Michel Prost (born 23 February 1946) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He is known for being one of the first "stars" in the history of

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Prost was born in the town of

Charenton-le-Pont Charenton-le-Pont () is a Communes of France, commune situated to the southeast of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris, to the north of the confluence of the Seine and Marne (river), Marne rivers; the part of ...

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

. In his teenage years, he played three different sports:

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. He was a youth

for Paris UC until 1966, when he joined

Stade Saint-Germain Stade Saint-Germain was a French football club founded on 21 June 1904. On 12 August 1970, it merged with Paris FC to form Paris Saint-Germain FC. It was based in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the western suburbs of Paris Par ...

. He went on to play for , a military team, from 1967 to 1969. Then, he returned to Stade Saint-Germain.

Paris Saint-Germain

In 1970, Stade Saint-Germain merged with

Paris FC Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...

(PFC) to create

(PSG). Therefore, Prost joined the newly-formed club. He would make his debut for PSG in a 1–1 draw against

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

on 23 August 1970, the first game in the club's history. His first goal for the Parisian club came in a 3–2 win over Quevilly six days later. With PSG, Prost would lift the only title of his career, the Division 2 title, in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. He finished the season with 10 goals to his name in 32 league appearances, which made him the joint top-scorer for the club in the league. He would continue with the club for the following season in the Division 1. In the 1971–72 season, Prost scored 12 goals in 38 league appearances, as PSG managed to reach a safe 16th-place finish. However, in 1972, PSG split into two; PFC kept the first team players, stayed in the first division, but lost the club identity, while PSG was given the reserve team players, relegated to the Division 3, and kept the club identity. This meant that as a player with a professional contract, Prost now played for Paris FC. For Paris Saint-Germain, he had made 74 appearances and scored 22 goals in all competitions.

Paris FC, Nancy, and Bastia

Prost played for Paris FC from 1972 to 1973. He would score 4 goals in 37 appearances for the club in all competitions before signing for Nancy. Eventually, he would only stay at Nancy for only six months, signing with

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

in December 1973. In the second half of 1976, Prost suffered an injury to his hip, and was told he could no longer play football at such a high level. He ended his professional career in October 1976, and left Bastia.

Red Star and Poissy

After his injury, Prost went to play for

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. ...

in a semi-professional setting. He would formally retire from playing football in 1977. Soon after, his former Stade Saint-Germain manager Roger Quenolle invited him to become

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

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 ...

, where he was coach. Prost accepted, but also worked for

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

on the side. He would also go on to play 4 games and score 1 goal for Poissy in the Division 2 in the 1977–78 season.

International career

Prost played for several different national teams of France. He represented his country at

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, and B level.

Personal life

Michel has a son who is named Nicolas (born 1971/1972). After his football career, Prost would go on to work for

Peugeot-Citroën Peugeot S.A., trading as Groupe PSA () (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles and motorcycles under the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhal ...

. Later in his life, he would be a secretary at the Syndicat FO. In the 2010s decade, he would also become delegate in the town of Poissy. He helped organize the plans for Paris Saint-Germain's new training center in the town. In September 2021, Prost was invited to a Paris Saint-Germain match at the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

by the club's president

Nasser Al-Khelaifi Nasser bin Ghanim Al-Khelaifi (; born 12 November 1973) is a Qatari businessman, sports executive, and former professional tennis player. He is the chairman of beIN Media Group and Qatar Sports Investments, president of Paris Saint-Germain FC, ...

. He received a jersey with his name on it from Al-Khelaifi.

Career statistics

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain * Division 2: 1970–71

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prost, Michel 1946 births Living people French men's footballers People from Charenton-le-Pont Men's association football forwards Paris Université Club footballers Stade Saint-Germain players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Paris FC players AS Nancy Lorraine players SC Bastia players Red Star FC players AS Poissy players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Championnat de France Amateur (1935–1971) players France men's amateur international footballers France men's B international footballers 20th-century French sportsmen