Joël CANTONA

Joël Cantona started his professional career with Olympique de Marseille in 1985, after spending three years in their academy set-up. He struggled to make the breakthrough in Marseille, however, only managing four appearances. Younger brother of Eric Cantona, this defensive midfielder finally left this first club in 1987 to join Stade Rennais, where he would spend a single solitary season playing in the Second Division for the Red and Blacks. He was sparsely used in Brittany, as a striker. After a season where he had played little, 10 games in total, he left to spend a couple of months with CS Meaux, before heading to Antwerp in Belgium in 1988. The following year, in 1989, he was recruited by SCO Angers for whom he would play 31 matches, scoring 3 goals, over two seasons. He was rarely used in his second season with the club owing to recurring injury problems, and was released at the end of the year. In 1991, he joined La Rochelle in the Third Division, before heading off to Ujpest in Hungary. In 1993, moved to Stockport County in England in the Third Division. He wouldn't return to France until 1994 when he re-joined the club which had developed him in Marseille. Whilst there, he would win the Second Division title, allowing Olympique Marseille to return to the top flight. He would play two seasons there as a defender before retiring from the game in 1996. Thereafter, he would devote himself to cinema, but also Beach Soccer, where he would notably become the French team Manager.