IFFHS – THE WORLD’S BEST GOALKEEPER 2000 : FABIEN BARTHEZ (AS MONACO/FRANCE)

PRESENTATION

Fabien Barthez, born 28 June 1971 in Lavelanet, is one of the best French Goalkeepers in history and the first Goalkeeper to be World Champion with France in 1998 !

He began his career in youth category in Toulouse where he signed his first professional contract in 1990. He played two years with his club in Ligue 1 (79 matches) before signing with the greatest club at this moment in France, Olympique Marseille. Fabien Barthez won with his club the UEFA Champions League 1992/1993, the only success of a French Team in this competition in the history ! From 1992 to 1995, he played 106 matches with Marseille, winning the Ligue 2 title 1994/95 after the relegation of the club.

In 1995, he went to AS Monaco where he won 2 Ligue 1 titles (1996/97 and 1999/2000) and a Champion’s Trophy 1997. He was the number 1 there for 5 years with 143 matches. A new challenge in England was his next step, he changed to Manchester United in 2000. He played 92 matches and won the Premier League titles 2000/01 and 2002/03.

Barthez came back to Marseille in 2003 as loan and definitively in 2004 to play there 74 matches in 3 years before ending his club career in Nantes with 14 matches in 2006/07.

At international level, he represented France in 87 matches from 1994 to 2006. He won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. He was runner-up with France at the 2006 FIFA World Cup final against Italy and participated at 3 World Cups and 3 UEFA Euros !

In 2000, he won at the same time the Ligue 1 title in France with AS Monaco and the UEFA Euro with the National Team, so he was crowned for the first time THE WORLD’S BEST GOALKEEPER 2000 by IFFHS, receiving his Trophy before the match France – Germany in 2001 in Paris with Oliver Kahn, the German Goalkeeper, at the second place !

After retiring from football in 2007, Barthez began a career in motorsport in 2008 and came back  in 2010, when he became the Goalkeeper Coach of French National team with Laurent Blanc at the head. He continued his motorsport adventure and run the 24 Heures du Mans in 2014, one of the greatest motorsport races in the World !