Jérémy Morel (born 2 April 1984) is a 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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in France, he played for the Madagascar national team.

Club career

Lorient

Born in

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

to a Malagasy father and a French mother, Morel made his senior debut for

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (;), commonly referred to as FC Lorient (), is a French professional association football club based in Lorient, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently competes in Ligue 2, having been relegated f ...

at the age of 19, coming on as a substitute for Pape Malick Diop in Lorient's

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 ...

1–0 defeat at home to

FC Gueugnon Football Club Gueugnonnais (commonly called Gueugnon ) is a French association football club based in Gueugnon, Burgundy. The club was formed in 1940 and plays its home matches at the Stade Jean Laville located within the city. The club has ...

on 19 April 2003. He played only one other match (a Ligue 2 match) in the 2002–03 season. In the next three seasons, he progressively played more matches for Lorient. Morel played 28 matches in Lorient's 2005–06 Ligue 2 season in which Lorient finished in third position; they were thus promoted to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

for the 2006–07 season.

Marseille

On 19 June 2011, Morel ended his nine-year senior spell with Lorient to join Ligue 1 club

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

, signing a contract that would last until 30 June 2015.

Lyon

On 1 June 2015, Morel Joined

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

on a three-year contract. On 13 April 2017, Morel pinched the ball from goalkeeper

Fabri Fabri is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anna Fabri (f. 1496), Swedish publisher and printer * Annibale Pio Fabri (1697–1760), Italian singer and composer * Cornelia Fabri (1869-1915), Italian mathematician * Emanuel Fab ...

in the

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends to each side of the goal and in front of it. If any part of the ball is ove ...

and tapped it into an empty net in the 84th minute for the final goal of Lyon's 2–1 home 2016–17 UEFA Europa League quarterfinal first-leg win against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

; it was his first career competitive goal for Lyon and the first UEFA club competition goal of his club career, coming in his 33rd UEFA club competition match, having played 23 matches in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and 10 matches in 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 ...

for both Marseille and Lyon.

Rennes

On 16 July 2019, Morel left Lyon upon the ending of his contract and joined

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

on a one-year deal.

Lorient

In summer 2020, Morel rejoined his boyhood club

on a free transfer, signing a one-year deal with an option for another year. Lorient was newly promoted to Ligue 1 after finishing at the top at the end of the 2019–20 Ligue 2 season. He left Lorient on 26 August 2022, one of four players to do so that day, alongside

Houboulang Mendes Houboulang Mendes (born 4 May 1998) is a professional footballer who plays for Ligue 2 side ES Troyes AC, on loan from club UD Almería. Mainly a right back, he can also play as a central defender. Born in France, he plays for the Guinea-Bissau ...

, Fabien Lemoine and

Jérôme Hergault Jérôme Hergault (born 5 April 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defender. He has previously played for Lavaur, Luzenac, Rouen and Red Star. Career Hergault joined FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (;) ...

International career

On 28 October 2018, Morel announced that he would represent the Madagascar national team, the birth country of his father. He made his debut for Madagascar on 18 November 2018 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. He played at

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

when Madagascar made a sensational advance to the quarterfinals.

Career statistics

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

Honours

Marseille *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 ...

: 2011–12

References

External links

Career stats
at lfp.fr * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morel, Jeremy 1984 births Living people Footballers from Lorient French men's footballers Malagasy men's footballers French sportspeople of Malagasy descent Malagasy people of French descent Madagascar men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks FC Lorient players Olympique de Marseille players Olympique Lyonnais players Stade Rennais FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century French sportsmen