Florent Laville Explained

Florent Laville
Fullname:Florent Laville
Birth Date:7 August 1973
Birth Place:Valence, Drôme, France
Height:1.85 m[1]
Position:Defender
Years1:1993–2003
Years2:2003
Years3:2003–2005
Years4:2004
Years5:2005–2007
Clubs2:Bolton Wanderers (loan)
Clubs4:Coventry City (loan)
Clubs5:Bastia
Caps1:204
Caps2:10
Caps3:5
Caps4:6
Caps5:37
Goals1:2
Goals2:0
Goals3:0
Goals4:0
Goals5:1
Totalcaps:262
Totalgoals:3

Florent Laville (born 7 August 1973) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in Valence, Drôme, Laville spent the first ten years of his career with Olympique Lyonnais, and helped them win the Ligue 1 title in 2002 and 2003 as well as the Trophée des Champions in 2002. Laville signed with Premier League club Bolton Wanderers in 2003[2] and instantly slotted into the first team, forming a successful defensive partnership with Guðni Bergsson, despite a sending off in a memorable game against Arsenal.[3] He later signed permanently for Bolton, but a serious leg injury suffered several games into the 2003–04 season, against Middlesbrough,[4] put him out of action for over a year and effectively ended his top-level playing career as he struggled to regain fitness.

After leaving Bolton at the end of the 2004–05 season, Laville eventually returned to fitness and briefly played for Coventry City before returning to France, reuniting with former Bolton teammate, Pierre-Yves André at SC Bastia. His contract expired at the end of the 2006–07 season and he subsequently retired.

International career

Laville represented France at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Honours

Lyon

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Florent Laville . Ligue de Football Professionnel . 4 February 2019.
  2. News: Bolton snap up French duo. BBC Sport. 1 February 2003. 24 August 2011.
  3. Web site: Bolton dent Arsenal hopes . . 26 April 2003 . 29 April 2013.
  4. Web site: Bolton seal first win . . 13 September 2003 . 29 April 2013.
  5. Web site: Lyon 3-2 Montpellier (Aggregate: 4 - 2). uefa.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20040801002918/http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/IntertotoCup/AllTimeStatistics/season%3D1997/Round%3D728/match%3D54204/index.html. 11 October 2020. 1 August 2004.