Laurent Fournier (born 14 September 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 ...

Managerial career

Fournier retired in 1998, immediately becoming manager of his final club SC Bastia in

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 ...

. He was fired in April 1999, and his next jobs were with the under-13 team in the village of Feucherolles, then for amateur team Pacy Vallée-d'Eure. In February 2003 he became

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

manager of his former club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

. Two years later, he became first-team manager upon the dismissal of Vahid Halilhodžić, on a deal to last until the end of the season. On 26 May 2005, with PSG in 10th place with one game left to play, Fournier was given a new two-year contract. He was axed on 27 December that year, the first managerial casualty of the season, despite being in sixth place and two points off second; he was replaced by Guy Lacombe. Fournier returned to football on 5 October 2007, taking over Nîmes Olympique until the end of the

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

season with a two-year extension if they achieved 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 ...

. On 4 December, he left by mutual consent. In June 2009, Fournier was back in the third tier with

Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...

. A year later, he signed for two years at

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 ...

who had just fallen into the same league. Fournier returned to Ligue 1 in June 2011, taking over 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 ...

after Jean Fernandez headed to Nancy. Having won four of 28 games for the bottom-placed team, he was dismissed the following 18 March and replaced by Jean-Guy Wallemme. In June 2013, Fournier was back in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on a two-year deal with the aim of getting

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

into Ligue 2. He was dismissed on 6 October after five losses from nine games. Fournier rejoined Créteil in June 2016, again tasked with taking the relegated ''Béliers'' back to the second tier. He lasted only until 23 December, when he was ousted from the 14th-placed club. In June 2019, Fournier was hired by

Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...

of the fourth-tier

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

. Among his players was his eldest son Anthony.

Honours

Player

Marseille * Division 1: 1990–91 Paris Saint-Germain *Division 1: 1993–94 *

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 ...

: 1992–93, 1997–98 *

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 ...

: 1997–98 *

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 ...

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 ...

UEFA 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 competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1995–96

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fournier, Laurent 1964 births Living people Footballers from Lyon French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Olympique Lyonnais players AS Saint-Étienne players Olympique de Marseille players Paris Saint-Germain FC players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players SC Bastia players Ligue 1 players France men's international footballers French football managers SC Bastia managers Paris Saint-Germain FC managers Pacy Ménilles RC players Nîmes Olympique managers US Créteil-Lusitanos managers RC Strasbourg Alsace managers AJ Auxerre managers Ligue 1 managers 20th-century French sportsmen