| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 28 September 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Strasbourg, France | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Central Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–1998 | Strasbourg | 87 | (1) |
| 1998 | Crystal Palace | 13 | (0) |
| 1998–2002 | Lens | 83 | (5) |
| 2001 | → Strasbourg (loan) | 9 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Strasbourg | 26 | (2) |
| 2003–2004 | → Werder Bremen (loan) | 32 | (4) |
| 2004–2005 | Werder Bremen | 32 | (4) |
| 2005–2007 | Bayern Munich | 31 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Bayern Munich II | 7 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Hannover 96 | 18 | (0) |
| Total | 338 | (16) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Valérien Ismaël (born 28 September 1975 in Strasbourg, France) is a former French footballer.
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Valérien Ismaël is married to Karolina. They have a son, Alexis. His hobbies are golf, tennis and watching movies.
At 1.91 m tall, Valérien Ismaël is a strong tackler as well as in the air.
Ismaël made his debut for Strasbourg against AS Cannes on 15 January 1994. He went on to make 77 league appearances in his first spell with the club. Additionally he appeared in five UEFA Cup matches, scoring once.
Ismaël became – and remains – the most expensive player Crystal Palace have ever bought when he signed for £2,750,000, from Strasbourg in January 1998. Despite this he only played 13 games for the London club and was only there for ten months (January–October 1998), before moving back to his native France to Lens.
Ismaël moved to R.C. Lens in October 1998. Here he regained his form after his brief, and expensive, spell in England. He played 83 times, scoring five goals. He also had a short loan spell at his old club Strasbourg during the Division 1 2000–01 season but could not help them avoid relegation. He return to Lens for the Division 1 2001–02 season where he was in particularly good form - playing 33 times and scoring on 4 occasions. However he was sold back to Strasbourg for the following season following their promotion back to the top tier.
On moving back to his former club for a third spell, Ismaël was appointed captain. He led the club to a respectable 13th position and attracted interest from Europe because of his composed performances in defence. In his last spell at Strasbourg he made 26 appearances and scored twice. In total he made 167 in all competitions for his home club and scored 7 times.
Valérien Ismaël was loaned to Werder Bremen in 2003 where he appeared 32 times, scoring 4 goals. Bremen went on to win the German double in his first season at the club (Fußball-Bundesliga 2003–04) He was sold to Werder prior to the following season, where once again he appeared 32 times, scoring 4 goals. However Werder could only finish third. He made 7 appearances in the UEFA Champions League as well, scoring twice.
Ismaël arrived at FC Bayern Munich in July 2005. He received a red card on his debut for the club, but finished the season winning the German league and cup double for the second time in his career. However, he only featured once in the 2006–07 campaign for the club due to his long term injury and was eventually released to join Hannover 96 in January 2008.[1] He made 31 league appearances for Bayern without scoring and eight Champions league appearances, scoring once against A.C. Milan in a 4-1 loss.
Ismaël was brought to the club in order to strengthen the struggling defence and to provide leadership for his new team-mates.[2] His first game for Hannover was against his last club, Bayern. Ismaël played well for 45 minutes and helped his team maintain a 0:0; after he was substituted with a minor injury, Hannover conceded three goals in the second half.[3] After overcoming the injury, he became a key player for the team. Due to further injuries and a bad prognosis for recovery he retired on 5 October 2009.[4] In total he made 18 appearances for Hannover.
After falling short of playing for Les Bleus, he claimed that he wanted to be capped for the German national football team while playing in the Fußball-Bundesliga.
The Togo national team also wanted to call up Ismaël to their squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, given his wife is Togolese, but FIFA rejected this.
On 10 October 2009 Ismaël was named as assistant general manager by Hannover 96.[5] Since 24 June 2010 he is also board member of Hannover 96.[6]