union of Professional Football Players to players playing in France's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, as well as to managers and referees, the most prestigious one being th ...

in 2013, which he shared with Carlo Ancelotti, and again in 2019 after

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

finished in second place during the

2018–19 Ligue 1 The 2018–19 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, was the 81st season since its establishment. The season began on 10 August 2018 and concluded on 24 May 2019. Paris Saint-Germain were the defending champions ...

season. He won the trophy for a third time in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

after guiding Lille to their fourth Ligue 1 title in club history.

Early life and playing career

Christophe Galtier was born on 23 August 1966 in

, Bouches-du-Rhône. He spent a large part of his playing career in France with his hometown club

, whom he represented in two different spells. In a fifteen-year career, he also played for

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

, and

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

in France, before ending his career with stints in Italy for

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Mo ...

and with

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmo ...

in China.

Coaching career

Assistant coach (1999–2009)

From 1999 to 2004, Galtier was assistant coach at Marseille, Aris and Bastia. From 2004 to 2009, he worked as Alain Perrin's assistant coach at

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

, Sochaux,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

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 ...

(ASSE).

Saint-Étienne

In December 2009, Galtier was appointed the head coach of Saint-Étienne, with ASSE in danger of relegation following the departure of Alain Perrin. In his first season, Galtier successfully guided ASSE to safety, finishing in 17th place. ASSE finished in the top 10 of Ligue 1 in the seven consecutive seasons of Galtier's tenure, with 4 of those seasons ending in a European place. In 2013, ASSE defeated Rennes to win the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

, their first trophy in 32 years. His European debut as a head coach is a 3–0 home win over Moldovan club Milsami Orhei in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase on 1 August 2013. On 9 May 2017, Galtier announced he would be leaving Saint-Étienne at the end of the season upon the expiration of his contract. At that moment he was the longest serving

manager still active, having taken the reins for eight years. On 20 May 2017, he left the club after 361 games, including 147 wins, as Saint-Étienne head coach.

Lille

On 22 December 2017, Galtier became the new manager of

, who were at the 18th place in the league. However, they eventually avoided relegation places by one point in the 2017–18 season. In the 2018–19 season, he led Lille to finish second and qualify for the next Champions League season, after a seven-year absence. During the 2020–21 season, Galtier guided Lille to their first Ligue 1 title in 10 years and the fourth in club history. Galtier was praised by many pundits over the course of the season for both his tactics and his ability to develop young talent including Jonathan David,

Renato Sanches Renato Júnior Luz Sanches (; born 18 August 1997) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Portugal national team. Sanches began his career at Benfica, making his profes ...

, and

Mike Maignan Mike Peterson Maignan (born 3 July 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club AC Milan and the France national team. Maignan came through the youth teams at Paris Saint-Germain, he was an unused substitute sev ...

. For his efforts, Galtier was named the Ligue 1 Manager of the Year for a third time. On 25 May 2021, two days after winning the league title, he resigned as manager. He stated: "I simply have the deep belief that my time is up here."

Nice

On 28 June 2021, Galtier was appointed as the new head coach of fellow Ligue 1 club

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

. In his first season, he led the team to a fifth-place finish and a Coupe de France final, where they lost 1–0 to

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. Nice qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round as a result. He left Nice on 27 June 2022, being replaced by

Lucien Favre Lucien Favre (; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who currently manages club Nice. Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Servette, with whom he also won the ch ...

Paris Saint-Germain

On 5 July 2022, Galtier agreed a two-year deal to become Paris Saint-Germain manager, replacing

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (; born 2 March 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino played as a central defender and be ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Marseille * Coupe de France runner-up: 1986–87

Manager

Saint-Étienne *

: 2012–13 Lille *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Nice *Coupe de France runner-up: 2021–22 Paris Saint-Germain * Trophée des Champions: 2022 Individual * Ligue 1 Manager of the Year: 2012–13 (joint), 2018–19,

References

External links

Playing career
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galtier, Christophe 1966 births Living people Footballers from Marseille French footballers Association football defenders Olympique de Marseille players Lille OSC players Toulouse FC players Angers SCO players Nîmes Olympique players A.C. Monza players Liaoning F.C. players Ligue 1 players Serie B players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in China French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French football managers SC Bastia managers AS Saint-Étienne managers Lille OSC managers OGC Nice managers Paris Saint-Germain F.C. managers Ligue 1 managers Association football coaches Olympique de Marseille non-playing staff Aris Thessaloniki F.C. non-playing staff France under-21 international footballers