Michel Platini

Born in Joeuf (Meurthe-et-Moselle, France) in 1955 from Italian immigrants, Michel Platini became one of the best French soccer players ever. He played for 4 different clubs: AS Joeuf (during his amateur youth, 1966-72), Nancy (1972-79), Saint-Etienne (1979-82) and Juventus Turin (1982-87). With Nancy he was first in the Group B of second division in 1975 and won the French Cup in 1978. With Saint-Etienne he won the French Championship in 1981 and was 2 times finalist in the French Cup. With Turin he won one Italian Cup, 2 Italian Championships and 4 different international titles (+ one lost finale), and he was 3 times the best scorer of the Italian Championship. He also played 72 matches with the French national team, with whom he was 50 times captain and scored 41 goals, was European champion in 1984 (and top scorer of the tournament with 9 goals), won the Intercontinental Cup in 1985, finished fourth in the 1982 World Cup and third in 1986. He also received 3 European Golden Balls (Footballer of the year) from 1983 to 1985. He retired in 1987 to concentrate on his vast business empire. In 1988, after France failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup, Platini became the team manager (his first coaching job) until 1992. Under his coaching France had 16 victories, 8 draws and only 5 defeats and qualified for the 1992 European Nations Championship with 8 victories in 8 matches during the qualifications. Later he was co-president of the Organization Committee of the 1998 World Cup in France, and then became the Special Advisor of FIFA president Joseph Blatter and also vice-president of the French Federation since January 2001.