Éric Abidal

Éric Bilal Abidal
Personal information
Full name	Éric Bilal Abidal
Date of birth	11 September 1979 (1979-09-11) (age 30)
Place of birth	Lyon, France
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Left back / Centre back
Club information
Current club	FC Barcelona
Number	22
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2002 2002–2004 2004–2007 2007–	Monaco Lille Olympique Lyonnais FC Barcelona	22 (0) 60 (0) 76 (0) 30 (0)[1]
National team2
2004–	France	40 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 May 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Éric Abidal (born 11 September 1979 in Lyon) is a left-sided French football defender of Martinique descent who currently plays for FC Barcelona in La Liga.

Club career

Abidal was trained in Lyon-La Duchère, a team playing in the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with AS Monaco on 16 September 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. During his time in France he was considered "one of the best fullbacks in the Ligue 1", self confidence of this title was shown when Lyon played Manchester United: “As a defender, my aim is to infuriate the opponent,” Abidal explained. “I want him to be so sick of the sight of me that he has to move somewhere else on the pitch to get away.” ^[2] In the Lyon defense, he played alongside other French internationals (Grégory Coupet, François Clerc and Anthony Réveillère) and two Brazilian internationals (Cris and Caçapa).

On 30 June 2007, Abidal moved to Barcelona for €15 million, after repeatedly stating that he would not return to training if he did not get the move, signing a four-year contract^[3] and taking the number 22 jersey, as the number 20 he wore at Lyon was already taken by Deco. Barça president Joan Laporta also mentioned that Abidal's contract would contain a €90 million release clause, and that Lyon would receive an extra €500,000 if Barcelona win the Champions League in any of the next four seasons.^[4]

International career

Abidal has earned 40 caps with the French national team, having earned his début cap on 18 August 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, from which he was suspended 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.

He went on to become France coach Raymond Domenech's top choice for leftback in nearly every UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier. Abidal was chosen as centre back in their final group match of Euro 2008 against Italy, but he conceded a penalty and was sent off in the first half; France lost the match 2-0 and were eliminated from the tournament.

Career club statistics

As of 18 August 2008^[5]

Honours

• French Ligue 1 championship in 2005, 2006 and 2007 with Olympique Lyonnais.
• Trophée Des Champions in 2005 with Olympique Lyonnais.
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2007

References

External links

• Profile at fcbarcelona.com
• (French) Éric Abidal French league stats at lfp.fr

France squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up 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 Trezeguet • 21 Chimbonda • 22 Ribéry • 23 Coupet • Coach: Domenech

France squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Mandanda • 2 Boumsong • 3 Abidal • 4 Vieira • 5 Gallas • 6 Makélélé • 7 Malouda • 8 Anelka • 9 Benzema • 10 Govou • 11 Nasri • 12 Henry • 13 Evra • 14 Clerc • 15 Thuram • 16 Frey • 17 Squillaci • 18 Gomis • 19 Sagnol • 20 Toulalan • 21 Diarra • 22 Ribéry • 23 Coupet • Coach: Domenech