Eric Cantona was born in Marseille, France the 24 May 1966 and also today is considered one of the stars of the world soccer pantheon, for his spectacular gestures during his football career but also for his life off the pitch. The fun for this player was another form of sporting event, to use a euphemism.
The first steps of the career
During his early days, began playing for local club SO Caillolais in the goalkeeper position, but nevertheless, his goal-hungry and creative tendencies showed on the pitch and he began to play in the forward position more and more in keeping with the profile of Eric Cantona.
Cantona's life is full of his incidents on and off the soccer field., since he was suspended on many different occasions for many different reasons throughout his career. At one point in his career he was considered a “crazy football”.
The first professional contract with Auxerre
After spending two years with the French youth team Auxerre, Eric Cantona makes his debut with Auxerre 5 November 1983. The National Service (the army) prevented him from continuing to play during the season of the 1984, since he had to suspend his career until he was discharged from the National Service.
Before returning to Auxerre, Cantona was loaned to a second division team, Martigues, where he marked 4 goals in 15 appearances, after which he returned to Auxerre in 1986.
Eric Cantona's biography shows that his performance for Auxerre was truly impressive scoring 23 goals in 82 matches, which earned him the international call for France, but his problems with discipline would begin shortly after.
During 1987 he was fined for hitting his own teammate and another incident followed the following year when Cantona was suspended with a penalty of 3 matches due to a dangerous tackle on a Nantes player. His ban on 3 matches was later annulled in a suspension of 2 matches.
The Marseille period
After winning the European Under-21 Championship in 1988, Eric Cantona's biography continues with a record transfer fee of £ 22 million to Marseille.
Not a year with the club and the profile of Eric Cantona as a madman on the football field, he began to show himself again when he kicked the ball into the crowd and then ripped his jersey and threw it on the ground after being substituted in a friendly match against Torpedo. Moscow.
This incident caused him to be suspended without pay for a full month.. His international career was also on hold as he was banned for a full year due to insults against the French national team on live TV..
Bordeaux and Montpellier
Eric Cantona's profile shows that he is having a hard time settling in at Marseille, who loaned him to Bordeaux for six months, where he marked 6 goals in 11 matches, before moving back on loan to Montpellier, this time only for a year.
He continued his fine goalscoring form for Montpellier by scoring 10 goals in 33 matches with the team.
During his year in Montpellier, Another incident was added to Eric Cantona's biography when he got into a fistfight with his teammate Jean-Claude Lemoult, where he even threw his soccer shoes in Jean-Claude's face.
This prompted other teammates to call for Cantona's dismissal., but nevertheless, few of Eric Cantona's teammates and friends managed to keep him on the team and he only faced a ban from 10 training camp days. Montpellier won the French Cup and Cantona was one of the key players on the way to winning this cup..
Back with the Marseille team for a year
After helping Montpellier win the French Cup and showing great form, Marseille brought him back to the team.
Eric Cantona's profile shows him performing well and staying out of the headlines of “Madman”, at least during the time he spent playing under manager Gerard Gili and his successor, Franz Beckenbauer.
due to poor results, Beckenbauer was fired and Raymond Goethals took his place. This resulted in many disputes and arguments between Cantona and Goethals which led to Cantona's transfer to Nimes the following season..
Eric Cantona – announces his retirement
After arriving in Nîmes in 1991, Eric would make news again by throwing the ball to the referee after disagreeing with one of his decisions.
He appeared before the disciplinary committee of the French Football Federation where he was sanctioned for one month. His response to this ban was to go up to each committee member and call them idiots., which resulted in a suspension of 2 months instead of one.
He announced his retirement from professional soccer shortly after this ban was issued..
madman is back, but this time it's the english league
Michel Platini was the main reason for Cantona's return to professional football and the English Premier League. Liverpool was the first option but they did not want to spoil the harmony and peace in the locker room so they passed on to the crazy scorer.
He was offered a week long trial with Sheffield Wednesday and after the trial went through and was not offered any contract, Cantona signed a deal with rivals Leeds United for £ 900,000. This turned out to be a great fortune for Leeds, since they won their championship “Football League First Division”, which was renamed the English Premier League the following season.
Arrival at Manchester United
Eric Cantona's profile continues with the Red Devils on 26 November 1992 for £1.2 million. This was a difficult time for Manchester United and bringing in Cantona proved to be a great asset for the Red Devils., as he helped them win the Premier League title for the first time since 1967.
It is important to mention in this biography of Eric Cantona that he was the first player to win two titles in a row with a different club team..
His first year could not pass without incident, as he spat on a fan during the match against former club Leeds United and was fined by the FA 1.000 sterling.
Continuing his great form, Cantona helped Manchester retain the title and win the FA CUP during his second year with the club.
During his third season with Manchester, the life of Eric Cantona, also called "Le King" in his experience with the red devils, is enriched with one of the most notorious accidents that grabbed headlines around the world and especially in England.
After Richard Shaw pulled his shirt in a match against Crystal Palace, Cantona responded by kicking the player.
He was shown the red card and as Cantona walked towards the locker room, he threw a kick “kung fu” to the Crystal Palace fan, Matthew Simmons, then followed up with a few punches before being dragged away from the angry crowd.
He was arrested and convicted of assault, what resulted in 2 weeks in prison which were later reduced to 120 community service hours. The reminder of the season was suspended 1994-95 and fined £ 20,000 which later rose to 8 months of suspension and other £ 10,000. They stripped him of the captaincy of the national team and Manchester United punished him with two weeks' salary.
Cantona was persuaded by the Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson, so that he would stay in the club and, after returning in 1995-96, Cantona played a key role in Manchester United's title win.
manchester was 10 points below Newcastle United during the first half of the season, while Cantona was suspended, but once the madman returned, helped them close the gap and ultimately clinch the top spot and become champions at the end of the season.
Eric Cantona's bio shows it was a memorable moment for Cantona, as he was named team captain in the FA CUP FINAL against Liverpool, where he scored the only goal to lift the FA CUP as team captain.
The following season 1996-97, Cantona withdrew after scoring 80 goals for Manchester United in all competitions during his 5 years in the club. crazy or not, as you can see by reading his biography, He is one of the greatest soccer players in history..
