Sylvain Wiltord: Top Scorer in 2003–04 Season

Lore & Background

Wiltord had a four-season spell at Arsenal, with whom he won two Premier League titles and two FA Cups. He also won the Ligue 1 title at Bordeaux and in each of his three consecutive seasons at Lyon. With the France national team, Wiltord earned 92 caps and scored 26 goals. He played at the 1996 Olympics, two FIFA World Cups and two UEFA European Championships. Wiltord was part of the teams which won Euro 2000 (for which he scored a last minute equaliser to take the final to extra time) and reached the final of the 2006 World Cup.

Reader's Guide

Wiltord joined Rennes from lower-league side CO Joinville in 1991. He moved to Bordeaux in 1997, winning Ligue 1 in 1998–99. He signed for Arsenal in August 2000 for a club record £13 million, winning the Premier League in 2001–02 and 2003–04, and the FA Cup in 2001–02 and 2002–03. He joined Lyon in August 2004, winning Ligue 1 in 2004–05, 2005–06, and 2006–07. He later played for Rennes, Marseille, Metz, and Nantes before retiring in June 2012.

Did You Know?

• He was voted 33rd in a list of 50 greatest Arsenal players of all time in June 2008.
• In 2015, he competed on the TF1 reality show Dropped; the day after his elimination, a helicopter crash killed ten people including three fellow contestants.