LEGENDS - FRANCE - KEYPLAYER - Lilian Thuram
Lilian Thuram
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 04/2015
Personal information
Full name
Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien
Date of birth
1 January 1972
Place of birth
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
Height
1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position
Defender
SENIOR CAREER*
Monaco
1990-1996
155x apps / 8x goals
Parma
1996-2001
163x apps / 1x goal
Juventus
2001-2006
144x apps / 1x goal
Barcelona
2006-2008
41x apps / 0x goal
TOTAL
503x apps / 10x goals
NATIONAL TEAM
France
1994-2008
142x apps / 2x goals
(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only)
Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien (born 1 January 1972), known as Lilian Thuram, is a retired professional football defender and the most capped player in the history of the France national team.
He played at the top flight in France, Italy and Spain for over 15 seasons, including ten in the Serie A with both Parma and Juventus.
With France, Thuram won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, and was in the runner-up squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Thuram was an extremely dominant, consistent, attentive, and versatile player throughout his career.
He was known for his strength, pace, stamina and his outstanding physical and technical attributes, as well as his eye for goal, his ability to read the game, and his marking and tackling.
Primarily a defender, he was equally competent offensively as he was defensively, and could play on either flank, often alternating between playing as a right back or as a centreback, and even being deployed in midfield on occasion.
Despite his powerful, aggressive style of play, he was also known to be a classy, studious figure off the pitch.
In 2010, Thuram became a UNICEF ambassador.