Jean-Pierre Papin

Jean-Pierre Papin (born 5 November 1963) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a forward and is the current technical advisor of French Ligue 1 side Marseille.

Considered to be one of the best centre-forwards of his generation, he won the Ballon d'Or in 1991. He was included in the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living footballers, published in 2004 for the centenary of the FIFA, signed by Pelé. He was named one of the best European footballers on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the UEFA in 2004. He is famous in particular for his long shots in first intention, his acrobatic return and his recovery volleys which are known as Papinade. The nickname of JPP is attributed to him by supporters and journalists.

Trained at Jeumont, he signed his first professional contract in 1984 at Valenciennes. Recruited by Brugge, he had an excellent season, winning the Belgian Cup and being selected for the French team for the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Recruited by Marseille, he experienced the peak of his career and won with Marseille, the Ligue 1 in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992, the Coupe de France in 1989 and reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 1991. In 1992, he was transferred the highest in the history of football, when he left Olympique de Marseille for AC Milan with which he scored in 1994, the Serie A and the UEFA Champions League. He joined Bayern Munich, with which he won the Europa League in 1996. He returned to France, to Bordeaux where he was a finalist in the Coupe de la ligue in 1997 and 1998 and then ended his professional career at Guingamp.

Capped 54 times and captain of the France team 11 times, Jean-Pierre Papin won the bronze medal at the 1986 World Cup and competed in Euro 1992. Injuries and the emergence of the Zinedine Zidane generation moved away from the selection and his international career ended in the mid-1990s. He was not retained in the French selections which reached the semi-finals of Euro 1996 and won the 1998 World Cup.

In 1996, after their eight-month-old daughter was shown to have serious cerebral lesions, Jean-Pierre and his wife set up an association "Neuf de Coeur" (Nine of Hearts; Papin's shirt number was 9) to help others in that situation and, particularly, to find and apply methods to mentally and physically educate such children.

Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1963, Papin was the son of a professional football player, Guy Papin. After his parents divorced, he moved to live with his grandmother in Germont, a French city located near the Belgian border.

At age 15, Papin started his professional career with Valenciennes, in Northern France, before moving to Club Brugge in Belgium.

Papin had a very successful first season at Club Brugge, scoring 32 goals in 43 games. Although he only played one season for Club Brugge, he was elected as its greatest ever foreign player by the supporters in 2008.

During Papin's hugely successful spell at Marseille, with the Frenchman as striker and skipper Marseille won four French league championships in a row (1989–1992), a league and cup double in 1989 and reached the final of the European Cup in 1991, losing to Red Star Belgrade after on penalties. ...

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