Jean-Pierre Papin

Jean-Pierre Papin (born 5 November 1963) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a forward and is the current technical advisor of French Ligue 1 side Marseille. Considered to be one of the best centre-forwards of his generation, he won the Ballon d'Or in 1991.
He was included in the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living footballers, published in 2004 for the centenary of the FIFA, signed by Pelé. He was named one of the best European footballers on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the UEFA in 2004. He is famous in particular for his long shots in first intention, his acrobatic return and his recovery volleys which are known as Papinade. The nickname of JPP is attributed to him by supporters and journalists.
Trained at Jeumont, he signed his first professional contract in 1984 at Valenciennes. Recruited by Brugge, he had an excellent season, winning the Belgian Cup and being selected for the French team for the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Recruited by Marseille, he experienced the peak of his career and won with Marseille, the Ligue 1 in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992, the Coupe de France in 1989 and reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 1991. In 1992, he was transferred the highest in the history of football, when he left Olympique de Marseille for AC Milan with which he scored in 1994, the Serie A and the UEFA Champions League. He joined Bayern Munich, with which he won the Europa League in 1996. He returned to France, to Bordeaux where he was a finalist in the Coupe de la ligue in 1997 and 1998 and then ended his professional career at Guingamp.
Capped 54 times and captain of the France team 11 times, Jean-Pierre Papin won the bronze medal at the 1986 World Cup and competed in Euro 1992. Injuries and the emergence of the Zinedine Zidane generation moved away from the selection and his international career ended in the mid-1990s. He was not retained in the French selections which reached the semi-finals of Euro 1996 and won the 1998 World Cup.
In 1996, after their eight-month-old daughter was shown to have serious cerebral lesions, Jean-Pierre and his wife set up an association "Neuf de Coeur" (Nine of Hearts; Papin's shirt number was 9) to help others in that situation and, particularly, to find and apply methods to mentally and physically educate such children.
Early life
Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1963, Papin was the son of a professional football player, Guy Papin. After his parents divorced, he moved to live with his grandmother in Germont, a French city located near the Belgian border.
Club career
Valenciennes
At age 15, Papin started his professional career with Valenciennes, in Northern France, before moving to Club Brugge in Belgium.
Brugge
Papin had a very successful first season at Club Brugge, scoring 32 goals in 43 games. Although he only played one season for Club Brugge, he was elected as its greatest ever foreign player by the supporters in 2008.
Marseille
During Papin's hugely successful spell at Marseille, with the Frenchman as striker and skipper Marseille won four French league championships in a row (1989–1992), a league and cup double in 1989 and reached the final of the European Cup in 1991, losing to Red Star Belgrade after on penalties.
During this period, Papin scored 181 goals in 279 games and was the league's top scorer for five consecutive seasons (from 1988 to 1992). While at Marseille he won the Ballon d'Or, awarded to Europe's top footballer, in 1991.
AC Milan
In July 1992, Papin joined Italian giants AC Milan for a world record fee of £10 million, and was the first high-profile French player to join the Italian league since Michel Platini. However, he never established himself as a regular first team member with the rossoneri due to injuries and adaptation problems. As a foreign player in the Pre-Bosman rule era, Papin also suffered from the three-foreigner rule that made him compete for playing time with other foreign players such as Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, Brian Laudrup, Florin Răducioiu, and Marcel Desailly.
He entered as a substitute during the 1993 Champions League final in which Milan lost to his former club, Marseille. He won the Champions League in the next year, but did not play in the final. Nevertheless, Papin has kept good memories of his spell in Italy and frequently cites former Milan managers Fabio Capello and Arrigo Sacchi as his models when coaching is concerned.
Bayern Munich
In 1994, he was transferred to Bayern Munich for £2.1 million, but his first season was once again plagued by injuries. In his second season in Germany he was part of the side that won the UEFA Cup against Bordeaux, a club that Papin would join the following season. He was twice linked with clubs in England later in his playing career. First, in March 1994, he was a transfer target for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Towards the end of his spell with Bordeaux in 1998, he was a target for ambitious Fulham, then a Division Two (third tier) side, and even expressed his desire to sign for the club. However, neither transfer ever happened and Papin finished his career without having spent any time in England.
Bordeaux
With Bordeaux, he lost the 1997 Coupe de la Ligue final against Strasbourg and lost the 1998 Coupe de la Ligue final.
Guingamp
Papin's professional career ended in 1998 with Second Division side Guingamp.
Later career
Papin finished his career as a player in the amateur club US Cap-Ferret between 2001 and 2004. Then, after five years of managing, he played in another amateur club, AS Facture-Biganos Boïen.
International career
Papin was selected for the first time in the French team during the Toulon Tournament in 1985 in Marseille with the number 14, alongside Pascal Baills, Stéphane Paille, Gérald Passi, Franck Sauzée, Vincent Cobos and Jean-Christophe Thomas. The France team wins the Toulon Tournament and successively defeats the Spain of Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, the Romania of Gheorghe Popescu, the Ivory Coast of Joël Tiéhi and the England of Martin Allen. Papin finished as the tournament's top scorer and it was during the match against Spain that Papin scored his first official goal at the Stade Vélodrome.
Papin earned his first cap in a friendly match against Northern Ireland in February 1986 and appeared at the 1986 World Cup. He scored twice in four games: first during France opening game against Canada (1–0) and then during France's victory against Belgium (4–2), helping France finish third.
He did not participate in the 1990 World Cup because of failures during the qualifiers but during the qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 1992 he finished second top scorer in the Qualifiers of the 1992 European Football Championship with nine goals behind Darko Pančev and the France team is the only one to win all its playoff matches, a first in Europe and this in a very strong group with two quarter-finalists of the previous World Cup, Spain and Czechoslovakia. Papin who suffers from the aftermath of an ankle injury cannot prevent France from failing in the first round, despite scoring two goals in three games
The French football team, trained by Gérard Houllier, played in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers but got off to a bad start (2–0 defeat in Bulgaria), but a series of 6 wins against Austria (twice), Finland (twice), Sweden and Israel put them back at the top of the group and in a very favorable position for qualification with three rounds to go. The french team, undermined by internal quarrels (Marseille-Paris rivalry), however collapsed in the final sprint by conceding a draw in Sweden (1–1 on a defensive error three minutes from the end) and during the two last games played at home, where they only had to beat Israel or not lose against Bulgaria, to score the ticket for the United States. The Blues lost against the weakest team in the group, Israel (2–3 on a goal by Atar 30 seconds from the end of the match), then against Bulgaria (1–2 on a goal by Emil Kostadinov two seconds the end of regulation time), this goal depriving France of participation in the World Cup. The two qualifiers of this group 6, Sweden and Bulgaria, would reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in July 1994.
Papin initially said goodbye to the Blues of which he was the captain after the elimination in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, before being convinced by Aimé Jacquet to return. He scored his last goal in selection at Trebizond in Turkey (match relocated because of troubles in Azerbaijan) against Azerbaijan (2–0) at the end of 1994. Papin played his last international match against the Netherlands in January 1995, before injuries and the emergence of the Zinédine Zidane generation permanently removed him from the selection.
Style of play
Papin has been described as "a fast and lethal striker, who made goal scoring his signature for club and country" and a player who could score in a variety of situation, "from neat, chipped finishes, low drives into the corner, towering headers and, in particular, thumping volleys."
During his career, the term Papinade was used to describe powerful volleys from difficult angles.
Managerial career
In May 2006, Papin took over from Jacky Duguépéroux as the new coach of Strasbourg, who were relegated to the Second Division. He had previously been coaching Arcachon, an amateur team, and helped them to be promoted from CFA 2 to CFA.
In 2006–07, he guided Strasbourg back to Ligue 1 with a third-placed finish but came under pressure shortly after the end of the season when internal conflicts at the club surfaced in the press. Several players, including '05 league cup final hero Jean-Christophe Devaux, also openly criticized Papin's methods.
Initially confirmed as manager for the 2007–08 season, he was forced to resign a week later after it was revealed that he had interviewed for the vacant managerial job at Lens only hours after his confirmation at Strasbourg. He was replaced by Jean-Marc Furlan, former manager of Troyes, while Lens selected Guy Roux as their new manager. Ironically, Papin eventually became the manager of Lens after the club lost at Strasbourg, as Roux resigned only five games into the 2007–08 season. In the midst of the season, Lens and Papin were fighting to avoid relegation to the Second Division. Lens was also eliminated in the first round of both the UEFA cup and the Coupe de France by, respectively, FC Copenhagen (1–1; 1–2) and Second Division side Chamois Niortais (0–1, at home).
On 29 December 2009, Châteauroux hired the coach to replace Dominique Bijotat. He left his position in May 2010 and was replaced by Didier Tholot.
For the 2014–15 season, Papin once again took the managerial position at FC Bassin d'Archachon in Championnat de France Amateur 2.
On 2 June 2020, Papin was announced as the new manager of Championnat National 2 side C'Chartres.
He left his position in October 2022 to go back to Marseille as a technical advisor.
Outside football
Papin was also iconic in French pop culture because of his caricature in the satirical TV puppet show Les Guignols de l'Info. At first, Papin was depicted as a rather dumb football player (a common stereotype in France), his only obsession being the many different ways to score goals. When Papin experienced difficulties in Italy, the coverage became more sympathetic, especially with the infamous Reviens JPP! song where even God Himself would urge Papin to come back to his home country, because "France needs you!".
After his daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, Papin started running the Neuf de cœur (Nine of Hearts) foundation, which provides support to families affected by the neurological disorder.
Since 2011, he has participated in the Amélie evenings, organized by Amélie Mauresmo for the benefit of the Institut Curie on the theme play with the artists which happens at each opening of the Open GDF Suez at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris.
Since 2013, he has been with Youri Djorkaeff, Sylvain Wiltord and Valdo Filho, one of the ambassadors of Footgolf.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Papin goal.
Honours
Club Brugge
Belgian Cup: 1985–86
Belgian Pro League: runner-up 1985–86
Marseille
Ligue 1: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
Coupe de France: 1988–89
European Cup: runner-up 1990–91
Coupe de France: runner-up 1986–87, 1990–91
AC Milan
Serie A: 1992–93, 1993–94
Supercoppa Italiana: 1992, 1993
UEFA Champions League: 1993–94; runner-up: 1992–93
Intercontinental Cup: runner-up 1993
UEFA Super Cup: runner-up 1993
Bayern Munich
UEFA Cup: 1995–96
DFL-Supercup: runner-up 1994
Bordeaux
Coupe de la ligue: runner-up 1997, 1998
France
Toulon Tournament: 1985
Kirin Cup: 1994
FIFA World Cup: third place 1986
Individual
Ballon d'Or: 1991
Onze d'Or: 1991
Player of the year France Football: 1989, 1991
European player of the year El Pais: 1991
FIFA World Player of the Year: Silver award 1991
IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer: 1991
Onze de Bronze: 1989, 1990, 1992
Goal of the Year (Germany): 1995
FIFA XI: 1997, 1998, 1999
FIFA 100: 2004
Voted best foreign player of Club Brugge ever: 2008
Named player of the century of Marseille: 2009
UNFP 20 years Special Team Trophy: 2011
UNFP Oscar trophy: 1999
Golden Foot Award Legends: 2013
The Dream Team 110 years of Marseille: 2010
8th French Player of the Century: 2018
Second best player of Ligue 1 history: 2022
Toulon Tournament top scorers 1985
Belgian Cup top scorers 1985–86
Ligue 1 top scorer: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
Coupe de France top scorer: 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92
European Cup top scorer: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
Orders
Knight of the Legion of Honour: 2005
References
External links
1963 births
Living people
People from Boulogne-sur-Mer
Footballers from Pas-de-Calais
French men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
INF Vichy players
Valenciennes FC players
Club Brugge KV players
Olympique de Marseille players
AC Milan players
FC Bayern Munich footballers
FC Girondins de Bordeaux players
En Avant Guingamp players
JS Saint-Pierroise players
Ligue 2 players
Belgian Pro League players
Ligue 1 players
Serie A players
Bundesliga players
UEFA Champions League winning players
UEFA Cup winning players
UEFA Champions League top scorers
Ballon d'Or winners
France men's international footballers
1986 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 1992 players
FIFA 100
French expatriate men's footballers
French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium
French expatriate sportspeople in Italy
French expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
French football managers
RC Strasbourg Alsace managers
RC Lens managers
LB Châteauroux managers
C'Chartres Football managers
Ligue 1 managers
Championnat National 2 managers
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Association football people awarded knighthoods