Gérald Edmond Louis Baticle (born 10 September 1969) is a French professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current coach of the

France national under-21 football team The France national under-21 football team (), known in France as ''Les Espoirs'' (, ''The Hopes''), is the national under-21 Association football, football team of France and is controlled by the French Football Federation. The team competes in ...

Playing career

Born in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

, Somme, Baticle started his professional career in his native

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

region at

but quickly attracted the attention of Guy Roux who recruited him at

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

. He played his first game in Division 1 on 19 September 1991 against

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

. In the 1992–93 season, he was the

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 ...

's top goalscorer as Auxerre reached the semi-finals where they were edged out by

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

after a penalty shootout. A year later, Baticle scored one of Auxerre's goal during the final of the French cup where the AJA defeated

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

3–0 to win its first national title. In the 1994–95 season, he had to face the concurrence of an emerging Lilian Laslandes for the sole striker post in Guy Roux's emblematic 4-3-3. Baticle then chose to move to an ambitious

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

side where he joined a team composed of Frank Leboeuf, Franck Sauzée and Aleksandr Mostovoi. He spent three seasons at Strasbourg and was a captain there after Leboeuf's departure in 1996. He was repositioned as an offensive midfielder by Jacky Duguépéroux and, in this position, was instrumental in Strasbourg's 1997 League cup triumph as well as the good UEFA Cup run the following season. He was then back for a season and a half at Auxerre as a transition striker between world champion Stéphane Guivarc'h and the young Djibril Cissé. In December 1999, he was transferred to Metz where he enjoyed decent success as a striker for three years in a struggling team. When Metz was relegated, Baticle moved to

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

for a season before ending his career in 2003–04 with

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 ...

side

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

Coaching career

Baticle was a successful youth coach for three seasons with Auxerre's under 18 team, reaching the final of the Coupe Gambardella in 2007. In October 2008, Pascal Janin was sacked from his post at Stade Brestois and it was rumoured that general manager Corentin Martins was eager to bring his former Auxerre teammate at Brest for the managing job but the move was at first opposed by Auxerre's president Jean-Claude Hamel. Ultimately, a compromise was found and Baticle joined Brest, winning his first game 4–0 against

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 ...

on 7 November 2008. He was fired in May 2009 and replaced by Alex Dupont. On 22 December 2022, Baticle was sacked by

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

. Having worked with the France national under-21 football team as an assistant under Thierry Henry's management, he was appointed as coach on 23 August 2024.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 1994 *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

: 1997

As a manager

* Coupe Gambardella runner-up: 2007

References

External links

Player profile at RacingstubProfile on Brest's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baticle, Gerald 1969 births Living people Footballers from Amiens French men's footballers Men's association football forwards Amiens SC players AJ Auxerre players RC Strasbourg Alsace players FC Metz players Le Havre AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players French football managers Angers SCO managers Stade Brestois 29 managers 20th-century French sportsmen