Robert Pires

Metz

Pires is a graduate of the Metz youth academy, making his senior debut in 1993 against Lyon. During his six seasons there, he scored 43 goals in 162 matches, and won the Coupe de la Ligue, prompting a £5 million move to Marseille in 1998. Pires had a mixed two-year stay in Provence; his first season saw Marseille miss the 1998–99 French Division 1 title by a point (he had been even closer the year before when Metz had finished runners-up on goal difference) and they also reached the 1999 UEFA Cup Final, losing to Parma. His second season saw him suffer a spate of on- and off-field problems, which led him to boycott the club at the season's end.

Arsenal

2000–01

Pires was signed by Arsenal for £6 million in 2000, after stiff competition from Real Madrid and Juventus, replacing Marc Overmars, who had left for Barcelona for a record £25 million. He made his debut as a substitute against Sunderland on 19 August 2000. Initially, Pires' form was indifferent, and some people criticised him after his comments that the English game was too physical. However, he slowly began to regain the form he had shown at Metz, scoring a superb solo goal in October 2000, his first for Arsenal, against Lazio in the 2000–01 Champions League. Days later he scored his first league goal in a 2–1 win against West Ham United. During his time at Arsenal Pires had a habit of scoring against rivals Tottenham Hotspur, something he did on eight occasions. The first of such…

Pires was part of France's 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning squads, but had to miss the 2002 World Cup due to an injury he sustained playing for Arsenal. He also played in the 1996 Olympic Games and Euro 2004. However, a dispute in late 2004 with French national coach Raymond Domenech put a halt to Pires' international career. He won 79 caps for his country and scored 14 goals. He won the Golden Ball (for most outstanding football) and Golden Shoe (for most goals scored) awards at the 2001 Confederations Cup in Korea/Japan. Pires provided a golden goal assist during his international career, providing David Trézéguet with the match-winning ball in the Euro 2000 final.

Robert Emmanuel Pires was born on 29 October 1973 in Reims, Marne, France, to a Portuguese father and Spanish mother. Pires, the elder of two boys, spent most of his childhood dressed in two football shirts that reflected his divided loyalty. One was a Benfica shirt (his father was a fan) and the other was a Real Madrid shirt. Pires confessed he had difficulty in school because he did not speak French well at the time, due to the fact his parents only spoke Spanish and Portuguese. His passion for football was inherited from his father, António, who played with Les Corpo, a local team, and every Saturday night Pires would watch him play. At the age of 15, Pires left school and began his dream of a career in football with a two-year sports degree course in Reims. At the insistence of his mother, Pires continued with Reims and eventually was called up four years later.

In 1992, during his initial year at Metz, Pires met his first wife, Nathalie. The two were married for six years and divorced in 2003. Pires told The Daily Mirror that his divorce had ruined him and affected him professionally, interfering with his concentration and sleep. He also blamed it for his odd behavior, such as publicly fighting with French coach Raymond Domenech in early 2004. Shortly after the split from Nathalie, Pires met French model Jessica Lemarie through mutual friends. On 10 August 2005, she gave birth to the couple's first child, Naia. Since then, Lemarie and Pires have married and had a son named Theo, born 11 July 2007. On 17 January 2012, Pires became an ambassador for Grassroot Soccer, an international non-profit that uses the power of football to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV.