Grégory Coupet

Grégory Coupet (born December 31, 1972 in Le Puy-en-Velay) is a French football (soccer) goalkeeper. He is vice-captain for his club, Olympique Lyonnais and also represents the France national football team.

Club career

Coupet began his club career with hometown team Club Olympique Le Puy, before going pro with AS Saint-Étienne in 1994. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 26 March 1994 in a 2-0 victory against Angers SCO. After three seasons, he surprisingly moved to league rival Olympique Lyonnais (the two cities are only 80 kilometers apart, and are long-time local and national rivals). His gamble paid off as Lyon have regularly dominated the Ligue 1 since 2002 and are also a regular fixture in the UEFA Champions League.

On August 2, 2007, Coupet suffered a torn internal medial ligament in his left knee after catching his foot in the net during a training session. He underwent surgery four days later and will miss the remainder of 2007, as well as France's final Euro 2008 qualifiers. He later joked on Lyon's official television network, "The good side...is that [France] have a rugby Rugby World Cup coming and I’ll be able to enjoy every bit of it.”

International career

Coupet has 27 cap (sport)s with France national football team. He made his international debut against Socceroos during France's 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup-winning campaign. He was called up for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as the backup to Fabien Barthez, but did not play. The following year, Coupet kept three clean sheets and conceded only three goals in five games as France won the 2003 Confederations Cup, which marked their second victory in the competition in three years.

Though Coupet started six of 10 games in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds, coach Raymond Domenech surprisingly elected Barthez as his number one, which would relegate Coupet to the bench once again. Many had expected Coupet to be chosen as the starter due to his excellent performances with Olympique Lyonnais that had contributed greatly to their torrid streak of five Ligue 1 championships. This ultimately led to a row on May 25, 2006 between Coupet and Domenech that resulted in Coupet storming out of the team's training camp in Tignes with his family in tow, but he later returned and made amends with the coach, though still harbored bitter feelings toward Barthez; during a training session the following day, the keepers barely spoke to each other.

Coupet is now France's number one after Barthez announced his retirement from both club and country football in August 2006. His first regular stint - currently during the Euro 2008 qualifiers - however, has gotten off to a less-than-desired start; France were upset by Scotland 1-0 on October 7, and a hand injury suffered in that match kept him out of France's 5-0 victory over the Faroe Islands national football team four days later.

Quotes

"Personally, I don’t take food supplements to increase my performances but to have better recuperation. For a long time I preferred to not take supplements, I rather ate natural products. I used to consider supplements as doping. However, supplements have nothing to do with doping, some of them are essential for our recuperation and therefore are [healthy]."

"[Barthez and I] get on really well off the pitch, even if we don’t phone each other up all the time. We often go for coffee at the French training camps and we have a very laid back relationship." (March 2005)

"I just hate hypocrisy, people who say something to your face and something else behind your back. If something has gone wrong, then I say so."

"I have always dreamed of being the number one in the [France national] team. I've been dreaming about it since I was six years old and it's not going to change now."

Trivia

- It wasn't until 2005 that Coupet was voted for the first time, at age 33, into the top 10 for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award. He finished with 43 votes, fourth behind winner Petr Čech, Nelson de Jesus Silva, and Gianluigi Buffon, respectively. He has also twice been named Ligue 1 Keeper of the Year, in 2004 and 2005.
- One of his hobbies is reading.
- In February 2006, France Football magazine conducted a poll among its readers as to who should be France's first-choice goalie for the World Cup. Coupet received a staggering 69 percent of votes. (Barthez received 28 percent.)
- He openly wept during the group photo before France faced Turkey national football team in a 2003 Confederations Cup semifinal match, which had taken place just hours after the shocking death of his close friend and former Lyon teammate Marc-Vivien Foé.
- Coupet credits the aftermath of Foe's death in helping him gain a new perspective on life, in the process settling his differences with Lyon after having been engaged in nasty contract imbroglios for most of the 2002-03 season, which included at one point his vowing never to play for the club again.

Honors

With Lyon:
- Ligue 1 - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
- Trophée Des Champions - 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007
- Coupe de la Ligue - 2001
- UEFA Intertoto Cup - 1997
With France:
- FIFA Confederations Cup - 2001, 2003