Mathieu Flamini

Marseille

Born in Marseille, Flamini was a youth team player for his local professional club Marseille. He made his debut for the senior team on 20 December 2003 in the 1–0 victory over Toulouse. He impressed the team as a hardworking midfield player and played 14 times for the club. However, it was his performances in Marseille's UEFA Cup campaign that brought him to the attention of the football world, including the 2–0 semi-final victory over Newcastle United. He then started in the Final in Gothenburg, a match Spanish club Valencia won 2–0. Due to his age, however, Marseille was later unable to offer him a long-term professional contract.

Arsenal

On 23 July 2004, Flamini signed a professional contract for English club Arsenal, rejecting Marseille's long-term senior contract offer to which he had already verbally agreed. Soon after the incident, then-Marseille manager José Anigo stated, "This is a beautiful treason. He used me." Arsenal were eventually ordered by The Dispute Resolution Chamber of FIFA to pay Marseille a compensation fee of €480 000 for Flamini. Flamini made his Arsenal debut in the 1–4 win at Everton on 15 August 2004. In his first season, he was typically used as a utility player, starting only nine games but used as a substitute in 12. The following season saw him filling in for a number of injured players, but again unable to command a first team place in his favoured position. He scored his first Arsenal goal on 11 May 2005 in a 7–0…

Flamini accepted his first call up to France by coach Raymond Domenech for a friendly against Argentina at the Stade de France on 7 February 2007 after Jérémy Toulalan was ruled out due to injury. He later made his international debut in a friendly against Morocco on 16 November 2007 as a substitute.

A combative, energetic, tactically intelligent, and tenacious midfielder, according to Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, Flamini was a player with a fantastic work rate, good ball-winning ability and great mentality; he could play anywhere across midfield, in the centre as a box-to-box or defensive midfielder, or on either flank as a cover at full-back.

Flamini is a partner of GF Biochemicals, a leading global producer of levulinic acid and derivatives. He has stated that “we founded GFBiochemicals with the ambition of finding sustainable alternatives to oil-based products”. Levulinic acid includes grass or woodchips, and can be used in plastics, solvents, fuels and the pharmaceutical industry. Levulinic acid has been identified by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of the 12 molecules that can help unlock a “greener” world. In addition to GFBiochemicals’ established presence in the Netherlands and headquarters in Italy, Flamini has named China and Brazil as potential new markets for expansion. In 2016, GFBiochemicals fully controls the Segetis, the leading producer of levulinic acid derivatives, in a move towards downstream integration. Segitis was previously owned by Sabic, DSM, and Khosla Ventures, among other entities, and has invested in R&D over the past decade. In 2017, GFBiochemicals announced that it will build a cellulosic biorefinery in the US, in partnership with biotech company American Process. Flamini was also part of the team that created BIOCIRCE (Bioeconomy in the Circular economy), Europe’s first master's degree dedicated to promoting bioeconomy education. It was launched in collaboration with Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, Novamont (a producer of bioplastics), and the Universities of Naples, Turin, Milano-Bicocca and Bologna. In addition, Flamini co-founded The BioJournal the world’s first e-magazine…