Ulrich Le Pen (born 23 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He spent most of his career in his native France apart from a short stint at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

Career

Born in

Auray Auray (; , or simply ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Morbihan Departments of France, department, Regions of France, administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern France. Inhabitants of Auray are cal ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, Le Pen began his professional career with

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

where he spent six years. In 110 games, he scored once. Either a winger or central midfielder, he is renowned for his passing. He moved to Laval where he scored 14 goals in 50 games within two seasons. In 1999, he moved to Lorient, where in two seasons he scored 14 times in 63 games, scoring every 4.5 games. He stayed with Lorient until November 2001. Despite interest from

Rangers F.C Rangers Football Club is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish football. The club is often referr ...

he was then transferred to

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 ...

side

for FRF 15 million (GBP 1.4 million). He only played once in the league against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, but got injured almost immediately resulting in only 12 minutes of play for the club. He made one more appearance that season in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and another the following season in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, but he never played again in a league game for Ipswich; it is assumed that he and his family never really settled in England. After that short taste of Premier League football, he returned to France and joined Strasbourg permanently in 2003 after a loan spell. He scored 16 times in 105 games and scored Strasbourg's first goal of the 2005–06 season with a free kick. While at Strasbourg Le Pen played as a substitute as they won the 2005 Coupe de la Ligue Final. He left to join

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (;), commonly referred to as FC Lorient (), is a French professional association football club based in Lorient, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently competes in Ligue 2, having been relegated f ...

in 2006. On 25 June 2009 the 35-year-old winger left

to sign for

Stade Lavallois Stade Lavallois Mayenne Football Club (), also referred to as Stade Lavallois or simply Laval,Stade Laval, used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a Football in France, F ...

Later career

In November 2017 Le Pen revealed that he had begun coaching Laval's U9's.Ulrich Le Pen : « Le terrain me manquait »
ouest-france.fr, 12 December 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Pen, Ulrich 1974 births Living people People from Auray Footballers from Morbihan Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Ipswich Town F.C. players Stade Rennais FC players Stade Lavallois players FC Lorient players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate men's footballers Sportspeople from Brittany