Lilian Thuram

Lilian Thuram (born Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien, January 1 1972 in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France) is a male France professional football (soccer) defender (football) who plays for FC Barcelona, the most cap (sport) player in the history of the France national football team. He has played at the top division level for over 15 seasons, including ten in Italy's Serie A. With the France national team, Thuram won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship.

Before Thuram pursued a football career, he aspired to be a Roman Catholic priest, until he found that he wanted to make use of his football talents.

Club career

Thuram's football career began with AS Monaco FC of the French Ligue 1 in 1991. Later stops included Parma F.C. (1996-2001) and Juventus F.C. (2001-2006) in the Italian Serie A championship. He won the the scudetto twice with Juventus (it was originally four times, but the club was stripped of the Serie A 2004-05 and Serie A 2005-06 titles due to the 2006 Serie A scandal).

He signed with Spain club FC Barcelona in 2006 until 2008 but is nearing retirement..

International career

For France national football team, Thuram has appeared in 126 international matches and holds the record for the most capped player for France since June 2006, when he broke Marcel Desailly's mark of 116. After becoming world champion in 1998, he was also an integral part of France's triumph at 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, which led to the team being ranked by FIFA as number one from 2001-2002. He also played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup, 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, and 2004 UEFA European Football Championship.

1998 World Cup

Thuram has only scored two international goals, both of which came in one game – the 1998 World Cup semi-final against Croatia national football team, in which France came back to win 2-1 and advance to the final. France defeated Brazil 3-0 to capture their inaugural World Cup championship and Thuram earned the Adidas Golden Ball as the third most valuable player in the tournament, being one of the key elements of his country's defence, which only conceded 2 goals in seven games.

2006 World Cup

After a brief international retirement, France coach Raymond Domenech convinced Thuram to return to the French team on August 17, 2005, along with fellow "Golden Generation" teammates Zinédine Zidane and Claude Makélélé. Thuram earned his 116th cap for France national football team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals Group G match against Korea Republic national football team in Leipzig on 18 June, 2006. In that game he equalled Desailly's record number of caps, which he broke in the final group stage match against Togo national football team in Cologne on 23 June, 2006 when getting his 117th cap. He was named the Man of the Match in his country's semi-final 1-0 victory against Portugal national football team, coincidentally the same distinction he had earned eight years ago at the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup.

Political Engagement

During the French riots in November 2005, Thuram took a position against Nicolas Sarkozy,who is the head of Union for a Popular Movement, the conservative political party and successfully elected President of the French Republic. Thuram was opposed to the verbal attacks against young people that the Minister made when he talked about the "scum", and he said that Nicolas Sarkozy never lived in a suburban estate.

On September 6 2006, Thuram sparked controversy when he invited 80 people, who were expelled by French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy from a flat where they lived illegally, to the football match between France and Italy national football team.

Honours

- AS Monaco FC (1991-1996)
- - French Cup 1990/91
- Parma F.C. (1996-2001)
- - UEFA Cup 1998/99
- - Coppa Italia championships 1998/99
- - Italian SuperCup 1998/99
- Juventus F.C. (2001/02-2005/06)
- - Serie A Championships: Serie A 2001-02 Serie A 2002-03 (Serie A 2004-05 & Serie A 2005-06 titles stripped)
- - Italian SuperCup 2002 2003
- FC Barcelona (2006/07-present)
- - Spanish Super Cup 2005-06
- France national football team (1994- )
- - Football World Cup winner 1998 FIFA World Cup, runner-up 2006 FIFA World Cup
- - European Football Championship winner Euro 2000, semi-finalist Euro 1996

Thuram was named by Pelé as one of the FIFA 100 in March 2004.

In November of 2006, he was named a member of the FIFPro World XI team.