Jean-Pierre Papin

Jean-Pierre Roger Guillaume Papin ([ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ papɛ̃]; born 5 November 1963) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward, and who was named the Ballon d'Or and IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year in 1991.

Papin achieved his greatest success while playing for Marseille between 1986 and 1992. He later played for A.C. Milan, FC Bayern Munich, Bordeaux, Guingamp, JS Saint-Pierroise and US Cap-Ferret. Papin also played 54 times for the French national team. After a short time as manager of French clubs, he joined the local amateur club AS Facture-Biganos Boïen as a player in 2009, aged 45.

Papin was known for his goalscoring, striking ability, and volleys, which his fans nicknamed Papinades in his honour.

In 1996, after their eight-month-old daughter Emily was shown to have serious cerebral lesions, Jean-Pierre and his wife, Florence, set up an association "Neuf de Coeur" (Nine of Hearts; Papin's shirt number was 9) to help others in that situation and, particularly, to find and apply methods to mentally and physically educate such children.

In a 17-year career in many of Europe's biggest leagues, he scored nearly 350 goals in over 620 matches.

Early life

Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1963, Papin was the son of a professional football player, Guy Papin. After his parents divorced, he moved to live with his grandmother in Germont, a French city located near the Belgian border.

Club career

At age 15, Papin started his professional career with Valenciennes, in Northern France, before moving to Club Brugge in Belgium.

Papin had a very successful first season at Club Brugge, scoring 32 goals in 43 games. Although he only played one season for Club Brugge, he was elected as its greatest ever foreign player by the supporters in 2008.

At club level, he played for Valenciennes (1984–1985), Club Brugge (1985–1986), Olympique Marseille (1986–1992), A.C. Milan (1992–1994), FC Bayern Munich (1994–1996), Bordeaux (1996–1998), Guingamp (1998–1999) and Saint-Pierroise (1999–2001).

Olympique de Marseille

During Papin's hugely successful spell at Marseille, with the Frenchman as striker and skipper Marseille won four French league championships in a row (1989–1992), a league and cup double in 1989 and reached the final of the European Champions Cup in 1991, losing to Red Star Belgrade after a penalty shootout.

During this period, Papin scored 181 goals in 279 games and was the league's top scorer for five consecutive seasons (from 1988 to 1992). While at Marseille he won the Ballon d'Or, awarded to Europe's top footballer, in 1991. He is the only player to win this award while playing for a French club.

A.C. Milan

Papin was a prolific striker on the French scene but, contrary to many other French great players, never really became dominant abroad.

In 1992, Papin joined Italian giants A.C. Milan for a world record fee of £10 million (equivalent to £21 million today), and was the first high-profile French player to join the Italian league since Michel Platini. However, he never established himself as a regular first team member with the rossoneri due to injuries and adaptation problems. As a foreign player in the Pre-Bosman rule era, Papin also suffered from the three-foreigner rule that made him compete with other foreign players such as Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard for playing time.

He entered as a substitute during the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final where Milan lost to his former club, Marseille. He won a European Cup medal in 1994, but did not play in the final. Nevertheless, Papin has kept good memories of his spell in Italy and frequently cites former Milan managers Fabio Capello and Arrigo Sacchi as his models when coaching is concerned.

Bayern Munich

In 1994, he was transferred to Bayern Munich for £2.1M, but his first season was once again plagued by injuries. In his second season in Germany he was part of the side that won the UEFA Cup against Girondins de Bordeaux, a club that Papin would join the following season.

Late career

With Bordeaux, he lost the final of the 1997 Coupe de la Ligue against Strasbourg. Papin's professional career ended in 1998 with Second Division side EA Guingamp.

He was twice linked with clubs in England later in his playing career. First, in March 1994, he was a transfer target for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Towards the end of his spell with Bordeaux in 1998, he was a target for ambitious Fulham, then a Division Two (third tier) side, and even expressed his desire to sign for the club. However, neither transfer ever happened and Papin finished his career without having spent any time in England.

Papin finished his career as a player in the amateur club US Cap-Ferret between 2001 and 2004. Then, after five years of managing, he played in another amateur club, AS Facture-Biganos Boïen.

International career

Papin scored 30 goals for France in 54 matches.

Papin earned his first cap in a friendly match against Northern Ireland in February 1986 and appeared at the 1986 World Cup. He scored twice in four games: first during France opening game against Canada (1-0) and then during France's victory against Belgium (4-2), helping France finish third.

While Papin scored an impressive number of goals during his nine-year international career, his record for France is a mixed one. Papin was part of the "cursed generation" of French players that came between the Platini era of the 80's and the 1998 world champions boasting the likes of Zidane, Thuram and Henry. Despite some talented players, the French national team failed to qualify for the 1988 European Championship and for 1990 and 1994 World Cups – the latter after two humiliating defeats on home soil against Israel and Bulgaria.

The French team did manage to qualify for the Euro 1992 in Sweden, with Papin scoring 9 goals during the qualifying round. However, France fared disappointingly in the final competition and did not make it past the group stage, despite Papin scoring twice.

His last game for the national team was in 1995.

Style of play

Papin has been described as "a fast and lethal striker, who made goal scoring his signature for club and country" and a player who could score in a variety of situation, "from neat, chipped finishes, low drives into the corner, towering headers and, in particular, thumping volleys."

During his career, the term Papinade was used to describe powerful volleys from difficult angles.

Managerial career

In May 2006, Papin took over from Jacky Duguépéroux as the new coach of RC Strasbourg, who were relegated to the Second Division. He had previously been coaching FC Bassin d'Arcachon, an amateur team, and helped them to be promoted from CFA 2 to CFA.

In 2006–07, he guided Strasbourg back to Ligue 1 with a third-placed finish but came under pressure shortly after the end of the season when internal conflicts at the club surfaced in the press. Several players, including '05 league cup final hero Jean-Christophe Devaux, also openly criticized Papin's methods.

Initially confirmed as manager for the 2007–08 season, he was forced to resign a week later after it was revealed that he had interviewed for the vacant managerial job at RC Lens only hours after his confirmation at Strasbourg. He was replaced by Jean-Marc Furlan, former manager of ES Troyes AC, while Lens selected Guy Roux as their new manager. Ironically, Papin eventually became the manager of Lens after the club lost at Strasbourg, as Roux resigned only five games into the 2007–08 season. In the midst of the season, Lens and Papin were fighting to avoid relegation to the Second Division. Lens was also eliminated in the first round of both the UEFA cup and the Coupe de France by, respectively, FC Copenhagen (1–1; 1–2) and Second Division side Chamois Niortais (0–1, at home).

On 29 December 2009, Châteauroux hired the coach to replace Dominique Bijotat. He left his position in May 2010 and was replaced by Didier Tholot.

Outside football

Papin was also iconic in French pop culture because of his caricature in the satirical TV puppet show Les Guignols de l'Info. At first, Papin was depicted as a rather dumb football player (a common stereotype in France), his only obsession being the many different ways to score goals. When Papin experienced difficulties in Italy, the coverage became more sympathetic, especially with the infamous Reviens JPP ! song where even God Himself would urge Papin to come back to his home country, because "France needs you !".

After his daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, Papin started running the Neuf de coeur (Nine of Hearts) foundation, which provides support to families affected by the neurological disorder.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Source:

Scores and results list France's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1	1 June 1986	Estadio Nou Camp, León	Canada	1–0	1986 World Cup
2	28 June 1986	Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla	Belgium	4–2 (a.e.t.)	1986 World Cup
3	28 September 1988	Parc des Princes, Paris	Norway	1–0	1990 World Cup qualifier
4,5	16 August 1989	Malmö Stadion, Malmö	Sweden	4–2	Friendly
6	5 September 1989	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo	Norway	1–1	1990 World Cup qualifier
7	28 February 1990	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier	West Germany	2–1	Friendly
8	5 September 1990	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík	Iceland	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier
9, 10	13 October 1990	Parc des Princes, Paris	Czechoslovakia	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier
11	20 February 1991	Parc des Princes, Paris	Spain	3–1	Euro 1992 qualifier
12, 13	30 March 1991	Parc des Princes, Paris	Albania	5–0	Euro 1992 qualifier
14	14 August 1991	Stadion Miejski, Poznań	Poland	5–1	Friendly
15, 16	4 September 1991	Tehelné Pole Stadium, Bratislava	Czechoslovakia	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier
17	12 October 1991	Benito Villamarín, Sevilla	Spain	2–1	Euro 1992 qualifier
18, 19	25 March 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	Belgium	3–3	Friendly
20	5 June 1992	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens	Netherlands	1–1	Friendly
21	10 June 1992	Råsunda Stadium, Solna	Sweden	1–1	Euro 1992
22	17 June 1992	Malmö Stadion, Malmö	Denmark	1–2	Euro 1992
23	14 October 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	Austria	2–0	1994 World Cup qualifier
24	14 November 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	Finland	2–1	1994 World Cup qualifier
25	27 March 1993	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna	Austria	1–0	1994 World Cup qualifier
26	28 July 1993	Stade Michel d'Ornano, Caen	Russia	3–1	Friendly
27	8 September 1993	Ratina Stadion, Tampere	Finland	2–0	1994 World Cup qualifier
28	22 March 1994	Stade Gerland, Lyon	Chile	3–1	Friendly
29	29 May 1994	Olympic Stadium (Tokyo), Tokyo	Japan	4–1	Kirin Cup
30	13 December 1994	Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon	Azerbaijan	2–0	Euro 1996 qualifier

Honours

Club Brugge

• Belgian Cup: 1985–86

Marseille

• Division 1: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
• Coupe de France: 1988–89
• European Cup runner-up: 1990–91

Milan

• Serie A: 1992–93, 1993–94
• Supercoppa Italiana: 1992, 1993
• UEFA Champions League: 1993–94; runner-up: 1992–93

Bayern Munich

• UEFA Cup: 1995–96

France

• Kirin Cup: 1994
• FIFA World Cup third place: 1986

Individual

• Division 1 top scorer 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
• Onze de Bronze: 1989, 1990, 1992
• European Cup top scorer: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
• Onze d'Or: 1991
• Ballon d'Or: 1991
• FIFA World Player of the Year Silver award: 1991
• IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year: 1991
• Goal of the Year (Germany): 1995
• FIFA XI: 1997, 1998, 1999
• FIFA 100: 2004
• Named Joueur du Siècle (player of the century) of Olympique de Marseille
• Équipe type spéciale 20 ans des trophées UNFP: 2011
• Golden Foot: 2013, as football legend
• The Dream Team 110 years of OM: 2010
• 8th French Player of the Century

Orders

• Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 2005