Emmanuel Laurent Petit (born 22 September 1970) 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 defensive midfielder at club level for

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 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

, and Chelsea. He represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

at international level in two

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s and two

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s; he scored the third goal in France's 3–0 victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final and was also a member of the French squad that won

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

Petit was born in

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newh ...

, Seine-Maritime.

Club career

Petit began his career at minor club ES Arques-la-Bataille before being signed by

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former football manager and player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. He was the manager of Arsenal from 1996 to 2018, where he was the l ...

side at the age of 18. He made his debut soon after and played in the 1989

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

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 con ...

. Petit became a regular at Monaco, playing as a left-sided or

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. In 1991, he won the

with Monaco and also played in the 1992

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...

(which Monaco lost to Werder Bremen). In 1996–97, his final season at Monaco, he captained his side to the

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. ...

title. Petit joined

in June 1997 for £2.5 million, where he was reunited with his former Monaco manager Arsène Wenger. Wenger switched Petit from central midfielder to defensive midfielder, and partnered him with fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira. The French duo formed a midfield partnership which brought instant success, as Petit won

the double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

with Arsenal in his very first season, clinching both the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

title and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

. Altogether, in the three seasons in his Arsenal career, Petit made 118 appearances and scored 11 goals, including a stunning drive from outside the area against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

(which was also the winning goal), during the 1997–98 season. Petit moved to

(together with Arsenal teammate Marc Overmars) in the summer of 2000 for £7 million (€14 million). At Barcelona, he was moved back into defence and suffered a rash of niggling injuries. As a result, he failed to settle and could not hold down a regular place. In his biography, published in 2008, the midfielder gave his time at Barcelona a special chapter in which he exposed that coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer did not even know what position he played when he joined the team. His only goal for Barcelona came on 13 May 2001 at home to Rayo Vallecano in a 5–1 win. After his first season at the Camp Nou, Petit was linked with moves back to England with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Tottenham and Chelsea, joining the last in 2001 in a £7.5 million transfer deal. He initially was a first-team regular for the ''Blues'' in a largely disappointing first season and played in the

2002 FA Cup final The 2002 FA Cup Final was a football match between Arsenal and Chelsea on 4 May 2002 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2001–02 FA Cup, the 120th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the F ...

which Chelsea lost to his old club, Arsenal. He scored his first goal for Chelsea in a 2–1 win over Derby on 30 March 2002. His second season saw a significant improvement, as he formed an impressive midfield partnership with

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfiel ...

as Chelsea impressed in the winner-takes-all final game of the season against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

as Chelsea secured the fourth

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 ...

berth. He also scored twice throughout the season: against Everton in the League Cup, and former club Arsenal in the league. After a series of knee injuries, however, he spent much of his final season of his career on the sidelines, and he was released on a free transfer in the summer of 2004, his final appearance for the club coming against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

on 1 February 2004. After being released by Chelsea, Petit rejected the chance to sign for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

, and he announced his retirement on 20 January 2005 after failing to fully recover following knee surgery.

International career

Playing for the

France national team France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area e ...

, Petit earned 63

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and scored six international goals in his career and won 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 th ...

and

. He scored twice in the 1998 World Cup, the first from a powerful shot from just outside the box against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, which turned out to be the match winner, and a second in the final against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The goal he scored in the

was particularly memorable, as he had embarked on an optimistic run across field before calmly slotting in the goal in the final minute of regular time. That same goal happened to be the 1,000th goal in the history of the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...

, and the last

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

goal of the 20th century. France won the match 3–0. An earlier Petit

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

had set up

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 m ...

's header for France's first goal. Petit was also part of the 2002 World Cup squad, though France failed to advance past the group stages and failed to score a single goal in three matches during their defence of the trophy. Petit retired from international football in September 2003.

Style of play

Although capable of playing as a defender, Petit usually played as a defensive midfielder throughout his career, and was known for his energy, work-rate, strength, tackling, aerial prowess, and positional intelligence in this position, as well as his elegance, and his passing range and striking ability from distance with his left foot; as such, he was not only capable of breaking up attacks, but of dictating play in midfield, creating chances for teammates, and even scoring goals.

Personal life

Petit married French actress Agathe de La Fontaine, in 2000, but they divorced in 2002 after having one child, Zoe. He now shares his life with Maria Servello, with whom he had another child, Violet, in 2007. He has often appeared on French TV as a football analyst. His brother Olivier was an amateur footballer when Petit was a teenager. While playing for his club

Arques Arques may refer to the following places in France: * Arques, Aude, in the Aude department * Arques, Aveyron, in the Aveyron department * Arques, Pas-de-Calais, in the Pas-de-Calais department * Arques-la-Bataille Arques-la-Bataille () is a com ...

in 1988, Olivier collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead due to a blood clot of the brain. In his biography, Petit explained that this event shocked him to such an extent that it almost made him quit football. He viewed his brother as a gifted young man who had good looks and did well in all his endeavours, whether it was football or education. At age 18, he was already facing the demanding rigors of the Monaco youth academy, and not so soon, he had lost his grandfather. His brother’s and grandfather’s loss happened in a bracket of two years and the passing of his brother almost became the final straw. He starred as himself in a Christmas special episode of British police show ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'' in 1998. Petit has been an ambassador for the Homeless World Cup movement since the tournament was hosted by

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

in 2011. Petit was added in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

FIFA 16 as an ultimate team legend.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Monaco * Division 1: 1996–97 *

: 1990–91 Arsenal *

: 1997–98 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

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 s ...

France *

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Individual *Division 1 Rookie of the Year: 1990 * Premier League Player of the Month: April 1998 *

Onze de Bronze The ''Onze d'Or'' (alternative name: ''Onze Mondial'' European Footballer of the Year) is an association football award given by French magazine ''Onze Mondial'' since 1976. The award honors the best player in Europe, with any player in a European l ...

: 1998 * PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 1998–99 Orders * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 1998

References

External links

*
Homeless World Cup Ambassador Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petit, Emmanuel Living people 1970 births Sportspeople from Dieppe, Seine-Maritime Association football midfielders 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players AS Monaco FC players Arsenal F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain FC Barcelona players FIFA World Cup-winning players France international footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French expatriate footballers French footballers La Liga players Ligue 1 players Premier League players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA European Championship-winning players France youth international footballers FA Cup Final players French expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Footballers from Normandy