Philippe Mexès

Philippe Mexès (IPA: ) (born March 30, 1982 in Toulouse, France) is a France professional football (soccer) player, who currently plays as a defender (football) for Italy club A.S. Roma.

Philippe Mexès began his career with local club Toulouse FC, with his older sister regularly taking him to the training sessions. However, he left for AJ Auxerre's youth team when he was sixteen years old. He successfully participated in the Under-18 and Under-21 France national football team, eventually winning a spot in the senior squad in August 2002. Since 2002 he has only been called up a few times, after he failed to make the French squad for the 2004 European Football Championship. He was recently called up for France's friendly match against Bosnia-Herzegovina national football team in August 2006.

Mexès is currently one of the backbones of the A.S. Roma team coached by Luciano Spalletti. After a difficult first season with the capitoline club, Mexès began the Serie A 2005-06 on the bench, leaving the central defender spot to Samuel Osei Kuffour. However, as Kuffour was on national team duty for Ghana national football team, Mexès slowly gained playing time. He quickly became a key player in the record-breaking Roma campaign, while in his AS Roma 2006-07 he was widely considered one of the best defenders of the competition. His performances as a defender have seen him likened to Laurent Blanc, another French footballer.

Honours

- European Under-18 Football Championship: 2000 (France national football team)
- France Football "Hope of the Year": 2000
- Runner-up UEFA U-21 Championship 2002: 2002 (France)
- Confederations Cup 2003: 2003 (France)
- French Cup: 2003 (AJ Auxerre)
- Coppa_Italia: 2007 (AS Roma)
- Italian_Super_Cup: 2007 (AS Roma)
- Official website: www.forzaphilippemexes.com

External links

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