Philippe Christanval

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Philippe Christanval
Personal information
Full name	Philippe Charles Lucien Christanval
Date of birth	August 31, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Paris, France
Height	1.89 m
Position	Centre Back
Club information
Current club	Fulham F.C.
Number	5
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1999 - 2001 2001 - 2003 2003 - 2005 2005 -	AS Monaco FC Barcelona Marseille Fulham	81 (1) 32 (0) 13 (0) 18 (0)
National team**
2002 -	France	6 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 1, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of September 1, 2006.

Philippe Charles Lucien Christanval (born August 31, 1978 in Paris) is a French football player who currently plays for Fulham as a defender.

His career began at AS Monaco in 1999, where he made 81 appearances and scored his only career goal. Here he also won the French title in the 1999/00 season and made several UEFA Champions League appearances.

He was then snapped up by FC Barcelona for a £6.5million fee in June 2001. He had a terrible time from then on attempting to cope with various injuries, particularly following his 2003 move to Olympique de Marseille.

Having spent two weeks on trial at Arsenal, Arsène Wenger opted not to sign him. He then joined rival London team, Fulham. Upon his signing, Chris Coleman stated:

"Philippe is a player I have been looking at since I have been Fulham manager. I have always admired him. He was excellent at Barcelona but then had problems with injury and fell out of favour with the last few managers he has had."

"His quality is there - you can see that. He makes the right decisions. For me the best defenders make the right decisions more often than not and he fits into that category."

In his first appearances at Fulham, he found himself playing in defensive midfield. He was quite successful with an enforcement partnership with Papa Bouba Diop. His qualities were obvious; despite being a centre back, he had good vision and passing ability. More recently he has found himself back in the centre half role.

He was a part of the France side in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

	France squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Ramé | 2 Candela | 3 Lizarazu | 4 Vieira | 5 Christanval | 6 Djorkaeff | 7 Makélélé | 8 Desailly | 9 Cissé | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Boghossian | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Petit | 18 Leboeuf | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Dugarry | 22 Micoud | 23 Coupet | Coach: Lemerre

Fulham F.C. - Current Squad

2 Volz | 3 Bocanegra | 4 Queudrue | 5 Christanval | 6 Knight | 7 Rosenior | 8 Brown | 9 Helguson | 10 Runström | 11 Boa Morte | 12 Laštůvka | 13 Radzinski | 14 Bouba Diop | 15 John | 16 C. Jensen | 17 Elliott | 18 Zakuani | 19 Pearce | 20 McBride | 21 Bullard | 22 Routledge | 23 Timlin | 24 Pembridge | 25 N. Jensen | 26 Collins | 27 Elrich | 28 Milsom | 29 Niemi | 32 Omozusi | -- Ehui | -- James | Manager: Coleman