Grégory Coupet

Lore & Background

Coupet moved to league rival Lyon in January 1997 as a replacement for Pascal Olmeta. His gamble paid off as Lyon regularly dominated Le Championnat since 2002 and were also regular fixtures in the UEFA Champions League. He performed a memorable double save against Barcelona during a 2001–02 UEFA Champions League match, when he first acrobatically headed an unintended lob by his team-mate Caçapa onto his own crossbar, and then immediately parried a close header by the arriving Barcelona striker Rivaldo. He openly wept during the group photo before France faced Turkey in a 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final match, which had taken place just hours after the shocking death of his close friend and former Lyon teammate Marc-Vivien Foé. Coupet credits the aftermath of Foé's death in helping him gain a new perspective on life, in the process settling his differences with Lyon after having been engaged in a contract dispute for most of the 2002–03 season, which included at one point his vowing never to play for the club again.

Reader's Guide

Grégory Coupet's career at Lyon spanned from his arrival in January 1997 until his sale in July 2008. During that time, he won seven Ligue 1 titles: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, and 2007–08. He also won the Coupe de France in 2007–08, the Coupe de la Ligue in 2000–01, the Trophée des Champions in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007, and the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1997. Individually, he was named Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year four times: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, and 2005–06. He was also named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Year in those same four seasons. In 2005, Coupet was voted for the first time, at age 33, into the top 10 for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award, finishing with 43 votes in fourth-place behind winner Petr Čech, Dida and Gianluigi Buffon respectively. After retiring from professional football in 2011, he worked as a sports consultant. In July 2016, Coupet returned to Lyon as goalkeeper coach for the club's B-team. In November 2017, Lyon confirmed that Coupet would continue as goalkeeping coach of Lyon's Ligue 1 team from the New Year. On 20 May 2020, Lyon confirmed that Coupet would leave the club at the end of the season, as his contract was expiring.

Did You Know?

• In February 2006, a France Football poll showed Coupet received 69 percent of votes to be France's first-choice goalkeeper for the 2006 World Cup, while Fabien Barthez received 28 percent.
• Coupet was sold to Atlético Madrid on 18 July 2008 for €1.5 million and an additional €250,000 bonus.