Éric Abidal

Football player infobox
playername = Éric Abidal


fullname = Éric Abidal
height = height|meters=1.86
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|7|11
cityofbirth = Lyon
countryofbirth = France
currentclub = FC Barcelona
clubnumber = 22
position = Left Back, Centre back
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 2000–2002
2002–2004
2004–2007
2007–
clubs = AS Monaco
Lille
Olympique Lyon
FC Barcelona
caps(goals) = 22 (0)
60 (0)
76 (0)
30 (0) [ [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=10551&cc=5901 ESPN] ]
nationalyears = 2004–
nationalteam = France
nationalcaps(goals) = 38 (0)
pcupdate = May 18 2008
ntupdate = September 10 2008

Éric Abidal (born July 11, 1979 in Lyon) is a left-sided French football defender of Martinique (French overseas department) 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 September 16, 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.” [Abidal, E: "Eric Abidal", http://www.channel4.com/sport/french_football/focus/abidal.html, Channel 4] Fact|date=July 2007 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 [cite news | date=2007-06-29 | url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/football/06/29/barca.abidal.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest | title=Abidal completes move to Barcelona | publisher=CNN | accessdate=2007-06-30] 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. [cite news | date=2007-06-29 | url=http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=541071.html | title=Abidal joins Barcelona | publisher=FIFA | accessdate=2007-07-30]

International career

Abidal has earned 34 caps with the French national team, having earned his "début" cap on August 18 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.

All-Time Club Statistics

As of August 18 2008 [ [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=10551&&cc=5901 Soccernet player statistics] ]

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

* [http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/futbol/temporada_07-08/plantilla/jugadors/abidal.html Profile at fcbarcelona.com]