Christian Armel Bassila (born 5 October 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder or centre-back. He is the director of INF Clairefontaine.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christian Armel Bassila[1][2] | ||
| Date of birth | 5 October 1977[3] | ||
| Place of birth | Paris, France | ||
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | INF Clairefontaine (head of youth) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–1999 | Lyon | 44 | (2) |
| 1999–2002 | Rennes | 24 | (1) |
| 2000–2001 | → West Ham United (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | → Strasbourg (loan) | 32 | (3) |
| 2002–2005 | Strasbourg | 89 | (7) |
| 2005–2006 | Sunderland | 13 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | AEL | 27 | (2) |
| 2007–2008 | Energie Cottbus | 23 | (3) |
| 2008–2011 | Guingamp | 62 | (2) |
| Total | 317 | (20) | |
| International career | |||
| France U21 | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2018–2019 | Lyon B | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
editBorn in Paris,[3] Basilla started his career with the reigning Ligue 1 champions Lyon in the 1996–97 season, before joining Rennes. Bassila rarely featured in the Rennes first team and was sent on a season-long loan to West Ham United in August 2000. However, he failed to cement a first-team place at the East London side either and the following season he joined Strasbourg on another season-long loan. After enjoying regular first-team action there he signed permanently and spent the next three seasons there. He was on the bench when Strasbourg won the 2005 Coupe de la Ligue Final.
Bassila signed a two-year contract with newly promoted Premier League side Sunderland in the last week of the 2005 summer transfer window. After injuries caused him to fail to establish himself in a struggling Sunderland team that was eventually relegated, at the start of the 2006 season he activated a clause in his contract which allowed him to move to another club without a transfer fee being paid to Sunderland, and transferred to Greek side Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. There he enjoyed more first-team football in a dynamic defensive role in the midfield.
Bassila later transferred to Energie Cottbus and French Ligue 2 club Guingamp. Whilst at Guingamp, then in Ligue 2, Bassila captained his team in the 2009 Coupe de France Final in which they beat Rennes.[4]
International career
editIn 2006, Bassila was called up to represent the Congo national football team by coach Noel Tosi. Since Bassila had represented France at under-21 level, however, FIFA ruled against this as he should have applied for the change in his national status before 31 December 2005.[5]
In 2009, after a change in the FIFA rules concerning an age of limit to switch the national allegiance, Bassila was called again to the national squad together with Lucien Aubey, Albin Ebondo and Matt Moussilou, all newly eligible for the Congo national team.[6]
Coaching career
editIn 2015, Bassila was hired as responsible for the development of the U12, U13 and U14 teams of Olympique Lyonnais, where he also functioned as a coach for several of the teams.[7] In the summer 2018, he took charge of Lyon's B-team.[8]
In the summer 2019, Bassila joined INF Clairefontaine as director.[9]
Honours
editLyon
Strasbourg
AEL
Guingamp
References
edit- ^ "Entreprise CB Media Et Communication" [Company CB Media Et Communication] (in French). Manageo. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
- ^ "Christian Bassila". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 4 February 2019.
- ^ a b c "Christian Bassila". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
- ^ "Stade Rennes vs Guingamp". espn.co.uk. 9 May 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ "FIFA tell Congo they cannot play French-born pair". ESPN. Reuters. 1 September 2006. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
- ^ "Aubey, Bassila, Ebondo et Moussilou appelés par le Congo-Brazzaville". Le blog d'Ismaël Bouchafra-Hennequin (in French). 3 August 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ "U12-U13 : Les Lyonnais remportent le tournoi LAM'S Sport". ol.fr (in French). 31 August 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ "Lyon: Bassila pour remplacer Cris". lequipe.fr (in French). 27 June 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ "OL : Bassila sera le nouveau directeur du pôle espoir de l'INF Clairefontaine". olympique-et-lyonnais.com (in French). 22 May 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ "Lyon 3-2 Montpellier (Aggregate: 4 - 2)". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2004. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ "Grèce Kypello Elladas 2006/2007 Finale". mondefootball.fr. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
External links
edit- Christian Bassila at Soccerbase
- Christian Bassila at Yahoo! Sport at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 January 2007)
- Christian Bassila – French league stats at LFP – also available in French (archived)
