Steve Marlet (born 10 January 1974) 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. He was capped 23 times and scored six goals for the France national team, winning the

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 football championships, continental champions ...

in 2001 and 2003 and featuring at

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

Early life

Marlet was born in

Pithiviers Pithiviers () is a commune in the Loiret department, north central France. It is one of the subprefectures of Loiret. It is twinned with Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, England and Burglengenfeld in Bavaria, Germany. Its attractions in ...

, Loiret.

Club career

Early career

Marlet began his professional career with

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. ...

Fulham

Marlet held the record for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

's biggest transfer fee until July 2008, as the newly promoted

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

team paid £11.5 million to sign him in August 2001 from

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 ...

. His expectations was well received by France national team coach Roger Lemerre, suggesting: "He will progress at Fulham". However, he only managed eleven goals in 54 league games, as then-manager

Jean Tigana Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former football player and manager. A central midfielder, he was renowned as one of the best midfielders in the world during the 1980s. He spent his entire playing career in France, and made 5 ...

was dismissed during the season. He played just one game in the 2003–04 season for Fulham, in which he scored. He was then loaned out to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 27 August, with an option to sign permanently. While on loan, Marlet partnered

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...

up front as Marseille advanced through the 2003-04 UEFA Cup, before losing the final to

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. Marlet's poor performances for Fulham led to chairman

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (; 27 January 192930 August 2023) was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel R ...

taking Tigana to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

for the high transfer fee. Tigana, who had ties to Lyon and had briefly been Marlet's agent, was accused of signing him for an exorbitant fee and taking a cut of the fee for himself. The charges were quickly dropped.

Wolfsburg and Lorient

On 21 August 2005, after his release from Fulham, Marlet signed a one-year deal with the option for a second year, at

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. On his arrival, manager

Thomas Strunz Thomas Strunz (born 25 April 1968) is a German former professional footballer who played mostly as a defensive midfielder. Over the course of 12 seasons, he amassed Bundesliga totals of 235 games and 32 goals, representing in the competition Ba ...

said: "Steve Marlet is very well-known in international football, a player who is fast and versatile". Marlet only scored one Bundesliga goal and was not given the second year of his contract. He trained for two weeks with Paris St. Germain before signing a one-year deal at

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, newly promoted to

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 ...

. He was attracted by the attacking style of manager Christian Gourcuff.

Later career

After being released by Lorient, he went on trial with Ipswich Town from 6 to 30 October 2007, Chicago Fire and

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

. In July 2011, he joined

in the third tier of French football, the

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

, where he spent the last season of his career.

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

International goals

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

Honours

Lyon *

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 ...

: 2000–01 Fulham *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

France *

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, CONMEBO ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marlet, Steve 1974 births Living people People from Pithiviers Footballers from Loiret French men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers Red Star FC players AJ Auxerre players Olympique Lyonnais players Fulham F.C. players Olympique de Marseille players Premier League players VfL Wolfsburg players FC Lorient players FCM Aubervilliers players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Bundesliga players France men's international footballers 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players FIFA Confederations Cup–winning players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Black French sportspeople French people of Martiniquais descent