Christian André (born 14 August 1950) 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, rugby ...

who played as a forward.

Career

André, who is originally from

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island and an Overseas department and region, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of ...

, was recruited by

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

in 1972 with fellow Trinitaire Jacques Laposte, after the club had been relegated to the

Division 3 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football * Belgian Th ...

following a split with

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade C ...

. In his first season with PSG, he quickly established himself as a key player in Robert Vicot's side. Nicknamed the "black panther", André scored 21 goals in 30 Division 3 games to help the Parisian club achieve promotion to the Division 2. He was PSG's top scorer during the 1972–73 season. In his second season at the club, André scored 14 goals in all competitions, as PSG was promoted for the second time in a row, this time to Division 1. André started in several matches, but was then relegated to the bench in favour of

Mustapha Dahleb Mustapha Dahleb (born 8 February 1952) is an Algerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Having begun his career at Sedan and CR Belouizdad, he spent most of his career at Paris Saint-Germain before playing a final seaso ...

and François M'Pelé. In the 1974–75 season, André suffered a knee ligament injury. He was loaned to Red Star in January 1975, and returned from loan eighteen months later. Unable to establish himself in the squad, he signed for

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attra ...

in 1977. After one season at Béziers he joined Montpellier in 1978, lasting one season before retiring.

After football

After retiring, André briefly coached in Martinique, then returned to metropolitan France where he coached young players in

Gagny Gagny () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Geography Location Gagny is located 10 km to the east of Paris. Until the law of 10 July 1964, the commune was part of the departm ...

in 2003. He then became a groundskeeper at

football pitch A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural t ...

es in the Paris area. André left Paris for

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border ...

and Corsica.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Andre, Christian 1950 births Living people French men's footballers Martiniquais men's footballers French people of Martiniquais descent Black French sportspeople Men's association football forwards People from La Trinité, Martinique AS Samaritaine players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Red Star F.C. players AS Béziers Hérault (football) players Montpellier HSC players French Division 3 (1971–1993) players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players