Philippe Léonard
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Philippe Léonard | ||
Date of birth | 14 February 1974 | ||
Place of birth | Liège, Belgium | ||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Position(s) | Left back | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1992–1996 | Standard Liège | 124 | (3) |
1996–2003 | Monaco | 99 | (3) |
2004 | Nice | 14 | (0) |
2004–2006 | Standard Liège | 55 | (3) |
2006–2007 | Feyenoord | 2 | (0) |
2008 | Rapid București | 10 | (0) |
Total | 304 | (9) | |
National team | |||
1991 | Belgium U19 | 2 | (0) |
1992–1995 | Belgium U21 | 9 | (1) |
1994–2006 | Belgium | 26 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
Philippe Léonard (born 14 February 1974) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a left back.
After playing most notably for Standard Liège and Monaco, he rarely appeared for his following four teams (including Standard again) in a 16-year professional career.
Léonard represented Belgium at Euro 2000, being an international over a 12-year period.
Club career[]
Born in Liège, Léonard started his professional career at Standard Liège. There, alongside Régis Genaux and Michaël Goossens, he was part of The Three Musketeers generation – with Roberto Bisconti playing a smaller role – hailed for their sporting talent but with a troublesome character.
He won the Belgian Cup in 1993, only 19, having scored in the final against R. Charleroi SC, and also helped the side to two runner-up league places (1992–93 and 1994–95), each time bowing out to Anderlecht.
Subsequently, Léonard moved to France where he played with AS Monaco FC, also having a brief stint with OGC Nice. Whilst at Monaco, he scored in the semifinal of the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League against Juventus, in a 4–6 aggregate loss, being the only Belgian player to score at this stage of the competition;[1] in the previous round, he helped oust Manchester United on the away goals rule after a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford.[2]
After two Ligue 1 titles with Monaco, to which he contributed with 38 games and two goals combined, Léonard returned to Standard, where he again finished second, in the 2005–06 season, again to Anderlecht. Subsequently, he had short spells abroad, with Feyenoord and FC Rapid București.
Léonard ended his career in 2009, at the age of 35, after not being able to find a new club. He subsequently took up writing columns in Belgian newspapers.
International career[]
Léonard played 26 times with Belgium, and was in the team for UEFA Euro 2000, where he appeared in the 2–1 win for the hosts against Sweden. His debut coming in 1994, he was a regular fixture in the next two years, as right back Genaux, but Belgium failed to qualify for Euro 1996.
They both lost their place with the arrival of coach Georges Leekens, and Léonard was dropped at the last minute for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Because of a conflict with then coach Robert Waseige, he spent five years without being called after Euro 2000, so he also missed the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Honours[]
Standard Liège
- Belgian Cup: 1992–93
Monaco
- Ligue 1: 1996–97, 1999–2000
- Coupe de la Ligue: 2002–03; Runner-up 2000–01
- Trophée des Champions: 1997, 2000
References[]
- ^ "Monaco 3–2 Juventus". UEFA.com. 15 April 1998. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ "Monaco and bust for sorry United". The Independent. 19 March 1998. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
External links[]
- Philippe Léonard – French league stats at LFP – also available in French
- Philippe Léonard at National-Football-Teams.com
- Philippe Léonard – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Philippe Léonard at FootballDatabase.eu
- Philippe Léonard Interview
- 1974 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Liège
- Walloon sportspeople
- Belgian footballers
- Association football defenders
- Belgian First Division A players
- Standard Liège players
- Ligue 1 players
- AS Monaco FC players
- OGC Nice players
- Eredivisie players
- Feyenoord players
- Liga I players
- FC Rapid București players
- Belgium under-21 international footballers
- Belgium international footballers
- UEFA Euro 2000 players
- Belgian expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in France
- Expatriate footballers in Monaco
- Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands
- Expatriate footballers in Romania
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Romania