Hours after announcing that coach Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked, Paris Saint Germain announced coach Christophe Galtier as the club’s new coach.
Long before now, former Real Madrid coach and French football legend, Zinedine Zidane was seen as the replacement of Pochettino whose position at Parc Des Princes started shaking immediately after PSG crashed out of the UEFA Champions League in the round of 16.
When it was obvious that Zidane would not be appointed as the head coach of PSG, Roma manager, Jose Mourinho was seen as the ideal man. But the Portuguese coach won’t trade his time in Rome for life in Paris.
Hence, the coach of OGC Nice Christophe Galtier who finished 5th with Nice last season became the anointed candidate to replace the Argentine long before PSG officially announced Pochettino’s sack on Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
Galtier who made his name in the coaching world in the 2020-2021 season in which he led Lille to win the French Ligue 1 title will lead PSG’s star-studded squad from this coming season.
The 55-year-old French tactician who started coaching at Saint-Étienne in 2009 has signed a two-year contract with PSG which will expire on June 30, 2024.
PSG is the fourth team Christophe Galtier will manage in his coaching career after handling Saint-Étienne, Lille, and OGC Nice.
“I am delighted to join Paris Saint-Germain, I would like to thank the chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, [football advisor] Luis Campos, and the club for their confidence in me,” he said.
“I am fully aware of the responsibilities involved to coach this extraordinary team, which is one of the most competitive and spectacular squads in Europe.”
🎙️💬 Christophe Galtier: "It's a job of passion. There is no better place than Paris Saint-Germain to win trophies!" #PSGlive pic.twitter.com/kU71vLEmWK
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) July 5, 2022
What are Christophe Galtier’s achievements as a football manager?
Christophe Galtier’s biggest achievement in his managerial career is winning the French Ligue 1 with Lille in 2021.
He has also won Coupe de la Ligue with Saint-Étienne in 2013, and finished runner-up with Nice in Coupe de France in 2022.
Christophe Galtier has won Ligue 1 Manager of the Year in three different seasons which shows how well he knows the French league.
Who is Christophe Galtier?
Christophe Galtier was born on August 26, 1966, which means that he is currently 55-year-old. He was born in Marseille, France where he started his football career at Olympique de Marseille in 1985.
Galtier falls in the category of ex-players who are regarded as journeymen because of the high number of clubs they played for before they retired.
In the case of Christophe Galtier, the Frenchman played as a defender for 7 French clubs including Lille, Marseille, Angers, and Toulouse.
Unfortunately for his football career, he could not break into the French national team. He only managed to play 6 times for the French under-21 team before he retired.
After retiring from active football, he went into coaching. He started his coaching journey in 2009 at Saint-Étienne where he spent 8 years before he joined Lille in 2017. From there, he joined OGC Nice in 2021.
After a season at Nice, PSG appointed him the club’s coach on July 5, 2022, and he is expected to remain at the club until 2024.
