Lilian Thuram
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Lilian Thuram (born Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien, January 1 1972 in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe) is a French professional football player who currently plays for Juventus F.C.. With the French national team, Thuram won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. He is currently considered one of the best defenders in the world.
Before Thuram pursued his football career he aspired to be a Roman Catholic priest until he found that he wanted to make use of his football talents.
Thuram's football career began with Monaco of the French Ligue 1 in 1991. Later stops included Parma (1996-2001) and Juventus - his current club - in the Italian Serie A championship. Thuram has won the scudetto four times with Juventus.
For France, Thuram has been capped 121 times and currently holds the record as most capped player for France. He has only scored two goals, both of which came in one game – the 1998 World Cup semifinal against Croatia, in which France won 2-1 to advance to the final. He also played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup, Euro 96, and Euro 2004. After a brief international retirement, he returned to the French team on August 17, 2005. He earned his 116th cap for France in the World Cup finals Group G match against South Korea in Leipzig on 18 June, 2006. In that game he equalled the record number of caps held by Marcel Desailly which he broke in the final group stage match against Togo in Cologne on 23 June, 2006 when getting his 117th cap. He was named the Man of the Match in his country's semi-final 1-0 victory against Portugal.
Thuram was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
Honours
- Monaco (1991-1996)
- *French Cup 1990/91
- Parma (1996-2001)
- *UEFA Cup 1998/99
- *Italian Cup championships 1998/99
- *Italian SuperCup 1998/99
- Juventus (2001/02- )
- *Serie A Championships: 2001/02 2002/03 2004/05 2005/06
- *Italian SuperCup 2002 2003
- France national team
- *World Cup appearances: 1998 -(Scorer of both goals in the 2-1 defeat of Croatia in the Semi-Final) 2002 2006
- *European Championship appearances: 1996 2000 2004
External links
- [FootballDatabase provides Lilian Thuram's profile and stats]
- [Juventus player profile]
- [List of caps at RSSSF.com]
- [Thuram comments on French social unrest]
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