Garry Bocaly

Garry René Bertrand Bocaly (born 19 April 1988) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right back.

Bocaly was born in Schœlcher, Martinique.

He began his football career at Marseille, joining in 2004 as a 15-year-old.

While progressing through the youth system, he played in central defence and defensive midfield before settling in the right-back position.

Bocaly made his debut on 5 March 2006 against rivals Paris Saint-Germain in the annual Classique under bizarre circumstances.

In protest against security flaws at the Parc des Princes, Marseille president Pape Diouf decided to use players from the club's youth academy and CFA2 reserve team in the match.

Despite media expectations of heavy defeat, the youngsters held PSG to a goalless draw.

Bocaly played the whole match, and fansite OMplanète thought him the player most likely to make a breakthrough.

In April, he signed his first professional contract, of three years.

In the 2006–07 season, Bocaly was promoted to the senior squad as third-choice right back, behind Habib Beye and Renato Civelli.

With Beye replacing the injured Civelli at centre back, Bocaly came into the starting eleven at right back for the visit to Nice in late October; he kept his place for three matches, all defeats, before dropping to the bench and then to the reserves.

Head coach Albert Emon complimented his maturity, describing him as "one for the future".

With limited first-team opportunities at Marseille, Bocaly joined Libourne-Saint-Seurin of Ligue 2 on loan for the 2007–08 season.

He had been linked with a similar move in the previous transfer window, but Emon would not allow it.

Bocaly started in the opening game of the season, a 3–1 defeat at home to Montpellier, and was sent off in stoppage time for a bad tackle.

On his return from suspension, he established himself as a regular starter, and scored his first senior goal on 24 September in a 3–2 loss against Nantes.

In January 2008, his contract with Olympique Marseille was extended by three years, to run until 2012.

He marked the event with a second dismissal of the season, after 20 minutes of the match against Châteauroux, in which Libourne still secured a 1–0 win to help their struggle to remain in Ligue 2.

Bocaly finished the season with 29 league appearances, but his team's relegation to the third-tier Championnat National was confirmed with two games still to play.

Together with Marseille teammates Thomas Deruda and Jean-Philippe Sabo, Bocaly joined Ligue 2 club Montpellier on loan for the 2008–09 season.

Bocaly made his debut in a 1–0 loss to Strasbourg on 4 August in which he was voted Montpellier's man of the match.

He became a first-team regular, starting all but four of Montpellier's league matches, and scored four goals; his first for the club came on 22 August in a 4–0 win away to Reims, the fourth helped them beat Brest 3–2 in March to boost their promotion chances.

Interviewed before an eventful final day of the season, facing a Strasbourg side needing a draw to secure promotion, Bocaly summed up the task ahead: "we don't have to think, we have to win!"

They went 2–0 up after 20 minutes, then goalkeeper Johann Carrasso injured his knee saving a penalty and had to be replaced.

Strasbourg scored just before half-time, and Montpellier held out through a tense second half and six minutes of stoppage time for a 2–1 win that confirmed a second-place finish, ahead of Boulogne on goal difference.

Bocaly returned to Marseille's first-team squad under new manager Didier Deschamps, but was injured in pre-season and warned that he would need to be patient, with Laurent Bonnart established as first choice at right back.

It took until 31 October for him to play his first game of the season, starting at right back in a 1–1 draw with Toulouse.

According to Foot 365 report, he struggled defensively but was positive going forward, and was involved with Brandão's equalising goal.

Deschamps introduced him into the team for Toulouse to get him used to the position because Bonnart was suspended for the Champions League group stage fixture three days later.

Bocaly duly made his Champions League debut in the 6–1 win against FC Zürich; he played the whole match, and produced what UEFA's match reporter called an "exquisite sliding tackle" with his goalkeeper beaten to deny the opponents a second goal.

Bonnart was preferred for the next league match, and Bocaly made just four Ligue 1 appearances before returning to Montpellier on loan in January 2010.

On 28 January 2010, Bocaly returned to Montpellier on loan to the end of the season, with an option to purchase.

Illness delayed his second Montpellier debut until 13 February, when he started in a 1–0 win over Grenoble.

Surgery on a broken hand kept him out until 7 March, when he returned to action as a late substitute against Bordeaux.

He made twelve appearances by the end of the season, helping Montpellier finish fifth in the league and qualify for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League.

Montpeller took up their option to sign Bocaly on a permanent basis.

His opening-day performance against Bordeaux, in which his headed goal, his first in Ligue 1, won the match, earned him a place in L'Équipe Team of the Week, and he helped the team go through August without conceding a goal.

He was yellow-carded on 28 August for an offence that was retrospectively ruled to have been serious foul play, and received a two-match ban plus a suspended one-match ban.

He returned to the starting lineup in a 2–0 win over Sochaux on 16 October.

After missing a month with a thigh problem, he returned as a late substitute on 4 January and fit to start against hot favourites Paris St Germain (PSG) in the semi-final of the Coupe de la Ligue, a competition in which Montpellier had never reached the final.