Christophe Galtier (born 23 August 1966) is a French professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain.
![]() Galtier with Saint-Étienne in 2011 | |||
Personal information | |||
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Full name | Christophe Galtier | ||
Date of birth | (1966-08-23) 23 August 1966 (age 56) | ||
Place of birth | Marseille, France | ||
Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
Position(s) | Defender | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Paris Saint-Germain (head coach) | ||
Youth career | |||
SO Les Caillols[2] | |||
1982–1985 | Marseille | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1985–1987 | Marseille | 52 | (0) |
1987–1990 | Lille | 93 | (0) |
1990–1993 | Toulouse | 82 | (0) |
1993–1994 | Angers | 33 | (1) |
1994–1995 | Nîmes | 21 | (0) |
1995–1997 | Marseille | 62 | (0) |
1997–1998 | Monza | 24 | (0) |
1998–1999 | Liaoning | 23 | (0) |
Total | 390 | (1) | |
National team | |||
1988 | France U21 | 6 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
2009–2017 | Saint-Étienne | ||
2017–2021 | Lille | ||
2021–2022 | Nice | ||
2022– | Paris Saint-Germain | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
A defender, Galtier was a journeyman professional who spent many of his 15 years as a player at Marseille with spells at six other clubs, four in France and one each in Italy and China.[3]
Galtier won the Best Manager of the Year award at the Trophées UNFP du football in 2013, which he shared with Carlo Ancelotti, and again in 2019 after Lille finished in second place during the 2018–19 Ligue 1 season. He won the trophy for a third time in 2021 after guiding Lille to their fourth Ligue 1 title in club history.
Christophe Galtier[4] was born on 23 August 1966[5] in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône.[6] He spent a large part of his playing career in France with his hometown club Marseille, whom he represented in two different spells. In a fifteen-year career, he also played for Lille, Toulouse, Angers, and Nîmes in France, before ending his career with stints in Italy for Monza and with Liaoning in China.[citation needed]
From 1999 to 2004, Galtier was assistant coach at Marseille, Aris and Bastia. From 2004 to 2009, he worked as Alain Perrin's assistant coach at Al Ain, Portsmouth, Sochaux, Lyon and Saint-Étienne (ASSE).[7]
In December 2009, Galtier was appointed the head coach of Saint-Étienne, with ASSE in danger of relegation following the departure of Alain Perrin.[8] In his first season, Galtier successfully guided ASSE to safety, finishing in 17th place. ASSE finished in the top 10 of Ligue 1 in the seven consecutive seasons of Galtier's tenure, with 4 of those seasons ending in a European place.
In 2013, ASSE defeated Rennes to win the Coupe de la Ligue, their first trophy in 32 years.[9] His European debut as a head coach is a 3–0 home win over Moldovan club Milsami Orhei in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase on 1 August 2013.[10]
On 9 May 2017, Galtier announced he would be leaving Saint-Étienne at the end of the season upon the expiration of his contract.[11] At that moment he was the longest serving Ligue 1 manager still active, having taken the reins for eight years.[12] On 20 May 2017, he left the club after 361 games, including 147 wins, as Saint-Étienne head coach.
On 22 December 2017, Galtier became the new manager of Lille, who were at the 18th place in the league.[13] However, they eventually avoided relegation places by one point in the 2017–18 season. In the 2018–19 season, he led Lille to finish second and qualify for the next Champions League season, after a seven-year absence.[14]
During the 2020–21 season, Galtier guided Lille to their first Ligue 1 title in 10 years and the fourth in club history.[15] Galtier was praised by many pundits over the course of the season for both his tactics and his ability to develop young talent including Jonathan David, Renato Sanches, and Mike Maignan.[16][17] For his efforts, Galtier was named the Ligue 1 Manager of the Year for a third time.[16] On 25 May 2021, two days after winning the league title, he resigned as manager. He stated: "I simply have the deep belief that my time is up here."[18]
On 28 June 2021, Galtier was appointed as the new head coach of fellow Ligue 1 club Nice.[19] In his first season, he led the team to a fifth-place finish and a Coupe de France final, where they lost 1–0 to Nantes.[20][21] Nice qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round as a result.[22] He left Nice on 27 June 2022, being replaced by Lucien Favre.[23]
On 5 July 2022, Galtier agreed a two-year deal to become Paris Saint-Germain manager, replacing Mauricio Pochettino.[24]
Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
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P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
Saint-Étienne | 15 December 2009 | 20 May 2017 | 361 | 147 | 109 | 105 | 040.7 | [25] |
Lille | 29 December 2017 | 25 May 2021 | 152 | 78 | 32 | 42 | 051.3 | [26] |
Nice | 28 June 2021 | 27 June 2022 | 43 | 23 | 8 | 12 | 053.5 | [27] |
Paris Saint-Germain | 5 July 2022 | Present | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 081.8 | [28] |
Total | 578 | 266 | 153 | 159 | 046.0 |
Marseille
Saint-Étienne
Lille
Nice
Paris Saint-Germain
Individual
Paris Saint-Germain F.C. – current squad | |
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Current Ligue 1 managers | |
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Awards | |||||||||
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Managerial positions | |||||||||||||||||
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