| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien | ||
| Date of birth | 1 January 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Right back / Centre back | ||
Club career:
Thuram's football career began with AS Monaco of the French Ligue 1 in 1991. He then transferred to Parma FC (1996–2001) and then to Juventus FC (2001–2006) for £25 million, and eventually to FC Barcelona in 2006.
AS Monaco
Thuram started his professional career with AS Monaco in 1991. He only made 1 appearance that season, but was officially promoted to the first team the following season, when he would go on to make 19 appearances. He was inserted into the starting eleven by the end of 1992 and would go onto make 155 league appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit, before transferring to Parma FC in the summer of 1996. He made his national team debut in 1994, while at Monaco.
Parma FC
In July 1996, Thuram made a highly watched transfer to Italy, with Serie A club, Parma. In his first season with the club, he made over 40 appearances for the club, in all competitions, scoring 1 goal. He maintained starting position throughout his time with Parma, and racked up 163 Serie A appearances, scoring the lone league goal. In all, he made over 200 appearances for the club, really making a name for himself, also earning caps for France. Following another overly impressive season in 2000–2001, Thuram along with teammate Gianluigi Buffon transferred to Juventus FC, one of the European giants, and Italian Scudetto holders. His transfer cost the club reported £22 million.[2] While at Parma, he won the UEFA Cup in 1998–99, along with eventual Juventus teammate Gianluigi Buffon and Fabio Cannavaro.
Juventus FC
In the summer of 2001, Thuram made a high profile transfer to Juventus FC, along with Buffon. During this period, under coach Marcello Lippi, Juventus was considered as one of the strongest teams in the world, also containing what was considered as one of the best defences in the world by many, and teams strongly regretted ever going down a goal to the club, as they knew how hard it would be to score one back for themselves. Thuram formed impressive defensive partnerships with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Paolo Montero, Gianluca Pessotto, Mark Iuliano, Alessandro Birindelli, Igor Tudor, Gianluca Zambrotta, Nicola Legrottaglie, Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Federico Balzaretti, and Jonathan Zebina during his 5 year tenure with the club. During his time with the club Thuram won the Scudetto two times with Juventus. During the seasons 2004–05 and 2005–06 Thuram, along with Gianluigi Buffon in goal, Gianluca Zambrotta at left back, he and Fabio Cannavaro in the center of defence, and Jonathan Zebina at right back formed one of the most expensive, but also most feared, defenses in Italy. After 5 years with the Italian giants, Thuram transferred to FC Barcelona in La Liga, in the wake of the calciopoli scandal. He managed over 200 total appearances for the club, with 2 goals.
FC Barcelona
On 24 July 2006, Thuram signed with Spanish club FC Barcelona[3] for 5 million[4] after Juventus were relegated to Serie B due to the Calciopoli scandal. Sadly, after his contract expired in the 2007–2008 season, Thuram was forced to call time on his illustrious career due to a rare heart condition which had a few years prior taken the life of his brother. In the season before his announced retirement (the 2007–08 season), he was the third/fourth choice centre back after Carles Puyol, Gabriel Milito, and Rafael Márquez.[5]
International career:
After becoming world champion in 1998, Thuram was an integral part of France's triumph at Euro 2000, which led to the team being ranked by FIFA as number one from 2001–2002. He also played in the 2002 World Cup, 2006 World Cup, Euro 96, Euro 2004, and Euro 2008
1998 World Cup
Thuram scored only two international goals, both of which came in one game – the 1998 World Cup semi-final against Croatia, in which France came back to win 2–1 and advance to the final. France defeated Brazil 3–0 to capture their inaugural World Cup and Thuram won the Bronze Ball as the third most valuable player in the tournament. He, Bixente Lizarazu, Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly formed the backbone of the French defence that conceded only 2 goals in seven games.
2006 World Cup
After a brief international retirement, France coach Raymond Domenech convinced Thuram to return to the French team on 17 August 2005, along with fellow "Golden Generation" teammates Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makélélé, as Les Bleus struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Thuram's centre-back partnership with William Gallas was to be the foundation for France's progression to the final. Thuram earned his 116th cap for France in the group stage match against South Korea in Leipzig on 18 June 2006. In that game he equalled Desailly's record number of caps, which he broke in the final group stage match, a 2–0 win over Togo in Cologne on 23 June 2006, winning his 117th cap. He was named the Man of the match in France's semi-final 1–0 victory against Portugal, coincidentally the same distinction he had earned eight years earlier at the semi-finals of the 1998
World Cup.
Euro 2008
On 9 June 2008, Thuram took the field against Romania in a group match, and became the first player to make 15 UEFA European Championship finals appearances. The former record of 14 appearances was held by Zinedine Zidane, Luís Figo and Karel Poborský.[6] He played one more game during the tournament, raising the number of his appearances to 16, which record was then equaled a few days later by Edwin van der Sar from the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. Thuram was the captain of France in the tournament. He, along with Claude Makélélé, announced his retirement from international football on 17 June 2008, after France's 2–0 loss to Italy.[7] He finished his career with the national team as France's most capped player with 142 caps.
