Olivier Dacourt

Olivier Dacourt

Dacourt in 2005
Personal information
Full name	Olivier Yohan Dacourt [1]
Date of birth	(1974-09-25) 25 September 1974 (age 50) [2]
Place of birth	Montreuil, France
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [3]
Position(s)	Midfielder [4]
Youth career
1989–1991	Aulnay-sous-Bois
1991–1992	Strasbourg
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1998	Strasbourg	127	(4)
1998–1999	Everton	30	(2)
1999–2000	Lens	26	(1)
2000–2003	Leeds United	57	(3)
2003	→ Roma (loan)	18	(0)
2003–2006	Roma	76	(2)
2006–2009	Inter Milan	34	(0)
2009	→ Fulham (loan)	9	(0)
2009–2010	Standard Liège	8	(0)
Total		385	(12)
International career
2001–2004	France	21	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Olivier Yohan Dacourt (born 25 September 1974) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is also a former French international and is best known for his spells at English side Leeds United and Italian clubs Roma and Inter Milan.

Club career

Early career

Dacourt was born in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. ^[5] He made his debut in Division 1 with Strasbourg on 20 March 1993 in an away game with Auxerre, which Strasbourg lost 2–0. On 24 May 1997, he scored his first Ligue 1 goal for Strasbourg in an away match against Paris Saint-Germain, however, Strasbourg lost the match 2–1.^{[ citation needed ]}

Dacourt transferred to Everton in 1998 and his debut game in the Premier League was a 0–0 draw against Aston Villa on 15 August 1998. On 23 September 1998, he scored his first goal in a League Cup tie against Huddersfield Town. ^[6] Dacourt became a fan favourite with the Everton supporters, but was booed at the club's final home game of the season in May 1999 against West Ham after comments in a French article that he was unhappy at the club and looking to leave in the summer.^{[ citation needed ]}

Dacourt returned to France after one season at Everton playing for RC Lens, where he impressed and earned a multimillion-pound move back to the Premier League to the Yorkshire club Leeds United.^{[ citation needed ]}

Leeds United

Dacourt joined Leeds United from Lens in a £7.2 million move in 2000, and broke Leeds' transfer record at the time. He proved to be an instant hero at Elland Road with his tenacious style and ball winning play. His time at Leeds saw them reach the Champions League semi finals and also finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League. He was a regular in centre midfield under manager David O'Leary, mainly partnering David Batty in Leeds' midfield. His form at Leeds also saw Dacourt become a regular for the French national side. But after the sacking of O'Leary, his replacement Terry Venables dropped Dacourt from the Leeds team and favoured players like Paul Okon ahead of him.^{[ citation needed ]}

Venables had a public falling out with Dacourt, in which Venables claimed he 'would personally drive Dacourt' away from the club.^{[ citation needed ]} With Leeds' financial problems Dacourt was loaned out to Roma, and during his time out on loan Venables was sacked and replaced by Peter Reid with many believing Dacourt would return, but during the summer his loan move to Roma was made permanent. Dacourt proclaimed that he would like to return to Leeds one day in the future after playing in his former teammate Lucas Radebe's testimonial.^{[ citation needed ]}

Roma and Inter Milan

Dacourt joined Roma on loan, with an option to purchase for £4 million. He signed a contract worth €1.85 million in gross. ^[7] On 10 July 2003, Roma agreed to sign Dacourt outright for a new price: €5 million. Dacourt signed a 3-year contract, worth €4 million in gross each season. ^[8] After being on the losing side in the Coppa Italia final against Inter Milan in 2005–06, Dacourt joined the club from Roma on a two-year contract in accordance with the Bosman ruling. ^{[9] [10]}

Originally signed as a backup player for Inter Milan, he became a key player of the league victory, in light of all the injuries to Patrick Vieira. On 2 December 2007, against Fiorentina, he damaged his left knee, with a torn cruciate ligament and damage to two other ligaments in it. He was expected to be out for the rest of the 2007–08 season.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the 2008–09 season after recovering from injury, Dacourt did not feature as regularly and was not in Inter manager José Mourinho's plans.^{[ citation needed ]}

Fulham and Standard Liège

On 2 February 2009, Dacourt joined English side Fulham on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season after being signed by Roy Hodgson. ^[11] However, he had to settle for being confined to mainly substitute appearances due to the impressive form of Fulham's midfield and also Dacourt picking up some injury niggles, Dacourt's move to Fulham was not made permanent come the summer, Dacourt briefly returned to Inter where his contract then expired and he became a free agent.^{[ citation needed ]}

Dacourt signed a one-year contract with Standard Liège on 23 September 2009. He was brought in to replace Steven Defour who had an injury on his foot and should be inactive for three months, Defour was the central midfield partner to Axel Witsel. ^[12] On 8 February 2010, Standard Liège declared the end of his contract. ^[13]

International career

Dacourt played for France at the 1996 Summer Olympics. ^[14]

After impressing for Leeds United, his first senior appearance with the national team came against hosts South Korea in a match in the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2001, which France won 0–5, as they went on to win the tournament. He was a member of the French team that won the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup and also appeared at UEFA Euro 2004.^{[ citation needed ]}

International goals

(France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Dacourt goal)

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 September 2003	Bežigrad Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovenia	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying

Personal life

He is the brother-in-law of fellow footballer Norman Sylla. ^[15]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^[16]

Club	Season	League			Cup [a]		Continental [b]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Strasbourg	1992–93	Division 1	6	0	–		–		6	0
	1993–94		8	0	1	0	–		9	0
	1994–95		18	0	1	0	–		19	0
	1995–96		34	0	5	0	8	0	47	0
	1996–97		31	1	8	1	–		39	2
	1997–98		30	3	1	0	6	0	39	3
	Total		127	4	16	1	14	0	157	5
Everton	1998–99	Premier League	30	2	6	1	–		36	3
Lens	1999–00	Division 1	26	1	2	0	9	2	37	3
Leeds United	2000–01	Premier League	33	3	1	0	14	0	48	3
	2001–02		17	0	2	0	6	0	25	0
	2002–03		7	0	–		2	0	9	0
	Total		57	3	3	0	20	0	80	3
Roma (loan)	2002–03	Serie A	18	0	5	0	–		23	0
Roma	2003–04	Serie A	27	1	2	0	4	0	33	1
	2004–05		23	0	3	0	2	0	28	0
	2005–06		26	1	5	0	7	0	38	1
	Total		76	2	10	0	13	0	99	2
Inter Milan	2006–07	Serie A	24	0	6	0	7	0	37	0
	2007–08		9	0	1	0	3	0	13	0
	2008–09		1	0	–		–		1	0
	Total		34	0	7	0	10	0	51	0
Fulham (loan)	2008–09	Premier League	9	0	3	0	–		12	0
Standard Liège	2009–10	Pro League	8	0	–		–		8	0
Career total			385	12	52	2	66	2	503	16

1. Includes Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, FA Cup and EFL Cup.
2. Includes UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Intertoto-Cup.

Honours

Strasbourg

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1995 ^[17]
• Coupe de la Ligue: 1996–97 ^[17]

Inter Milan

• Serie A: 2006–07, 2007–08 ^[17]
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2006, 2008 ^[17]

France

• FIFA Confederations Cup: 2001, 2003 ^[17]

References

1. "Entreprise Til Management" [Company Til Management] (in French). Manageo. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
   "Olivier Dacourt". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 5 March 2020.
2. "Olivier Dacourt". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
3. "Olivier Dacourt: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
4. "Olivier Dacourt". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
5. "Olivier Dacourt". L'Équipe. Paris. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
6. Phil Shaw (23 September 1998). "Dacourt drives Everton through". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
7. "Comunicato" [Press Release](PDF) (in Italian). A.S. Roma. 9 January 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
8. "Trasferimento a Titolo Definitivo di Olivier Dacourt" [Olivier Dacourt transfer in permanent deal](PDF) (in Italian). A.S. Roma. 10 July 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
9. "Inter add three to their ranks". UEFA. 12 July 2006. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
10. "Dacourt, Maicon, Maxwell Sign for Inter". Inter Milan. 12 July 2006. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
11. "Olivier Dacourt joins Fulham". Inter Milan. 2 February 2009. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
12. Officiel : Dacourt au Standard Archived 27 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
13. Olivier Dacourt Archived 12 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
14. "France - Squad". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
15. "Soccer: Crawley fail to get hot-shot". The Argus. 28 March 2003. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
16. Olivier Dacourt at WorldFootball.net
17. "O. Dacourt". Soccerway. Retrieved 6 August 2016.

External links

• French Profile and pictures of Olivier Dacourt
• Olivier Dacourt at Soccerbase