Johan Micoud

Cannes

Born in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, Micoud grew up in Vallauris. He was a youth product of local AS Cannes' youth system, becoming the side's playmaker after Zinedine Zidane's departure to Girondins de Bordeaux. He helped the club to promotion from the second division in 1993 and qualification to the UEFA Cup in the following season.

Bordeaux

Playing behind a strike partnership of Lilian Laslandes and Sylvain Wiltord, Micoud played a pivotal role as the club were crowned Ligue 1 champions in 1998–99, beating Olympique de Marseille to the title on the final day of the season. The following season he helped the club to the UEFA Champions League's second group stage. He also reached two Coupe de la Ligue finals with Bordeaux, losing to RC Strasbourg in 1997 and Paris Saint-Germain in 1998.

Parma

In the 2000 summer he moved abroad, initially joining Parma where he stayed for two seasons. Although Micoud and Parma won the Coppa Italia, he lost his starting place to Hidetoshi Nakata, and was forced out of the club, linked with moves to Aston Villa, Liverpool, Schalke 04 and Marseille.

Werder Bremen

In August 2002, Micoud moved to Germany, signing for Werder Bremen. He made his debut for the club in a 3-1 win over 1. FC Nürnberg, scoring one of Bremen's goals. Micoud was one of the key players in Bremen's surprise double win in 2004, and scored in the decisive game against Bayern Munich where Bremen secured the Bundesliga title. Micoud also…

Despite being called up in the France national team on several occasions, Micoud never managed to secure a regular starting role, mainly due to the presence of Zidane who occupied the same position. Courtesy of his stellar championship performances with Bordeaux, he made his debut on 17 August 1999 in a friendly match with Northern Ireland, and was subsequently picked for the squad which won UEFA Euro 2000. Micoud only played in one of the six matches of the tournament, in the group match against the Netherlands, effectively a dead rubber given that both nations had already qualified both the group. He assisted Christophe Dugarry's opening goal from a corner, although France eventually lost 3-2. He was also selected for the FIFA World Cup campaign of 2002, and replaced the injured Zidane for the second game, a 0-0 draw with Uruguay. Regardless of his consistently high level of performance at club level, Micoud found himself subsequently marginalised by the following national bosses. After the World Cup, he was not picked for France again for two years, before Jacques Santini selected him for a friendly against Holland in March 2004, recognising Micoud's form with Bremen. Santini included Micoud in his preliminary squad for Euro 2004 but he did not make the final squad. Under Raymond Domenech Micoud did win a single call up for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, and Micoud publicly criticised Domenech for ignoring his Bremen performances, suggesting that Domenech's refusal to…

Club

International

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

Bordeaux

Division 1: 1998–99 Coupe de la Ligue: 2006–07 Parma

Coppa Italia: 2001–02 Werder Bremen

Bundesliga: 2003–04 DFB-Pokal: 2003–04 France

UEFA European Championship: 2000 Individual

kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06