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Gaël Givet

Personal information
Full name	Gaël Givet-Viaros
Date of birth	9 October 1981 (1981-10-09) (age 28)
Place of birth	Arles, France
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Centre back/Left back
Club information
Current club	Blackburn Rovers
Number	5
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2007	Monaco	199	(9)
2007–2009	Marseille	38	(0)
2009–	Blackburn Rovers	49	(2)
National team‡
2004–	France	13	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:35, 13 March 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:58, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Gaël Givet-Viaros (born 9 October 1981 in Arles, France) is a French professional football player. He is currently playing his club football for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League. Givet is a left-footed centre back who more commonly appears as a regular left back at current club Blackburn.

Club career

AS Monaco

Givet started his professional career at AS Monaco as a left back before moving to centre half. He made his debut in a 2-2 draw against Guingamp in December 2000. He played for Monaco between 2000 and 2007, making 178 league appearances and scoring a respectable 8 goals. The highlights of his time at the club were winning the French League Cup in 2003 and reaching the UEFA Champions League Final in 2004, where he missed out on a winner's medal with a 3–0 defeat against Jose Mourinho's FC Porto. He played a pivotal role in their success, making 13 Champions League appearances during the campaign. He made a name for himself in the 2003/04 season where he blossomed in the Monaco defense with the likes of Manchester United's Patrice Evra, Marseille's Julien Rodriguez and Sevilla's Sébastien Squillaci.

Olympique Marseille

After a successful career at Monaco, Givet moved to Olympique Marseille. During the 2007-08 season he featured 29 times in the French league and made 9 appearances in European competition. However at the beginning of the next season he found his opportunities limited.

Blackburn Rovers

On 10 January 2009, L'Equipe reported that Givet would be flying to England to finalise a 6-month loan deal with English club Blackburn Rovers on 12 January. On 14 January, Sky Sports announced that Blackburn had completed the signing of Givet on a 6 month loan deal with a view to a permanent move at the end of the season. This was confirmed by Marseille on 15 January. He appeared in his first match for Blackburn against Sunderland at the Stadium Of Light coming on from off the bench in the FA Cup fourth round in a 0-0 draw on Saturday 24 January 2009 resulting in a replay in the return fixture down at Ewood Park which would take place on Wednesday 4 February.^[1][2] On February 4 2009, Givet made his Rovers first team home debut against fellow Premier League team Sunderland in the English competition, the FA Cup, gaining a man-of-the-match performance in a 2-1 victory. On 15 May 2009 an agreement in principle was made with Marseille to make his loan switch to Blackburn permanent.^[3] On Friday 26 June 2009, Blackburn completed the signing of Givet on a four-year contract for £3.5m. Givet scored his first goal in over three years, scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 away defeat to Premier League rivals Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on 22 August 2009. He is also one of four french players in the Blackburn squad.^[4] At the start of the 2009-2010 season he changed his squad number from 21 to 5.

National team

Givet represents France at international football. The then 24-year-old back in 2006 was included in France's provisional 23 man squad for the World Cup finals held in Germany. He had won 13 caps for his country by 2009.

Personal life

He is married and has a son named Gabriel (born 8 May 2006).

References

External links

• Gaël Givet French league stats at lfp.fr (French)
• Yahoo eurosport profile

France squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up 1 Landreau • 2 Boumsong • 3 Abidal • 4 Vieira • 5 Gallas • 6 Makélélé • 7 Malouda • 8 Dhorasoo • 9 Govou • 10 Zidane • 11 Wiltord • 12 Henry • 13 Silvestre • 14 Saha • 15 Thuram • 16 Barthez • 17 Givet • 18 Diarra • 19 Sagnol • 20 Trezeguet • 21 Chimbonda • 22 Ribéry • 23 Coupet • Coach: Domenech