Francis Gillot

Born in Maubeuge, France, Francis Gillot started his football career playing for the youth team of his local club Villiers-Siré-Nicole before joining the Valenciennes FC academy. At Valencianones he worked his way up into the senior team and in the 1978–79 season he started his professional career when he was included in the squad for the Ligue 1 outfit. He eventually became a regular starter in the team's defence until they were relegated at the end of the 1981–82 French Division 1 season. In the following season Gillot moved to top-tier club RC Lens and experienced continental competitions with the club during his initial time with the team until the manager Jean Parisseaux decided he could be loan to RC Strasbourg in the 1988–89 campaign. Upon his return to Lens the club found themselves in the second tier after experiencing relegation, however Gillot stayed with the team until they won promotion back into the top tier at the end of the 1990–91 French Division 2 season. After spending several further seasons with Lens, Gillot was nearing the end of his career and he joined second-tier club FC Mulhouse for a brief period before ending his career with lower league side FC Montauban.

After retiring from playing Gillot, soon moved into coaching and joined the FC Sochaux U15 team as a trainer in 1996. He rose to be the team's U19 coach as well as the assistant coach to former head coaches Philippe Anziani and Jean Fernandez. After spending several years with the club he left in 2003 to go abroad to join United Arab Emirates football team Al Ain FC and be their assistant coach under fellow countryman Bruno Metsu. After spending one season abroad, Gillot returned to France as an assistant to Joël Müller at his former club RC Lens. At Lens, Gillot was promoted to the team's manager after Joël Müller resigned on 24 January 2005, and for the remainder of the season he guided the club to a seventh-place finish. In his first full season Gillot would impress the fans with his outspokenness, confidence towards youth and offensive play that saw the team move up to fourth and qualification for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup. This saw a growing expectation from the fans that the club could achieve more, however the club finished fifth and a point away from qualification for the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. Unable to exceed expectations Gillot resigned on 28 May 2007; however he still remained at the club as a recruiter. On 2 January 2008, Gillot joined struggling top-tier side Sochaux as their new manager after replacing Frédéric Hantz and in his debut season led the club to safety from the relegation zone. The following season the club would continue to struggle to avoid…

As a player

Montauban

National 3 Group G: 1996 Midi-Pyrénées Division Honneur: 1994

As a coach

Lens

UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005 Bordeaux

Coupe de France: 2012–13