Éric Abidal

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Éric Abidal
Personal information
Date of birth July 11, 1979
Place of birth Lyon, France
Height 1.80 m (5' 11")
Position Left back
Club information
Current club Olympique Lyon
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
2000-2002
2002-2004
2004-present		 AS Monaco FC
Lille OSC
Olympique Lyon		 23 (0)
62 (0)
51 (0)
National team**
2004- France 18 (0)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of November 8, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of November 8, 2006.

Éric Abidal (born July 11, 1979 in Lyon) is a football (soccer) player from France whose parents come from Martinique, France. He plays as a left back and central defender with Olympique Lyonnais and the French national team. He has two daughters named Meliana (*2004) and Camélia (*2006).

Contents

[edit] Clubs

Abidal was trained in Lyon-La Duchère, a team playing in the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with AS Monaco on September 16, 2000, where he earned 22 first-team appearances. He moved to Lille OSC where he was reunited with his former manager Claude Puel and earned 62 first-team appearances. At the end of 2004, he returned to his native region by joining Olympique Lyonnais, which had just won its second successive Ligue 1 championship.

He is currently considered one of the best fullbacks in the Ligue 1. He is an athletic player (186 cm and 75 kg). In the Lyon defence, he plays with two French internationals (Grégory Coupet and Anthony Réveillère) and three Brazilian internationals (Juninho, Cris and Caçapa).

[edit] National team

He has earned seventeen caps with the French national team, having earned his début cap on August 18, 2004. Despite numerous injuries and disagreements with FIFA in the past few seasons, Abidal played on the French team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting at left back and playing every minute of the tournament with the exception of France's match against Togo which he was suspended from after earning two yellow cards over the previous two games. Mikaël Silvestre filled Abidal's left back slot for that game. When France and Italy were forced into a penalty shootout in the Final, he was placed third in France's five shooters. Abidal made his shot, putting it past Yashin Award winning Gianluigi Buffon, but the French team lost the shootout 5-3.

[edit] Personal life

Abidal married Hayet and they have two daughters, Meliana and Camelia.

[edit] Honours

France France squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up France

1 Landreau | 2 Boumsong | 3 Abidal | 4 Vieira | 5 Gallas | 6 Makélélé | 7 Malouda | 8 Dhorasoo | 9 Govou | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Saha | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Givet | 18 Diarra | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Chimbonda | 22 Ribéry | 23 Coupet | Coach: Domenech
Olympique Lyonnais - Current Squad

1 Coupet | 2 Clerc | 3 Cris | 4 Müller | 5 Caçapa | 6 Källström | 8 Juninho | 9 Carew | 10 Malouda | 11 Fred | 12 Réveillère | 14 Govou | 15 Diarra | 18 Ben Arfa | 19 Benzema | 20 Abidal | 21 Tiago | 22 Wiltord | 23 Berthod | 25 Hartock | 28 Toulalan | 29 Squillaci | 30 Vercoutre | 31 Hima | 34 Rémy | 36 Idangar | 38 Benhamida | 39 Bettiol | Manager: Houllier
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