Gaël Clichy member of sports team France national under-17 association football team
International career
Youth
Clichy has earned caps with all of France's youth teams for which he was eligible. He was a late participant at under-15 level under coach Luc Rabat. Clichy made his youth international debut on 13 March 2001 in a 3–0 friendly win over Italy. He remained with the team for the rest of the campaign appearing in three matches at the 2001 edition of the Montaigu Tournament which France won. Clichy also played in all three matches at an international tournament in Salerno, Italy. At under-17 level, Clichy appeared in ten matches as France attempted to qualify for the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship. He made his debut with the team on 19 September 2001 in its opening league match of the season; a 1–0 win over Yugoslavia. In qualifying for the UEFA-sanctioned tournament, Clichy appeared in two of the three qualification matches. In the tournament, he appeared in all six matches as the starting left-back. France reached the final, but were defeated by a resilient Switzerland, who were led by future Arsenal teammate Philippe Senderos.Due to increased playing time at his parent club Cannes, Clichy's stint with the under-18 team was uneventful appearing in only three matches. He returned to the team as a regular for under-19 duty as the team was attempting to qualify for the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. In qualifying, France were surprisingly eliminated in the first round after finishing third in its first qualifying round group. Following the team's elimination, France only played in three more matches. Clichy played in the last two against Ukraine. He earned his first call up to the under-21 team under coach Raymond Domenech in the team's first match following the team's failure to qualify for the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship against Belgium, which was a 1–0 victory. Despite featuring in the team as a starter early on, which included playing in every match in the team's triumph at the 2004 Toulon Tournament, as the season wore on, Clichy lost his starting left-back spot to Lyon prospect Jérémy Berthod. His last appearance with the team came on 15 November 2005 in the team's first leg playoff round tie against England, which determined which team would earn a berth in the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. Clichy started the first leg, but was substituted out for Berthod at half-time. France defeated England 3–2 on aggregate to earn a place in the tournament. However, due to his fractured foot injury suffered while playing with Arsenal, Clichy missed the competition.
player on sports team athlete for sports organization team member in sports participant of sports team sports squad member