Sylvain Legwinski

Sylvain Legwinski

Personal information
Date of birth	(1973-10-06) 6 October 1973
Place of birth	Clermont-Ferrand, France
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–1999	Monaco	135	(13)
1999–2001	Bordeaux	49	(2)
2001–2006	Fulham	128	(8)
2006–2008	Ipswich Town	47	(7)
2009	St Neots Town	2	(0)
Total		361	(30)
National team
1996	France U21/Olympic	4	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Sylvain Legwinski (born 6 October 1973 in Clermont-Ferrand) is a retired French footballer, who played as a midfielder. He is now assistant coach at AS Monaco in France

Having made a name for himself at AS Monaco, he played seven years of his professional career in England, collecting more than 200 official appearances for Fulham and Ipswich Town.

Club career

The son of a basketball player with Polish descent who settled at Vichy, Legwinski joined AS Monaco FC's youth system at 18, as Arsène Wenger was the main squad's manager, giving the player his first team debuts shortly after. He developed into a midfield force under Jean Tigana's guidance, scoring nine league goals in 1996–97, as Monaco won the national title.

After two seasons and four games into 2001–02 with FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Legwinski rejoined Tigana at Fulham. There, he was renowned for his passion and work rate, and was amusingly given the nickname "Monica" by the fans, a pun on the name of Monica Lewinsky, famous for having a relationship with U.S. president Bill Clinton.

At the beginning of the 2006–07 season, new Fulham boss Chris Coleman made it clear that Legwinski did not fit into the side's future plans and, in August 2006, following a successful trial with Ipswich Town, the player signed a two-year contract.

In his first year at the club, Legwinksi won the supporter's and manager's Player of the Year Award for 2006–07, netting five league goals. During the campaign, he became the only Ipswich player to have scored against all East Anglian opposition during one season (Norwich City, Colchester United, Southend United and Luton Town).

However, Legwinski found himself out of the picture for much of the following season, still managing to find the net twice, in draws against Queen's Park Rangers and Burnley. Due to the team's extensive midfield, he was told he would not be offered a new contract and, as Town teammate Fabian Wilnis, started looking to the future, working towards his coaching badges.^[1]

In September 2008, Legwinski underwent an unsuccessful trial with Swedish team IFK Göteborg. Early in the following year, he had another tryout in the country, with Örgryte IS, which had just won promotion to the top flight.

In March 2009, Legwinski joined St Neots Town as a player/assistant manager, joining player-manager Steve Lomas.^[2] Shortly after, definitely retired, he moved to Crystal Palace as a youth coach. He is now assistant coach at AS Monaco in France.

International career

An under-21 international, Legwinski scored once in four matches for the 1996 Summer Olympics quarter-finalists.

Honours

• French League: 1996–97, 1999–2000

Club statistics

References

External links

• Sylvain Legwinski French league stats at LFP.fr (French)
• Ipswich Town profile
• Sylvain Legwinski career statistics at Soccerbase

France men's football squad – 1996 Summer Olympics 1 Letizi 2 Djetou 3 Bonnissel 4 Laville 5 Moreau 6 Vieira 7 Makélélé 8 Dhorasoo 9 Maurice 10 Sibierski 11 Pirès 12 Toyes 13 Candela 14 Dacourt 15 Vairelles 16 Fernandez 17 Wiltord 18 Legwinski 20 Dieng Coach: Domenech