Stéphane Paille (27 June 1965 – 27 June 2017) was a French 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 for the

France national team 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 ...

as well as for various club sides in France, Portugal, Switzerland and Scotland. After he retired from playing he developed a career in football management.

Honours

Porto *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 1990-91 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Playing career

Born in

Scionzier Scionzier () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Savoie department The following is a list of the 279 Communes of France, commun ...

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...

, Paille started out with

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 ...

, with whom he played for seven seasons between 1982 and 1989. He helped the

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 ...

side reach the 1987–88

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 ...

final, and was voted French Player of the Year at that season's end. He also earned his eight

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for France between 1986 and 1989, scoring a single goal for ''les Bleus''. The rest of Paille's playing career was somewhat nomadic: after leaving Sochaux for

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (; ), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional association football, football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie. The original club was ...

in 1989, whom he joined with close friend

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French former professional footballer who is currently an actor. In his football career Eric Cantona was a physically strong, hard-working and tenacious player. He combined technical skill a ...

, he spent no more than two seasons at the same club during the next nine years. He joined

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It competes in the Championnat National 2 ...

in December 1989, then

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

in the summer of 1990. Following a two-year spell at

SM Caen Stade Malherbe Caen (; commonly known as SM Caen, Malherbe, or simply Caen) is a French professional football team, based in the city of Caen in Normandy, that competes in the Championnat National from 2025–26 after relegation from Ligue 2 i ...

between 1991 and 1993, he returned to Bordeaux for a single season. In 1994, he joined

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 ...

, then moved to Swiss side

Servette Geneva Servette FC is a Swiss professional football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They ...

in 1995. After one season he returned to France with

FC Mulhouse Football Club de Mulhouse (; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a Football in France, French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth le ...

. In September 1995 Paille retired after failing a drugs test due to

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

use. He told L'Equipe this was due to serious personal problems. He joined Scottish side Heart of Midlothian in 1996. He was released by the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

club in May 1997 after failing a drugs test due to his use of Dinintel.

Coaching and managerial career

Paille then returned to first club Sochaux, where he held a coaching position for three years between 1999 and 2002. He gained his first executive role when he was appointed head coach of

Besançon RC Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

but left in 2004. He was briefly head coach at

Racing Club Paris Racing Club de France Football, commonly known as Racing Club de France (), is a French football club based in the Paris suburb of Colombes. The club was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline sports club, and is one of the oldest clubs in Fr ...

in 2005, before being approached by

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 ...

in May 2005. He left the ''Blanc et Noir'' in June 2006.

Death

He died on 27 June 2017, his 52nd birthday.L'ancien footballeur Stéphane Paille est décédé
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External links

Profile at French federation official site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paille, Stephane 1965 births 2017 deaths Men's association football forwards French men's footballers France men's international footballers France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Montpellier HSC players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players FC Porto players Stade Malherbe Caen players Olympique Lyonnais players Servette FC players FC Mulhouse players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Primeira Liga players Scottish Premier League players Swiss Super League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal French expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland French football managers Racing Besançon managers Angers SCO managers AS Cannes managers Thonon Evian Grand Genève FC managers Racing Club de France Football managers Footballers from Haute-Savoie 20th-century French sportsmen