Pierre-Alain Frau (born 15 April 1980) 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 ...

. He played as a striker or winger for

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

(two spells),

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

in France and for

Al-Wakrah Al Wakrah () is the capital city of the Al Wakrah Municipality in Qatar. Al Wakrah's eastern edge touches the shores of the Persian Gulf and Qatar's capital Doha is situated immediately north of the city. Governed by Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Jassi ...

Career

Nicknamed ''PAF'' after his initials, Frau was born on 15 April 1980 in

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

, France, where he became a young find of his hometown club

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 ...

, and it was there he got his first opportunity to play in the France national league. After completing what would have been a prospective move to Lyon from Montbéliard, he found his playing time in the 2004–05 season hampered by the presence of other established frontmen like

Sylvain Wiltord Sylvain Claude Wiltord (born 10 May 1974) is a French former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also played as a centre-forward, second striker and on the left wing. Wiltord had a four-season spell at Arsenal, with whom he w ...

, Nilmar and later,

John Carew John Alieu Carew (born 5 September 1979) is a Norwegian actor and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 91 times and scored 24 goals for the Norway national team. Club career Vålerenga Carew began his career ...

. Realising that it was a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

year with a slim chance to catch the attention of national coach

Raymond Domenech Raymond Manuel Albert Domenech (born 24 January 1952) is a French football manager and former player. He managed the France national team from 2004 to 2010, reaching the 2006 FIFA World Cup final. He was dismissed after their elimination from ...

, Frau secured a half-season loan to

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

, but failed to make the cut to the final

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

squad. Frau was called up to the senior

squad by Raymond Domenech in August 2004 but did not make it off the bench. For the following season, RC Lens wanted to keep him in

, but Frau preferred a move to

. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but Olympique Lyonnais priced the striker at £4 million. On 1 January 2008, Frau signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with

and was given the shirt number 17. Frau is known as one of the more famous players at his hometown club FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.

Honors

Sochaux *

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 ...

: 2003–04 *

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 ...

: 2000–01 Lyon *

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 ...

: 2004–05 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Lille * Ligue 1:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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 ...

References

External links

* *
Profile and pictures of Frau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frau, Pierre-Alain 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Montbéliard Footballers from Doubs French men's footballers Men's association football forwards France men's under-21 international footballers France men's youth international footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Qatar Stars League players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Olympique Lyonnais players RC Lens players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Lille OSC players Stade Malherbe Caen players Al-Wakrah SC players French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar 21st-century French sportsmen French people of Sardinian descent