Thierry Oleksiak (born 11 September 1961) is a French professional football manager and former player who works as an assistant coach at Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, under the direction of head coach Christophe Galtier.[2] As a player, Oleksiak was a defensive midfielder and centre-back.
![]() Oleksiak with Lille in 1993 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | (1961-09-11) 11 September 1961 (age 60) | ||
Place of birth | Saint-Étienne, France | ||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | ||
Position(s) | Defensive midfielder, centre-back | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Paris Saint-Germain (assistant) | ||
Youth career | |||
1971–1979 | Saint-Étienne | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1977–1979 | Saint-Étienne B | ||
1979–1986 | Saint-Étienne | 134 | (6) |
1986–1989 | Nice | 97 | (2) |
1989–1991 | Metz | 63 | (0) |
1991–1993 | Lille | 47 | (1) |
1993–1994 | Angers | 15 | (0) |
1994–1997 | Aurillac | ||
Total | 356+ | (10+) | |
National team | |||
1982–1984 | France U21 | 12 | (0) |
1988 | France Olympic | 1 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
1994–1999 | Aurillac | ||
1999–2000 | Amiens (assistant) | ||
2001–2008 | Aurillac | ||
2008 | Libourne Saint-Seurin (assistant) | ||
2008–2011 | Libourne[lower-alpha 1] | ||
2013–2015 | Saint-Étienne B | ||
2015–2017 | Saint-Étienne (assistant) | ||
2017 | Liaoning (assistant) | ||
2018–2021 | Lille (assistant) | ||
2021–2022 | Nice (assistant) | ||
2022– | Paris Saint-Germain (assistant) | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Born in Saint-Étienne, Oleksiak began his career at his hometown club of Saint-Étienne. He played seven seasons for the club's first team from 1979 to 1986, winning the Division 1 title in the 1980–81 season.[3] In 1986, he joined Nice, where he would play three seasons.[4] In 1989, Oleksiak signed for Metz, before joining Lille in 1991. In 1993, he signed for Angers, where he met then-teammate Christophe Galtier; they would go on to work together extensively as coaches in the 21st century.[2] In the 1993–94 season with Angers, Oleksiak suffered relegation from the Division 1. The season was also his final as a professional, as he joined amateur side Aurillac in 1994.[5]
Oleksiak represented France at under-21 level in the early 1980s,[4] and made a total of twelve appearances for the team.[3] In 1988, he was selected by Jacky Braun [fr], coach of the France Olympic football team, for a match against Sweden. France had already been eliminated in the race for qualification for the 1988 Summer Olympics, and lost the match to Sweden by a score of 2–1.[3]
In 1994, Oleksiak joined Aurillac as a player-manager. His team won promotion from the Championnat National 3 in the 1994–95 season [fr].[5] In 1997, he retired from playing, and became solely the manager of the team.[5] From 1999 to 2000, Oleksiak worked as an assistant coach to his former Nice teammate René Marsiglia for Amiens,[4] before returning to coach Aurillac in 2001.[5] In 2008, Oleksiak joined Libourne Saint-Seurin (later renamed Libourne), where he was initially an assistant coach before becoming the head coach.[5]
In 2012, Oleksiak returned to his hometown club Saint-Étienne, initially as a scout,[4] before becoming the manager of the reserve team in 2013.[5] In 2015, he joined his former Angers teammate Christophe Galtier's coaching staff in Sainté's first team as an assistant coach.[2][6] Besides a small stint as an assistant coach for Chinese club Liaoning in 2017,[5] Oleksiak followed Galtier to Lille, where he contributed to a Ligue 1 title in the 2020–21 season.[4] In the 2021–22 season, Oleksiak was with Galtier at Nice.[4] They both joined Paris Saint-Germain in July 2022.[7]
Thierry's father Jean [fr] is also a former professional footballer. They both played for Saint-Étienne and Lille in their careers.[8] Jean's father, Thierry's grandfather, was a political refugee from Poland.[9]
Saint-Étienne
Aurillac
Saint-Étienne B