Eric Cantona, French footballer, manager, and actor
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (French: Éric Daniel Pierre Cantona, pronounced [eʁik danjɛl pjɛʁ kɑ̃tɔna]; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Leeds United before ending his career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in five years and two League and FA Cup Doubles. He won the league championship in seven of his last eight full seasons as a professional. At international level, he played for the French national team.
A physically strong, hard-working forward who combined skill and creativity with power and goalscoring ability, Cantona is often regarded as having played a key role in the revival of Manchester United as a footballing force in the 1990s and having an iconic status at the club. He is often regarded as one of the greatest footballers of his generation. He wore the iconic No. 7 shirt at Manchester United, and is known for turning up his collar. Cantona is affectionately nicknamed by Manchester United fans as "King Eric" and was voted as the team's greatest ever player by Inside United magazine. Set against his achievements in football was a poor disciplinary record throughout his career, including a 1995 conviction for an assault on an abusive spectator for which he received a two-week prison sentence (reduced to community service on appeal) and an eight-month suspension from football.
In 1997, Cantona unexpectedly announced his retirement from football at the age of 30. He pursued a career in cinema and had roles in the 1998 film Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett; the 2008 film French Film, and the 2009 film Looking for Eric. In 2010, he debuted as a stage actor in Face au Paradis, a play directed by his wife, Rachida Brakni. Cantona took an interest in the sport of beach soccer; as player-manager of the France national team, he won the 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
Charismatic and outspoken, Cantona was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. The museum states that "the enigmatic Frenchman was one of the Premier League's most controversial players ever". At the Premier League 10 Seasons Awards in 2003, he was voted the Overseas Player of the Decade. Cantona was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2021. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.