Yashin Award winner - 1998 world cup:
Fabien Barthez 
Club career
Marseille
Born in Lavelanet, France, Barthez made his first division debut for Toulouse on 21 September 1991, against Nancy. He joined Marseille in 1992, and won both the French championship and the Champions League at the end of his first season in Marseille. The 1993 victory made him the youngest goalkeeper to win a Champions League title until Iker Casillas did so in 2000. However, Marseille would be stripped of their domestic title, though not of the Champions League crown, due to their involvement in a domestic match fixing scandal, and a year later (1994) would suffer a forced relegation to the second division due to a related financial bankruptcy. He stayed with the club in Division 2 for the 1994–95 season despite many offers from elite French clubs.[1]AS Monaco
In 1995, Barthez joined AS Monaco and won Ligue 1 titles in 1997 and 2000.Manchester United
As a result of Barthez's success in the World Cup and the Euros, he caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who was searching for a star goalkeeper to replace the recently departed Peter Schmeichel, as Ferguson did not think that the previous season's keeper, Mark Bosnich was a long-term replacement. Barthez joined United for £7.8 million in 2000. He was later reunited with national team-mate Laurent Blanc who joined Manchester United in 2001. The Barthez-Blanc head-kissing ritual was performed at the start of Champions League matches.Return to Marseille
In October 2003, after American newcomer Tim Howard won the starting goalkeeper's job from Barthez, United agreed to release Barthez from his contract at Old Trafford after the 2003–04 season, and also agreed to loan Barthez out to Marseille for the remainder of that season. However, FIFA blocked the loan deal on the grounds that it was not agreed upon within the international transfer window. The two clubs agreed on a loan deal after the transfer window reopened on 1 January 2004, and Barthez joined Marseille soon afterwards. On 27 April, Marseille and Barthez agreed to a two-and-a-half-year contract which would keep him at the club until spring 2006.Retirement
On 8 August 2006, Barthez announced he was still hoping to play professional football for another two years, insisting he was also looking to continue his career in the French international setup. His ideal scenario would have been a return to first club Toulouse, where he could be close enough to allow him to take care of his sick mother. But he said if he did not have a club by 31 August he would not carry on with football. On 5 October 2006 it was confirmed that he had retired from football, having failed to agree a return to Toulouse. Barthez commented: "The only club I wanted to go to was not so happy to have me. It happens and you have to live with it."Comeback
On 29 April, Nantes chairman Rudi Roussillon announced that following an altercation with a Nantes fan, Barthez had left the city with his family. The next day, Barthez confirmed that he had quit the team, and the club terminated his contract. Barthez denied that he was planning to retire, and in an article for French daily L'Équipe, he said that he was looking for another contract for at least two years. Since then Barthez has been linked with numerous clubs but nothing has ever materialised and he had to face never playing professional football again.
International career
1998 World Cup
Main article: 1998 FIFA World Cup
In the 1998 World Cup which was hosted by his home country, Barthez conceded only two goals in seven games and won the Yashin Award as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Barthez was also well known during the tournament for letting teammate and good friend Laurent Blanc
kiss his shaved head before the start of every match, supposedly for
good luck. Barthez was an integral part of his national team's inaugural
triumph which also made it the first time in 20 years that a host had
won the World Cup; the highlight being a 3–0 clean sheet against
defending champions Brazil in the finals. During the game, Barthez made a spectacular save on Brazilian superstar Ronaldo,
doing his trademark leap/step-over the attacking striker to grab the
ball, which injured Ronaldo in the process. Barthez was afterwards one
of the most popular national players in France, second to Zinedine Zidane.2000 European Championship
Two years later, Barthez was again the starter as his country won Euro 2000. It was the first time in over twenty years that a national team held both the World Cup and Euro titles, a feat last accomplished by West Germany in 1974. After that triumph, France held the top position in the FIFA World Rankings system from 2001 to 2002.2002 and 2004 World Cup and Euro
He played on France's World Cup team again in 2002 in which they exited in the first round without winning a game or scoring a goal. He was also the starter in Euro 2004, saving David Beckham's penalty shot in the round robin, but France went out in the quarterfinals to eventual winners Greece.2006 World Cup
Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup
His place as starting goalkeeper in France's 2006 FIFA World Cup
Campaign, in the face of a substantial public campaign in support of Grégory Coupet,
was surprising to many, even more so given Coupet's flawless
performance in the remainder of the World Cup qualifying campaign after
Barthez's suspension. The decision was met with derision in the French
press and also led to Coupet's walking out of the national squad before
the tournament, though he was to return one day later. The move was
viewed by some as a desire to keep the veterans of France's 1998 World
Cup victory on the team. L'Equipe reported after the World Cup that Barthez would have walked out of the squad had he not been named the starter.France had a slow start in the group stage, drawing their first two games and putting their playoff chances at risk. Fortunately, Barthez's team found their form and won their final round robin match 2–0 to advance to the next stage, where they upset heavily favoured Spain 3–1 in the round of 16.
In defeating Brazil, 1–0 on 1 July 2006, Barthez, having made only one save in the game, became the first keeper to blank the Brazilian team in consecutive World Cup finals matches, the first being the 1998 final (3–0). France is now one of only four nations (along with Italy, Argentina and the Netherlands) to have shut Brazil out twice in the World Cup finals, and the first to have done it in consecutive matches, both times with Barthez in goal.
Barthez again kept a clean sheet in the semi-final against Portugal (with Zinédine Zidane's penalty shot the winning goal), though he appeared in questionable form. A few minutes from time, he spectacularly spilled a free-kick which Luís Figo recovered, heading over the bar although unchallenged. He did, however, redeem himself in injury time when a French defender fumbled the ball, enabling a Portuguese player to mount a last-moment attack. Barthez scrambled out of the net and blocked the first shot.
During the final against Italy he briefly captained his team for the remainder of the second period of extra time after Zidane was sent off. During the penalty shootout, neither he nor his Italian counterpart Gianluigi Buffon made a save, and France striker David Trezeguet's missed shot ultimately proved decisive.
Motorsport career
After retiring from football in 2007, Barthez began a career in motorsport in 2008. He began competing at selected events in the Porsche Carrera Cup France that year with the team SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion. He also competed at two events in the THP Spider Cup. In 2009, he raced in a number of various motorsport series such as the French GT Championship, Bioracing Series and the Caterham Sigma Cup France as well as the Porsche Carrera Cup France. He continued to race in the FFSA GT Championship in 2010 and picked up his first podium in race 1 at Dijon-Prenois. In the 2012 season he won his first race in the FFSA series at the Circuito de Navarra in race two and finished seventh in the championship.In 2013 he will compete in the newly re-branded FIA GT Series alongside Gérard Tonelli in the Gentleman Trophy class with SOFREV ASP driving a GT3-spec Ferrari 458 Italia.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fabien Alain Barthez | ||
| Date of birth | 28 June 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Lavelanet, France | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1986–1990 | Toulouse | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1990–1992 | Toulouse | 26 | (0) |
| 1992–1995 | Marseille | 106 | (0) |
| 1995–2000 | Monaco | 143 | (0) |
| 2000–2004 | Manchester United | 92 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | → Marseille (loan) | 20 | (0) |
| 2004–2006 | Marseille | 54 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Nantes | 14 | (0) |
| Total | 455 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| 1994–2006 | France | 87 | (0) |
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