Maxence Flachez (born 5 August 1972) 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 ...

who played as a

central defender 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 ...

, and is a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Football career

Born in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, Flachez made his professional – and

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 ...

– debut for

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 29 August 1992 (aged 20), in a 2–2 home draw against

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 ...

. Ironically, after gaining more experience he appeared less for the first team, eventually leaving in the summer of 1995. After one year in

FC Martigues Football Club de Martigues, known as FC Martigues or just Martigues, is a French professional football club based in Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône. It competes in Championnat National from 2025–26, the third level of football in France, having ...

, Flachez joined

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a Football in France, French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Championnat N ...

, where he would remain for eight straight seasons always as an undisputed starter (four years apiece in the top flight and

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 ...

), playing more than 300 competitive matches. In 2002–03 he helped the team finish fifth and reach the final of the

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 ...

; as the latter competition winners

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional association football, football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco, Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the Frenc ...

ranked second in the league and qualified for 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 ...

, Sochaux

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for 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 ...

, where the player took part in his first matches (six). Flachez spent one more campaign in the second division with

En Avant de Guingamp En Avant Guingamp (, ), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (), is a French professional football club based in the commune of Guingamp, in France's Brittany region. The club was founded in 1912 and play in Ligue 2, ...

, then switched to another side in that level,

Valenciennes FC Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes, VA or VAFC) is a French professional football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1914 and currently play in Championnat National, the third tier of French footbal ...

, which he helped promote immediately as champions. A final promotion to the top tier was achieved in 2007–08, with hometown's

Grenoble Foot 38 Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the c ...

; after their subsequent relegation, he retired from football at nearly 37 and returned to first professional club Lyon, as a TV

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

for the official channel.

Coaching career

Flachez started working as a

in 2015, going on to spend four years at Lyon in charge of the under-19 side as well as the reserves. On 10 January 2018, Flachez was appointed assistant manager of Canadian club Montreal Impact under manager

Rémi Garde Rémi Marie François Garde (, born 3 April 1966) is a French former professional footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer. He played as a defender and defensive midfielder, spending most of hi ...

. In July 2019 it was confirmed, that Flanchez would be the assistant manager of Philippe Anziani for the B-team of

.Maxence Flachez nommé entraîneur adjoint de l'équipe réserve de l'OM
lequipe.fr, 20 July 2019

Honours

Sochaux *

: 2000–01 *

: 2003–04; runners-up 2002–03 Valenciennes *

: 2005–06

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flachez, Maxence 1972 births Living people Footballers from Grenoble French men's footballers Men's association football defenders Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Olympique Lyonnais players FC Martigues players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players En Avant Guingamp players Valenciennes FC players Grenoble Foot 38 players France men's under-21 international footballers Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for France Mediterranean Games medalists in football 20th-century French sportsmen