Roger Lemerre

Roger Lemerre

Personal information
Full name	Roger León Maurice Lemerre-Desprez
Date of birth	18 June 1941 (1941-06-18) (age 70)
Place of birth	Bricquebec, France
Playing position	Defender (retired)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1961–1969	Sedan	213	(24)
1969–1971	Nantes	69	(1)
1971–1973	Nancy	65	(0)
1973–1975	Lens	57	(0)
Total		508	(25)
National team
1968–1971	France	6	(0)
Teams managed
1975–1978	Red Star
1978–1979	Lens
1979–1981	Paris
1981–1983	Strasbourg
1983–1984	Espérance Tunis
1985–1986	Red Star
1986–1996	France (Army team)
1997	Lens
1998	France (assistant coach)
1998–2002	France
2002–2008	Tunisia
2008–2009	Morocco
2009–2010	Ankaragücü
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Roger Lemerre (born 18 June 1941 in Bricquebec, Manche) is a French association football manager and former football player. During his managerial career, he has managed the French, Tunisian and Moroccan national football teams.

Player career

His professional playing career spanned 15 seasons, from 1961 to 1975: between 1961 and 1969 he played for Sedan and lose the Cup in 1965, before moving to Nantes (1968–1971), Nancy (1971–1973) and Lens (1973–1975). He won 6 caps for France between 1968 and 1971.

Manager career

Between 1975 and 1978, he was the coach of Red Star from Saint-Ouen, and then went back to RC Lens for a season as coach, before moving to Paris FC for two seasons. In the 1983–1984 season, he ran Espérance Sportive de Tunis in Tunisia. On his return to France, he again took up his post as Red Star manager.

For 10 seasons, he coached the French national military team, with whom he won the World Championships.

In 1997, he finished the season with Lens and saved it from relegation.

He assisted Aimé Jacquet in the French team's 1998 World Cup victory. This paved the way for him to take over as the national coach, winning Euro 2000 in Netherlands/Belgium. However, after the team suffered a stunning first-round exit in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he was dismissed by the French Football Federation.^[1]

Undeterred, Tunisia's national federation soon hired Lemerre to be the manager of their national side. There, he guided them to victory in the African Nations Cup in 2004, and led them to qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He was sacked in February 2008 following the team's exit from the 2008 African Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals.^[2]

Lemerre was named the new head coach of Morocco national football team in May 2008 and took charge on 1 July.^[3] He was fired on 9 July 2009, for disappointing results.^[4] On 18 December 2009, he accepted a managing job at Ankaragücü on a 6-month deal that could be extended if both parties agreed.^[5] Former Turkish international Ümit Özat was appointed as his assistant coach. In May 2010, despite the fact that Lemerre had turned the team around and possibly saved them from relegation, the club decided not to extend Lemerre's contract and he was replaced by his assistant Ümit Özat for season 2009/2010.

Career Outline

As player

• 1961–1969: Sedan Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes
• 1969–1971: FC Nantes
• 1971–1973: AS Nancy-Lorraine
• 1973–1975: RC Lens

As manager

• 1975–1978: Red Star
• 1978–1979: Lens
• 1979–1981: Paris FC
• 1981–1983: RC Strasbourg
• 1983–1984: Espérance Tunis
• 1985–1986: Red Star
• 1986–1996: French military team and French A national side
• 1997: RC Lens
• 1998–2002: French A national side: 53 games (34 victories) 11 draws et 8 defeats, 106/43

• 2002–2008: Tunisian national side
• 2008–2009: Moroccan national side (from 1 July 2008 to 8 July 2009)
• 2009–2010: Ankaragücü s.k (18 December 2009)

Honours

As player

• Etoile d'or France Football: 1966, 1968, 1969

As manager

• Military World Cup champions: 1995
• UEFA European Football Championship champion: 2000
• Confederations Cup: 2001
• African Nations Cup: 2004

Private life

Lemerre married in October 2003, without the press knowing.

Lemerre and press

During his leadership of the Moroccan football team (The Atlas Lions) Lemerre always kept distance with the press. Refusing to give information and prohibiting players to give interviews during the Moroccan critical period of 2010 world cup qualification, led to boycott his after-match interviews by the press. Some Moroccan newspapers described him as the enemy of the press (Almountakhab Arabic article newspaper). Lemerre prohibited some Moroccan fans who come to watch their national team on the Chantier area (near Paris, France) while preparing for next qualifications; the fans addressed a protest letter to the Moroccan Footbal Federation.

“The Moroccan Royal Federation of Football Association (FRMF) has decided to separate amicably from the national team coach, Roger Lemerre,” announced the FRMF without giving further explanation about the exact amount given to Lemerre to quit national team coaching.

References

External links

• French Profile and pictures of Roger Lemerre
• Player profile on French federation site
• Coach profile on French federation site

Awards and achievements			FIFA Confederations Cup winning manager 2001	Succeeded by Jacques Santini

Roger Lemerre international tournaments v t e France squad – UEFA Euro 2000 Winners (2nd Title) 1 Lama 2 Candela 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Blanc 6 Djorkaeff 7 Deschamps (c) 8 Desailly 9 Anelka 10 Zidane 11 Pirès 12 Henry 13 Wiltord 14 Micoud 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Petit 18 Leboeuf 19 Karembeu 20 Trezeguet 21 Dugarry 22 Ramé Coach: Lemerre v t e France squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Ramé 2 Sagnol 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Gillet 6 Djorkaeff 7 Pirès 8 Desailly (c) 9 Anelka 10 Carrière 11 Wiltord 12 Coupet 13 Silvestre 14 Née 15 Bréchet 16 Dacourt 17 Marlet 18 Leboeuf 19 Karembeu 20 Camara 21 Dugarry 22 Robert 23 Landreau Coach: Lemerre v t e France squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Ramé 2 Candela 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Christanval 6 Djorkaeff 7 Makélélé 8 Desailly (c) 9 Cissé 10 Zidane 11 Wiltord 12 Henry 13 Silvestre 14 Boghossian 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Petit 18 Leboeuf 19 Sagnol 20 Trezeguet 21 Dugarry 22 Micoud 23 Coupet Coach: Lemerre v t e Tunisia squad – 2004 Africa Cup of Nations Winners (1st Title) 1 Boumnijel 2 Badra 3 Haggui 4 Yahia 5 Jaziri 6 H. Trabelsi 7 Mhedhebi 8 Nafti 9 Braham 10 Ghodhbane 11 Santos 12 Mnari 13 Bouazizi 14 Chedli 15 Jaïdi 16 Fadhel 17 Jedidi 18 Ben Achour 19 Ayari 20 Clayton 21 Saidi 22 Azaiez Coach: Lemerre v t e Tunisia squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Boumnijel 2 Saidi 3 Essediri 4 El Abdy 5 Jaziri 6 Trabelsi 7 Mhedhebi 8 Nafti 9 Guemamdia 10 Ghodhbane 11 Santos 12 Mnari 13 Namouchi 14 Chedli 15 Jaïdi 16 Fadhel 17 Ben Saada 18 Benachour 19 Ayari 20 Clayton 21 Jemâa 22 Kasraoui 23 Hadj Massaoued Coach: Lemerre v t e Tunisia squad – 2006 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Boumnijel 2 Merdassi 3 Haggui 4 Melliti 5 Jaziri 6 H. Trabelsi 7 Ben Saada 8 Namouchi 9 Guemamdia 10 Ghodhbane 11 Santos 12 Mnari 13 Bouazizi 14 Chedli 15 Jaïdi 16 Fadhel 17 Jemâa 18 Ben Achour 19 Ayari 20 Clayton 21 Yahia 22 Kasraoui 23 Ltaïef Coach: Lemerre v t e Tunisia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Boumnijel 2 Essediri 3 Haggui 4 Yahia 5 Jaziri 6 Trabelsi 7 Guemamdia 8 Nafti 9 Chikhaoui 10 Ghodhbane 11 Santos 12 Mnari 13 Bouazizi (c) 14 Chedli 15 Jaïdi 16 Nefzi 17 Ben Saada 18 Jemmali 19 Ayari 20 Namouchi 21 Saidi 22 Kasraoui 23 Melliti Coach: Lemerre v t e Tunisia squad – 2008 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Kasraoui 2 Ghezal 3 Haggui 4 El Abdy 5 El Bekri 6 Felhi 7 Ben Saada 8 Nafti 9 Chikhaoui 10 Zaiem 11 Santos 12 Mnari 13 Ben Frej 14 Zouagi 15 Jaïdi 16 Mathlouthi 17 Jemâa 18 Mikari 19 Meriah 20 Ben Dhifallah 21 Traoui 22 Nefzi 23 Chermiti Coach: Lemerre