Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) 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 ...

, widely considered to be among the greatest

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

s and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, lasting from 1986 to 2006, Desailly won several titles, including

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 ...

medals with both

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

and

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 season ...

, and also played for

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

and Chelsea, among other teams. At international level, he collected 116 caps between 1993 and 2004, scoring three goals, and was a member of the France international squads that won the

1998 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 the ...

and Euro 2000.

Club career

Marcel Desailly was born as Odenke Abbey on 7 September 1968 in Accra, Ghana, the son of Ghanaian parents. He had his name changed when his mother married the head of the French Consulate in Accra, who adopted all of her children (the former professional footballer Seth Adonkor, seven years his elder, was a half-brother of his). The family relocated to France when Desailly was four years old. Following Adonkor's lead, he began his career at FC Nantes. There, as part of the famed FC Nantes youth programme, he played alongside a young

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...

, who became his closest friend. Desailly turned professional in 1986, two years after his half-brother had died in a car accident. In 1992, he moved to

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 p ...

, where he reunited with Deschamps, and won the

the following year. In 1994, while playing for

, he again won the Cup (scoring in the

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 ...

himself), being the first player to win the Cup in consecutive seasons with different clubs. During his time in Milan he won two Italian league titles, in 1994 and 1996. Although he preferred to be deployed as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

, roles which he played during his time in France, he found much success playing as a defensive midfielder for Milan, alongside Demetrio Albertini, due to the presence of several other established centre-backs at the club, such as

Franco Baresi Franchino Baresi (; born 8 May 1960) is an Italian football youth team coach and a former player and manager. He mainly played as a sweeper or as a central defender, and spent his entire 20-year career with Serie A club AC Milan, captaining th ...

, Alessandro Costacurta and Filippo Galli. Desailly then moved to the English club Chelsea in 1998 for £4.6 million, where he captained the side and played sweeper and centre-back until the end of the 2003–04 season. It was at Chelsea that Desailly formed a formidable partnership with Frank Leboeuf. He picked up one major trophy in his six seasons with Chelsea, being on the winning side in their

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 ...

triumph over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

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 ...

. Desailly was snapped up by Qatari outfit Al-Gharafa in 2004. He was appointed as the club captain and under the French coach

Bruno Metsu Bruno Jean Cornil Metsu (28 January 1954 – 15 October 2013) was a French footballer and football manager. During his senior playing career from 1973 to 1987, he played for seven different clubs in his native France. From 1988 until his death, ...

they won the Qatar League in 2005. He then joined

Qatar S.C. Qatar Sports Club ( ar, نادي قطر الرياضي) is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 as a merger of two Qatari football clubs ...

, leading them to second place in the league before retiring from professional football. In 2014, Desailly had met the

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM, ms, Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia responsible for organising the Malaysia national football team within the country. The Football Association o ...

and said he was ready and willing to coach the Malaysia national team. He also pointed that it was up to the football association whether to hire him or not.

International career

Marcel Desailly France international player

Desailly has often said that he feels totally French and while having ties with Ghana, never even considered playing for a country other than France. During an interview in Ghana, he stated that he did not have much choice about which country to play for as he was already established in the French national youth football team. This stance was restated in his autobiography, published in 2002. He made his international debut in 1993, but was not established as a first choice defender until 1996. He was an important part of the French team which 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 ...

, albeit being sent off in the final match. Like other team members, he was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1998. Two years later success continued, as France won Euro 2000. After the tournament, Desailly was made captain of the national team, following the retirement of

. In 2001, he led France to victory in the Confederations Cup. In April 2003, Desailly surpassed the record for the number of appearances for the French team, a number which eventually reached 116 when he announced his retirement from international football following 2004 UEFA European Football Championship. However, that record was broken during the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

Lilian Thuram Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien (; born 1 January 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He began playing football professionally in his homeland with Monaco and played in the top flight in France, Italy and Spai ...

Style of play

Nicknamed "The Rock", due to his consistency, strength, and hard-tackling playing style, Desailly is considered one of the most accomplished players of his generation, and one of the finest French

defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...

ever, who stood out for his charismatic leadership and ability to organise his team's back-line and break down opposition plays throughout his career. A quick, hard-working, tenacious, and powerful player, who excelled in the air and at anticipating his opponents, he combined his aggression, stamina, and ability to read the game, as well as his physical, mental, and defensive skills, with a notable confidence and good technique on the ball, which also allowed him to play in midfield throughout his career; indeed, after moving to Milan, although he initially started out playing as a centre-back or sweeper, and occasionally even as a full-back, he was later deployed as a defensive midfielder, a position in which he also excelled, successfully filling the void left by the departure of

Frank Rijkaard Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former footballer and former manager who played as a defensive midfielder. Rijkaard played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AC Milan and represented the Netherlands national team si ...

due his ball-winning abilities and capacity to start attacking plays after winning back possession. In addition to his defensive skills, he was also capable of contributing to his team's offensive plays with goals by making attacking runs into the box. In 2004, he was named by

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FI ...

in the

FIFA 100 The FIFA 100 is a list of Brazilian footballer Pelé's choice of the "greatest living footballers". Unveiled on 4 March 2004 at a gala ceremony in London, England, the FIFA 100 marked part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the fo ...

as one of the world's greatest living players.

Legacy

Marcel Desailly is currently residing in Ghana. He is currently a Laureus Academy member and OrphanAid Africa Lifetime ambassador to Ghana and France (since 2005). He was mentioned as a possible candidate for the coaching position of the

Ghana national team The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in men's international football, doing it since 1957. The team consists of twenty players including the technical team. The team is nicknamed the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in ...

. He has since then pulled out of the race to coach the Ghana National Team, although the option is likely to keep coming up. He has opened (June 2011) a sports facility in Ghana called Lizzy Sports Complex, in memory of his late mother, geared to young players and children in particular. Many African National teams use the centre to camp and prepare for international tournaments.

Post-playing career

Desailly's autobiography, ''Capitaine'', was published in France by Stock in 2002.

Media work

Following retirement, Desailly became a pundit for

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside ...

predominantly giving his opinion from the touchline at both half time and full-time as opposed to residing in the studio with

Alan Hansen Alan David Hansen (born 13 June 1955) is a Scottish former footballer and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, for the successful Liverpool team of the late 1970s and 1980s, and for the Scot ...

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

and

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his pla ...

. He worked for

in the United Kingdom during the 2006 World Cup, as one of their ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary ...

'' analysts. He also worked for BBC Sport at the

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confede ...

and Euro 2008 and is a regular commentator for French television channel Canal Plus. He also became a spokesperson for sports betting website Betclic. In 2010 Desailly joined the ITV Sport team for their World Cup coverage from South Africa.

Charity work

Desailly is a supporter of the 1GOAL Education for All campaign. He is also the

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...

national Goodwill Ambassador for Ghana. He is the Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador for his personal Charity OrphanAid Africa, that helps abandoned children in Ghana. He is a member of the Laureus Sports for Good Foundation.

Licensed merchandise

A mobile video game entitled ''

Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer ''Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer'' is a soccer video game developed and published by Gameloft for mobile phones and Nokia N-Gage. The title is based on French football player Marcel Desailly. Reception The N-Gage version received "generally un ...

'', developed by Gameloft was released for mobile phones in 2003. Desailly is an ICON in ''FIFA 21'' Ultimate Team and FIFA 22 Ultimate Team with ratings of 87 (base), 88 (mid), 91 (prime), and 92 (Prime Icon Moments)in both games.

Personal life

Desailly is a member of the Ga ethnic group. He is married to Virginie and has four children. His nephew James Édouard Adams is a semi-professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Marseille *

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

AC Milan *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

: 1993–94, 1995–96 * Supercoppa Italiana:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

*UEFA Champions League: 1993–94 * European Super Cup:

Chelsea *

: 1999–2000 * FA Charity Shield:

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

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 ...

Al-Gharafa * Qatar Stars League: 2004–05 France *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

Individual *Overseas Team of the Decade – Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/93 – 2001/02) *Overall Team of the Decade – Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/93 – 2001/02) * UEFA Euro 1996 Team of the Tournament * FIFA XI: 1996 * 1998 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team * UEFA Euro 2000 Team of the Tournament *

: 2004 * Trophée d'honneur UNFP: 2005 *AC Milan Hall of Fame *

Golden Foot Legends Award The Golden Foot award is an international football award, given to players who stand out for their athletic achievements (both as individuals and team players) and for their personality. The award is only given to active players of at least 28 year ...

: 2017 Orders * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 1998

References

External links

* * *
Chelsea legend profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desailly, Marcel 1968 births Living people Ga-Adangbe people A.C. Milan players Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Chelsea F.C. players FC Nantes players FIFA Century Club FIFA 100 Association football midfielders Association football defenders France international footballers French adoptees Ghanaian emigrants to France French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Qatar French footballers Ghanaian footballers Olympique de Marseille players Footballers from Accra Ligue 1 players Premier League players Serie A players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Al-Gharafa SC players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players FIFA World Cup-winning players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players UEFA European Championship-winning players Qatar SC players Qatar Stars League players UEFA Champions League winning players Black French sportspeople Footballers from Nantes FA Cup Final players