Laurent Manuel (born April 27, 1986) is a former French/American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player, entrepreneur and tv/film producer.

Career

Youth and College

Manuel was a member of the youth academy at famed French club

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, before playing four years of college soccer at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. Prior to that he played for his Manhattan prep school,

The Browning School The Browning School is an independent school for boys in New York City. It was founded in 1888 by John A. Browning. It offers instruction in grades kindergarten through 12th grade. The school is a member of the New York Interschool consortium. ...

Professional

In December 2007, Manuel trialed with Israeli club,

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

. The trial was positive and he was asked to return later that year. Manuel was then selected in the fourth round of the

2008 MLS Supplemental Draft The 2008 MLS Supplemental Draft was held on January 24, 2008, six days after the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, as teams filled out their developmental rosters. Changes from 2007 * 2008 expansion club San Jose Earthquakes received the first pick in each roun ...

by New York Red Bulls, but did not sign with the club, instead opting to rejoin Hapoel Tel Aviv to try to restart his professional career aboard. He was initially offered a contract by

, but he couldn't stay due to paperwork problems. He later returned to the United States where he was called in by D.C. United, and played several reserve games against Chicago Fire, New England Revolution and Columbus Crew,. Manuel trained with Maccabi Tel Aviv in July 2008, after rejecting an offer from Maccabi Herzliya; Maccabi were eager to find another player who could play at right or left back due to the failed transfer of

Sjaak Polak Sjaak Polak (born 18 February 1976 in The Hague) is a Dutch former footballer and current manager. Club career An outspoken wingback and freekick specialist, Polak previously played for Excelsior Rotterdam, FC Twente, and ADO Den Haag. In May ...

. After leaving Maccabi Tel Aviv. Manuel went on trial at Portsmouth in England under

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

. He later returned to train with Portsmouth under Paul Hart. On September 1, 2009, he signed with Belgian side

K.V. Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

Manuel made his league debut with Oostende on September 11, 2009 in a match against

K.S.K. Beveren Koninklijke Sportkring Beveren (''Royal Sporting Club of Beveren'') is a Belgian association football club from the town of Beveren in East Flanders. KSK Beveren was particularly successful during the late 1970s and early 1980s in which it wo ...

, and went on to play three first team games with the team. After leaving Oostende, Manuel went on trial with Croatian club RNK Split, and was initially offered a contract, but it fell through when there was complications concerning the president of the club. After further trials in Europe with

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

club AIK, Manuel returned to the United States in 2010, and re-joined the Long Island Rough Riders for the 2010 PDL campaign. Manuel has recently just signed for Sevilla FC Puerto Rico to partake in the Supercopa Direct TV 2010. He captained the team and lead them to qualify for the 2011

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

. The SuperCopa is this year's qualifying tournament for the Puerto Rico spots at the 2011

Club championship for Caribbean, which in turn is the qualifying tournament for the 2011-12

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

(CCL). In 2008 Sevilla FC Puerto Rico were affiliated with Sevilla FC of La Liga, one of the leading clubs of Spain.

Post-Professional Career

Laurent served on the board of directors for LOSC Football Club in

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. A ...

from 2018-'21. During his time with the club the team participated in Champions League, Europa League and won the 2020-'21 French

Uber Eats Championship.

References

External links

K.V. Oostende profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manuel, Laurent 1986 births Living people American people of French descent Jewish American sportspeople American soccer players Brown Bears men's soccer players Westchester Flames players IMG Academy Bradenton players Long Island Rough Riders players K.V. Oostende players Sevilla FC Puerto Rico players USL League Two players New York Red Bulls draft picks Association football midfielders Association football defenders Browning School alumni Sportspeople from Manhattan Soccer players from New York City Expatriate footballers in Belgium American expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Lille OSC non-playing staff