Didier Tholot (born 2 April 1964) 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 lea ...

who turned to management in 2002, and is currently the manager of Sion in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. Whilst at Bordeaux, he played in the 1996 UEFA Cup Final.

Playing career

Tholot was born in

Feurs Feurs (; ) is a commune in the department of Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. History Antiquity The city was founded by the Romans. The name ''Feurs'' is a contraction of ''Forum Segusiavorum'', in reference to the forum of the Gallo-Ro ...

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

. After completing his training at

INF Vichy The Institut National du Football de Vichy, more commonly known as INF Vichy, was a Youth system, football academy based in Vichy, France. Founded in 1972 by the French Football Federation, it was dissolved in 1990. The academy had a team that c ...

in 1984, Tholot signed his first professional contract with

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

in the first division where he learned the ropes during three years. He was then transferred to

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

where he played for two seasons. In 1990, he was recruited by

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

. In spite of the club's financial difficulties eventually leading to relegation at the end of the season, Tholot scored 14 goals in 34 competitive matches. The following season, he was recruited by

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

on a two-year contract but, given less playing time in his second season, moved on to

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A ...

, who were freshly promoted from Division 2. With 27 goals to his credit over two seasons, he was noticed by

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

to play alongside

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

Christophe Dugarry Christophe Jérôme Dugarry (; born 24 March 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the France team that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. His clubs included Bordeaux, AC Milan, Barcelona ...

and

Bixente Lizarazu Bixente Jean Michel Lizarazu (, born 9 December 1969) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He rose through the ranks at Bordeaux, where he was part of a team that finished second in the French First Division in ...

. With Bordeaux, Tholot's career reached its pinnacle. He scored the first goal of a famous second-leg home comeback victory over the great

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

of 1996 (3–0). This team went on to reach the final of the 1996 UEFA Cup Final and to play the final of 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 ...

the following season, with Tholot then partnering

Jean-Pierre Papin Jean-Pierre Roger Guillaume Papin (; born 5 November 1963) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a forward. He is the head coach of Championnat National 3 club Marseille B. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1991. Pa ...

up front. Tholot finished the last years of his playing career in Switzerland. First he signed a three-year contract with Sion ahead of the

1997–98 Nationalliga A Statistics of the Swiss National Leagues in the 1997–98 football season. Overview Both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B were contested by 12 teams, with each team playing a double round-robin in the qualification phase. There after the ...

season under head coach

Alberto Bigon Alberto "Albertino" Bigon (born 31 October 1947) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder or forward. Playing career Born in Padua, Bigon started his playing career for his native city team Padova. He made ...

. However, for the second half of the season their new coach Jean-Claude Richard loaned him out to English team

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, who at that time played in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

, second tier. Although he had a successful time with them, reaching the Southern Area final in the

1997–98 Football League Trophy The Football League Trophy 1997–98, known as the Auto Windscreens Shield 1997–98 for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th staging of the Football League Trophy, a knock-out competition for English football clubs in Second and Third Division. Th ...

and scoring a goal in the second leg, the British club die not pull their buy-out option. Tholot returned to Sion to fulfill his contract and play in the

1998–99 Nationalliga A Teams in the Swiss National League A played 22 games in the 1998–99 football season, with an eight-team playoff. Overview The Qualification Round to the League season 2001–02 was contested by twelve teams. The first eight teams of the First ...

, but the team were relegated at the end of the season. Tholot played as regular starter and scored 17 league goals in his 34 appearances. His goal tally was surpassed solely by the league top scorer Alexandre Rey, who netted 19 times. Because his contract was only valid for the top-tier, Tholot left the club. He joined

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

's first team for their 1999–2000 season under their new head coach

Christian Gross Christian Jürgen Gross (born 14 August 1954) is a Swiss football manager and former player. He played as a sweeper and central midfielder. Gross was manager of Basel from 1999 to 2009, winning four Swiss Super Leagues and four Swiss Cups. As ...

. Tholot played his debut for the team in the home game in the

1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Montpellier, Juventus, and West Ham United. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. Qualified teams First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

at the

Stadion Schützenmatte Stadion Schützenmatte is a sports stadium with track and field facilities in the Bachletten quartier in Basel, Switzerland. It is the home ground of BSC Old Boys Basel and, together, the Association football pitch, pitch and tennis courts make u ...

on 4 July 1999, as Basel played a goalless draw with Boby Brno. He scored his first goal for his new team one week later in the return leg as Basel won 4–2 to advance to the next round. He played his

debut for the team in the home game on 14 July and he scored his first goal for them in the same match as Basel played a 1–1 draw with Xamax. At the end of the season's qualifying phase, Basel were in second position in the table, but eight points adrift. In the Championship Round, Basel played amongst the table leaders and in the tenth round they even managed a 3–1 victory against league leaders St. Gallen and Tholot had scored a brace in this match. However, in their last four matches Basel won only two further points and dropped to third position, 14 points behind new champions St Gallen. In his 31 appearances, Tholot netted eight goals. However, in the

2000–01 Nationalliga A 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 (typography), baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally l ...

season Tholot was mainly being used by head coach

as a substitute and so during the winter break he decided to move on. In his 18 months with the club, Tholot played a total of 72 games for Basel scoring a total of 22 goals. 44 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, three in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, seven in the UEFA competitions (

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

) and 18 were friendly games. He scored 12 goals in the domestic league, three in the European games and the other seven were scored during the test games. Tholot then played 12 months for Young Boys and in January 2002 he moved to

Vevey Sports Vevey-Sports, formerly FC Vevey United is a Swiss football club based in Vevey, Vaud canton. The club currently play in Promotion League, the third tier of Swiss football. History Vevey Sports The club was founded in 1905 as ''Vevey Sports''. ...

, in the third tier of Swiss football, the first six months as player and the following 2002–03 season as player-coach, narrowly avoiding relegation in Group 1.

Coaching career

Following an auspicious coaching debut at

, Tholot was hired by Sion of the Swiss first division. He then moved on to manage Libourne Saint-Seurin for three seasons, notably achieving promotion to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

in his first season. Tholot's next move to

was short-lived as he was replaced by

Luis Fernández Luis Miguel Fernández Toledo (born 2 October 1959), known as Luis Fernandez, is a French football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez spent most of his playing career for Paris Saint-Germain. He earned ...

in December 2008. In April 2009 Tholot embarked on his second stint with Sion in order to save the club from the drop. Not only did the team avoid relegation that year but it also won the

. Tholot left the club at the end of the following season. In June 2010, Tholot took on the managerial duties of

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

where, in spite of severe financial restrictions, he managed to keep the club in Ligue 2 for three seasons. He left the club in October 2012. In May 2014, he became assistant manager to

Claude Makélélé Claude Makélélé Sinda (born 18 February 1973) is a French Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He last managed Super League Greece club Astera ...

at first division

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

. When Makélélé was sacked in November 2008, Tholot declined the top job out of "loyalty". In December 2014, he returned to Sion for a third spell. As in 2009, the club avoided relegation and again won the Swiss Cup against Basel at its opponent's home ground. During the 2015–16 season, Sion qualified for the round of 16 of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, making it out of the group stage in a pool also including

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

. Tholot left Sion 12 August 2016. In April 2018, Tholot was appointed manager of Nancy, who were struggling near the bottom of Ligue 2. Although he was successful in saving the club from relegation, a poor start to the 2018–19 season saw him removed from the post in October. After eighteen months away from management, Tholot was appointed by newly promoted Pau on 18 May 2020, in preparation for the new season. On 15 June 2023, he returned to Sion in the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

. It will be his fourth stint coaching Sion, who were recently relegated from the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Honours

As a player

Bordeaux *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

runner up:1997

As a manager

Sion *

: 2008–09, 2014–15 *

, qualifying for the last 16: 2015–16 Libourne Saint-Seurin * Promotion to

: 2005–06

References

External links

*
Didier Tholot's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tholot, Didier 1964 births Living people People from Feurs French men's footballers Footballers from Loire (department) Men's association football forwards Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Swiss Super League players English Football League players INF Vichy players SC Toulon players Chamois Niortais FC players Stade de Reims players AS Saint-Étienne players FC Martigues players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players FC Sion players Walsall F.C. players FC Basel players BSC Young Boys players Vevey-Sports players French football managers FC Sion managers Stade de Reims managers LB Châteauroux managers AS Nancy Lorraine managers Pau FC managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland 20th-century French sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England