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

Florent Laville
Personal information
Full name Florent Laville[1]
Date of birth (1973-08-07) 7 August 1973 (age 51)[1]
Place of birth Valence, Drôme,[1] France
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–2003 Lyon 204 (2)
2003Bolton Wanderers (loan) 10 (0)
2003–2005 Bolton Wanderers 5 (0)
2004Coventry City (loan) 6 (0)
2005–2007 Bastia 37 (1)
Total 262 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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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[3] 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.[4] He later signed permanently for Bolton, but a serious leg injury suffered several games into the 2003–04 season, against Middlesbrough,[5] 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

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Laville represented France at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Honours

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Lyon

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Florent Laville". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Florent Laville". Ligue de Football Professionnel. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Bolton snap up French duo". BBC Sport. 1 February 2003. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Bolton dent Arsenal hopes". BBC. 26 April 2003. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Bolton seal first win". BBC. 13 September 2003. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Lyon 3-2 Montpellier (Aggregate: 4 - 2)". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2004. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
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