Yohann Georges Thuram-Ulien (born 31 October 1988) is a 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Born in metropolitan France, he represented Guadeloupe at international level.

Club career

Although Thuram-Ulien was born in

Courcouronnes Courcouronnes () is a former Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Évry-Courcouronnes. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris, in the "new town ...

, France, he spent most of his childhood in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. He arrived at

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

in 2003. He was a part of Monaco's 2007–08 CFA squad that won the reserve's professional title. During the summer of 2008, he signed his first professional contract, keeping him with Monaco until 2011. He was given squad number 1 and designated as third keeper. He unexpectedly made his professional debut on 29 November 2008 in a 1–0 victory over

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

coming on as a substitute in the 37th minute for the injured

Flavio Roma Flavio Roma (; born 21 June 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Playing career Roma started his career in the youth teams of Lazio. He was the third goalkeeper behind Luca Marchegiani and Fernando Orsi ...

who was starting in place of the injured first-choice keeper

Stéphane Ruffier Stéphane Ruffier (born 27 September 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. A former captain for both Monaco and Saint-Étienne, Ruffier made 428 appearances in Ligue 1 during his career. He is also a former ...

. Thuram kept a clean sheet for the rest of the match. Due to the severity of Roma's injury and Ruffier being out indefinitely as well, Yohann started the following week against

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 ...

. Yohann performed well enough for Monaco to earn a 1–1 draw. Before signing his professional contract with Monaco,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

showed interest in the young keeper. On 26 June 2010, Thuram signed a contract extension with Monaco until 2012. Four days later, he was loaned to second division club

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

in order to get some consistent playing time. In the summer of 2013, he signed a contract with

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. On 13 January 2014, Thuram-Ulien joined English club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on loan until the end of the season; he made four first-team appearances and kept one clean sheet. According to an article in the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', manager

Chris Powell Christopher George Robin Powell (born 8 September 1969) is an English football coach and former player, who is currently the assistant coach at Sheffield Wednesday. As a left back, Powell played for Southend United, Derby County, Charlton ...

was ordered to play Thuram-Ulien over

Ben Hamer Benjamin John Hamer (; born 20 November 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Sheffield Wednesday. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2025. Career Early career Hamer was born in Chard, Somerset, and ...

by the club's owner

Roland Duchâtelet Roland Duchâtelet (; born 14 November 1946) is a Belgian businessman and politician. He is owner of various football clubs. He is the founder of the social-liberal political party Vivant in Belgium. Business In 1990, he became involved in mi ...

. On 2 August 2016, Thuram signed a three-year contract for French club

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

. He signed for

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

, newly promoted to Ligue 2, in July 2019. On 17 July 2020,

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

announced the signing of Thuram-Ulien on a two-year deal. On 2 August 2022, Thuram signed with Quevilly-Rouen for one year.

International career

Thuram-Ulien did not receive any distinct call-ups to any of the youth national squads, but has received call-ups to France's under-21

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

team. On 5 February 2009, he earned his first call-up to the France under-21 team. On 24 March 2009, he was called up to the Guadeloupe team for a friendly match. His call up to Guadeloupe, who were preparing for the

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United Stat ...

, would not have hindered future selections from France for Thuram as they are not a member of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. He made his debut for the Guadeloupean national team in a

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was an association football competition organized by CFU as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from the Caribbean. The tournament was held from 1989 to 2017, as the direct successor competition of the ...

0–0 (3–2) win on penalties against

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

Personal life

Thuram-Ulien was born in France to parents of Guadeloupean descent. He is the cousin of former French international defender and

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

winner

Lilian Thuram Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien (; born 1 January 1972) is a French author, Philanthropy, philanthropist and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Widely regarded as one of the g ...

, who also began his senior career at

.Young keeper continues Thuram tradition
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thuram-Ulien, Yohann Living people 1988 births Men's association football goalkeepers Guadeloupean men's footballers Guadeloupe men's international footballers French men's footballers AS Monaco FC players French men's futsal players Tours FC players Standard Liège players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Le Havre AC players Le Mans FC players Amiens SC players US Quevilly-Rouen Métropole players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French people of Guadeloupean descent 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Thuram family 21st-century French sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England