Éric Abidal

Éric Abidal

Personal information
Full name	Éric Sylvain Abidal[1]
Date of birth	11 September 1979 (1979-09-11) (age 31)
Place of birth	Lyon, France
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Barcelona
Number	22
Youth career
1999–2000	Lyon Duchère
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2002	Monaco	25	(0)
2002–2004	Lille	60	(0)
2004–2007	Lyon	84	(0)
2007–	Barcelona	72	(0)
National team‡
2004–	France	55	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 6 February 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 June 2010

Éric Sylvain Abidal (French pronunciation: [eʁik abidal]) (born 11 September 1979) is a French footballer of Martiniquan descent who currently plays as a left back for FC Barcelona and the French national team. He can also play as a central defender. After his marriage to Hayet Kebir, Abidal converted to Islam.

Club career

Abidal was trained at Lyon-Duchère, a team playing in the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with Monaco on 16 September 2000, where he made 25 first-team appearances. He moved to Lille 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 Lyon, 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 defence, he played alongside other French internationals (Grégory Coupet, François Clerc, and Anthony Réveillère) and two Brazilian internationals (Cris and Caçapa).

On 17 January 2007, Abidal scored the first goal of his career in a 1–0 Lyon victory over Le Mans on a 2006–07 Coupe de la Ligue semi–final match.^[3] Later the same year on 30 June, 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^[4] 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.^[5]

Abidal missed the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final, to be played against Manchester United, due to picking up a red card in the semi-final against Chelsea. The referee deemed Abidal to have fouled fellow French International Nicolas Anelka, and denying a goal scoring opportunity, although video evidence suggests that any contact was minimal. Abidal was again questionably sent off in the next match he played, a league tie with Villareal. The ensuing suspension meant that he missed the Copa del Rey final; Barcelona won with a 4–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao.

He continued to be first choice left back during Pep Guardiola's second season in charge, despite the arrival of Maxwell, until February 2010 when he suffered a muscle injury that will keep him out for around 2 months.

International career

Abidal has earned 55 caps with the French national team, having earned his debut 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 and scored, but since it was a penalty shootout, it is not recognised as a goal, and Abidal has yet to score for France proper.

He went on to become France coach Raymond Domenech's top choice for left-back 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. He played the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a centre back.

Career statistics

Éric Abidal during 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

As of 17 May 2010^[6]

Honours

Lyon

• Ligue 1: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07
• Trophée des champions: 2005, 2006, 2007

Barcelona

• La Liga: 2008–09, 2009–10
• Copa del Rey: 2008–09
• Supercopa de España: 2009, 2010
• UEFA Champions League: 2008–09
• UEFA Super Cup: 2009
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2009

Individual

• UEFA Team of the Year: 2007

References

External links

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

France squads 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 (c) • 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 (c) • 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 France squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Lloris • 2 Sagna • 3 Abidal • 4 Réveillère • 5 Gallas • 6 Planus • 7 Ribéry • 8 Gourcuff • 9 Cissé • 10 Govou • 11 Gignac • 12 Henry • 13 Evra (c) • 14 Toulalan • 15 Malouda • 16 Mandanda • 17 Squillaci • 18 Diarra • 19 Diaby • 20 Valbuena • 21 Anelka • 22 Clichy • 23 Carrasso • Coach: Domenech