The Gym has its new technician. After the departure of Lucien Favre, the Aiglons secured the reinforcement of a 1998 World Champion: Patrick Vieira, who had been coaching New York City until now.
Through the voice of its president, Jean-Pierre Rivère, OGC Nice had announced they were looking for “a coach with the capability to continue producing beautiful gameplay, to develop young players by taking the risk of letting them evolve, and who instills a winning mindset.” That coach is named Patrick Vieira. A monument of French football, World and European Champion with the Blues, he charmed the Nice decision-makers with his profile, dynamism, charisma, and a philosophy that fully aligns with the red and black project.
After ending his extraordinary playing career at Manchester City in 2011, the “box to box” midfielder from Milan, Arsenal, Juve, and Inter, and multiple champion of England and Italy*, quickly transitioned into a coaching career. Not without first having held a role as ambassador and head of development for the “Citizens.”
Step by step, the former captain of the Blues (107 caps, 6 goals) began by coaching City’s young players from 2013 (U19 in Youth League and U21) before moving across the Atlantic to Major League Soccer, in an American league in full development. As the head coach of New York City FC – which shares the same owner as Man City – he quickly achieved results. Twice finishing 2nd in the Eastern Conference during the regular seasons of 2016 and 2017, with Andrea Pirlo and David Villa under his leadership, he left his team in a good position in the league (2nd in the Eastern Conference) after 15 matches and a final game against Atlanta United (1-1) on Saturday evening.
He now prepares to face his first challenge “at home,” in Nice, just a few kilometers from Cannes, the club where he was trained and where he made his debut in Ligue 1 in 1993.
Arriving on Monday morning, Patrick Vieira discovered the club’s training and development center before signing his contract alongside Jean-Pierre Rivère. He will be presented to the press this afternoon at 3:00 PM.
- Among his most important titles: World Champion (1998) and European Champion (2000) with the Blues; English champion (1998, 2002, 2004) with Arsenal; Italian champion (1996 with Milan then 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 with Inter)…
