Patrick Rey (born 15 March 1959) 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

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. In his career, he notably played for

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

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 ...

, and

Gueugnon Gueugnon () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Economy The primary industry in the town is a stainless-steel factory run by Aperam. A huge part of Gueugnon ...

in the

Division 1 Division 1 or Division One may refer to: Association football * Azadegan League, the second-tier professional football league in Iran * Brisbane Premier League Division 1, the second-tier professional football league in Brisbane, Queensland, Austr ...

and Division 2.

Early life

Rey was born in

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of ...

French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...

. Originally from

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefectu ...

, he signed for his hometown club of

FC Chalon Football Club Chalon-sur-Saône (often referred to as Football Club Chalonnais) is a French football club based in the Commune of Chalon-sur-Saône, in the Saône-et-Loire department of eastern France. Founded in 1926, the club's traditional c ...

in 1967. Rey's father worked at the town's police station. Patrick recalls spending a lot of time at the Stade Léo Lagrange as a child. According to himself, all he could think about at this age was playing football. Roger Rey, the stadium's former

groundskeeper Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes, typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The United States Department o ...

, took Patrick under his wing. According to Patrick, Roger was like his "second father" and FC Chalon was like his "second family".

Career

Due to scoring many goals at all youth levels, Rey made his debut for Chalon's first team in the

Division d'Honneur Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

at the age of sixteen. In 1976, he joined

INF Vichy The Institut National du Football de Vichy, more commonly known as INF Vichy, was a Youth system, football academy based in Vichy, France. Founded in 1972 by the French Football Federation, it was dissolved in 1990. The academy had a team that c ...

, where he would spend the next three years of his career. At INF Vichy, Rey won the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their s ...

in 1978 and the Division 3 in 1979. In 1979, following his graduation from INF Vichy, Rey joined

side

. Although he was loaned out to

for a season, he would go on to play several matches for Lille, including some as a starter. He was notably the architect of a 5–4 victory over

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 ...

in the 1983–84 season, scoring two goals and assisting the game-winning goal of

Bernard Bureau Bernard Bureau (born 25 January 1959) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Bureau is a youth graduate of AS Chelles. At age 19, a couple of months before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 1978, he w ...

. In 1984, Rey joined Division 2 side

. He played one season at the club before joining

in 1985. In 1986, Rey signed for

, which would turn out to be the last club of his professional career. Rey retired from professional football in 1987. However, he would continue playing at an amateur level in

Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

for several years. He played for US Mandelieu and Antibes before hanging up the boots at Biot. At Mandelieu, where he played alongside Robert Sab, Rey reached the round of 64 of the

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 ...

in the 1990–91 edition, losing 6–0 to

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

Personal life

Rey has stated that Lille is his favorite club. He has been invited to

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

played between former players of the club. After his football career, Rey became a

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-hi ...

advisor for a private firm in

Valbonne Valbonne (; ) is a commune near Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Valbonne means "the good valley" in Provençal and translates to "Vaubona" in Occitan. The commune i ...

Honours

INF Vichy * Division 3: 1978–79 *

: 1977–78

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Patrick 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Tlemcen People from Chalon-sur-Saône French men's footballers Pieds-noirs Algerian men's footballers Algerian people of French descent Men's association football wingers FC Chalon players INF Vichy players Lille OSC players Montpellier HSC players Angers SCO players Grenoble Foot 38 players FC Gueugnon players Division d'Honneur players French Division 3 (1971–1993) players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Footballers from Saône-et-Loire 20th-century French sportsmen