Yohann Pelé (born 4 November 1982) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
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![]() Pelé playing for Marseille in 2017 | |||
Personal information | |||
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Full name | Yohann Pelé[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1982-11-04) 4 November 1982 (age 39) | ||
Place of birth | Brou-sur-Chantereine, France | ||
Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1999–2009 | Le Mans | 164 | (0) |
2009–2012 | Toulouse | 18 | (0) |
2014–2015 | Sochaux | 49 | (0) |
2015–2021 | Marseille | 62 | (0) |
Total | 293 | (0) | |
National team | |||
2004 | France U21 | 2 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:29, 31 July 2021 (UTC) |
Born in Brou-sur-Chantereine, Pelé spent most of his career at Le Mans, making his debut in Ligue 2 in a 1–0 defeat at FC Istres in September 2002. He established himself as the club's first-choice goalkeeper in the 2004–05 season, as the club won promotion to Ligue 1. He ultimately made 164 appearances for the club before his departure in 2009.[citation needed]
On 29 June 2009, he was transferred from Le Mans to Toulouse FC where he signed a four-year contract.[citation needed]
On 12 October 2010, Toulouse announced that Pelé was suffering from a pulmonary embolism.[2][3] He ended up missing two seasons of football and at the end of the 2011–12 season he left the club.[4]
In January and August 2013, Pelé trained with Dijon FCO and Vannes OC respectively in order to regain fitness.[4][5] In January the following year, more than three years after his last competitive game, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.[6] He played 49 competitive matches for the club over the next two seasons before leaving to join Marseille in 2015.[7]
In July 2015, Pelé joined Ligue 1 club Marseille.[7] After the departure of Steve Mandanda to Crystal Palace, he became Marseille's first choice goalkeeper.[8] He finished the 2016–17 season playing all league matches, and with the most clean sheets in all of Europe's top five leagues.[9]
On 3 May 2018, he played in the Europa League semi-finals away to FC Red Bull Salzburg as Marseilles played out a 1–2 away loss but a 3–2 aggregate win to secure a place in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final[10] played at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, Lyon, France on 16 May 2018,[11] versus Atlético Madrid.[citation needed]
Pelé was called up to the France U21s in 2004, and made two starts.[12] He received his first call-up to the senior team in October 2008 for a friendly against Tunisia, but did not feature.[13]
Yohann is the brother of Steven Pelé, a former footballer who played as a defender for various clubs in France, Israel and Romania.[4]
Marseille