| Christian Jeanpierre | |
| Birth Date: | 9 April 1965 |
| Birth Place: | Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, France |
| Show: | Téléfoot |
| Country: | France |
Christian Jeanpierre (also spelt Jean-Pierre, born 9 April 1965) is a French sports journalist who has worked for French television channels Canal+ and TF1, as well as radio station Europe 1. Jeanpierre presented TF1's football programme, Téléfoot, in 2004, and from 2008 to 2018.
Jeanpierre was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, and grew up in Toulouse.[1] His grandparents were farmers.[2] He studied at the Journalists Training Center in Montpellier.[3] Jeanpierre is a supporter of Toulouse FC, and rugby union team Stade Toulousain.[1] He is an amateur drummer, and plays music with Jean-Jacques Goldman.
Jeanpierre's first journalistic work was for the La Dépêche du Midi whilst he was providing humanitarian aid in Mali.[2] In 1987, he began working for the magazine ça m'intéresse.[2] In 1988, he began working for broadcaster TF1 as an intern.[4] At TF1, he then became a reporter, and then a columnist.[5] Jeanpierre covered the Rugby World Cups between 1995 and 2019.[4] Jeanpierre is nicknamed "Monsieur foot" ("Mr Football").[1]
Between 2003 and 2008, Jeanpierre worked for French radio station Europe 1 in their sports department. He specialised in football commentary.[3] After Thierry Roland's departure from TF1 football programme Téléfoot in 2004, Jeanpierre hosted the show alongside .[6] In January 2005, they were replaced by Thierry Gilardi.[7] After the death of Gilardi in 2008, Christian Jeanpierre returned as Téléfoot presenter.[8] His first programme was dedicated to Gilardi.[9] Co-presenters alongside Jeanpierre included and, and Bixente Lizarazu made some host appearances on the show.[9] He covered every France international football game between 2008 and early 2016,[5] and is remembered for his commentary of France's defeat to hosts South Africa at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[4] Grégoire Margotton was chosen ahead of Jeanpierre to present Téléfoot's coverage of France matches at UEFA Euro 2016, after Margotton moved from Canal+ to TF1. Jeanpierre had presented Téléfoot's coverage of the 2008 and 2012 tournaments,[10] and continued to cover other matches at Euro 2016,[5] alongside former A.S. Roma coach Rudi Garcia.[11] He commentated on seven matches, including England against Slovakia, and also interviewed French manager Didier Deschamps two days after France's first match of the tournament against Romania.[3] After the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Jeanpierre was replaced by Margotton as the main presenter of Téléfoot.[12] [13] Jeanpierre was then demoted to only covering minor matches.[14] He left TF1 in 2020;[4] [14] his last broadcast was Les Enfoirés, les secrets de une concert on 14 March.[5] He later worked on high frequency microphones used by FIFA and UEFA.[3] In 2021, he was working with Canal+ on a programme about The Invincibles Arsenal team.[15]
In 2015, Jeanpierre wrote a book Quarante-Huit Deux-Tiers (48 and two-thirds) about his interactions with famous people, including Arsène Wenger, Christian Califano, Lionel Messi, Kad Merad and .[16] In 2021, Jeanpierre wrote a novel 2026, l'année où le football deviendra américain (2026, the year when football becomes America).[15]