Bixente Lizarazu

Bixente Jean-Michel Lizarazu (, born 9 December 1969) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-back for Bordeaux and Bayern Munich, among other teams.

He rose through the ranks at Bordeaux.

An enthusiast in several sports from a young age, Lizarazu began his professional career with Bordeaux, joining the club's youth setup as a 15-year-old in 1984 and initially playing as a winger.

After being told he would not make a career from football due to his frail physicality as a teenager, he impressed the staff with his determination and became a member of the senior squad in 1988 alongside forward Christophe Dugarry.

He was retrained to play as a counter-attacking left-back at the suggestion of coach Didier Couécou and soon replaced the veteran Gernot Rohr (later to be the club's manager) in the position.

He was part of the Bordeaux team that finished second in the French First Division in 1989–1990, were administratively relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1990–1991 (due to financial problems) and won promotion from the Second Division in the 1991–92 season.

In 1990 Bordeaux finished runners-up in the French championship, but the following year they were administratively relegated amid financial problems.

In a twelve-year international career from 1992 to 2004, Lizarazu earned 97 caps for the France national team.

Lizarazu remained with the club and helped them immediately regain their top tier status in 1992.

Lizarazu was capped 97 times for France (for the first time on 14 November 1992 against Finland), scoring two goals, and helped them win the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000, starting in the final of both tournaments.

His Bordeaux team finished runners-up in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup.

In summer 1995, Bordeaux won the UEFA Intertoto Cup to qualify for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup.

They would go all the way to the final under coach Rohr, beating Real Betis, A.C. Milan and Slavia Prague before losing to Bayern Munich 5–1 on aggregate.

He joined Athletic Bilbao in 1996, but did not nail down a starting spot during his one season with the team.

Following UEFA Euro 1996, in which Dugarry, Zidane and Lizarazu were part of the French squad which reached the semi-finals, the three moved abroad seeking a new challenge: Zidane joining Juventus, Dugarry going to Milan and Lizarazu staying local but changing nations by moving to Athletic Bilbao, based the same distance from his home in the French Basque Country as Bordeaux.

He appeared 299 times for his formative club, scoring 28 goals.

Lizarazu spent just one season with the La Liga club after becoming the first Frenchman to play for Athletic, which has a policy of selecting only players of Basque birth or heritage.

Suffering from a persistent groin injury, he was unable to displace the experienced Aitor Larrazábal at left-back, received two red cards among the 16 league appearances he did make, and had disagreements with the head coach, compatriot Luis Fernández.

He joined Bayern Munich in 1997 where he enjoyed much success.

In the 1997 close season, he transferred to Bayern Munich.

Before even playing a Bundesliga match, Lizarazu lifted a trophy with his new club, winning the inaugural edition of the preseason DFL-Ligapokal.

He played in three European championships and two World Cups for France, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000.

Lizarazu was born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and grew up in Hendaye.

He is of Basque descent.

It was the start of a highly successful spell in Bavaria, despite the interruption of some serious injuries, as he went on to win six Bundesliga championships (including three in a row between 1999 and 2001), as well as five DFB-Pokals, the Champions League in 2001 (scoring his penalty in the shootout), and the Intercontinental Cup.

He won six Bundesliga championships with the team, as well as the 2000–2001 Champions League where he scored his penalty in the penalty shootout.

On winning the Intercontinental Cup in 2001, he became the first player to be a current European and World champion in both club and international football.

He was also part of squad for France in the 2002 FIFA World Cup though however France were eliminated from group stage in the tournament without scoring a single goal where he was involved all 3 matches in the group stage.

Lizarazu said that he would leave Bayern in the summer of 2004 and eventually signed with Marseille.

He retired from international football after France were surprisingly eliminated by eventual winners Greece at Euro 2004.

Regarded by pundits as one of the best left-backs of his generation, Lizarazu was an attacking full-back or wing-back, who was known for his passing, technique, pace, stamina, and his ability to get up the flank and provide accurate crosses from the touch-line.

In addition to his offensive prowess, he was also known for his defensive abilities, despite his diminutive stature, which, along with his speed, allowed him to track back.

After retirement, Lizarazu got involved in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

However, after only six months back in France, he returned to Bayern Munich in January 2005.

During his second spell with Bayern, ending in 2006 when he gave way to the emerging Philipp Lahm, Lizarazu wore the shirt number 69; clarifying that it was not a lewd gesture, he said this was because he was born in 1969, his height is 1.69 m and he weighed 69 kg. He made 268 appearances in all competitions for Bayern between 1997 and 2006, scoring eight goals.

183 of these games were in the German top-flight.

He competed in a jiu-jitsu competition in Europe in 2009, where he became European champion in the Blue Belt Senior 1 Light Division.

He is also a keen surfer and works as a football pundit for French television and radio.

The club also signed Zinedine Zidane, who became another important element of the team, which went on to achieve two 4th- and a 7th-place finish over the next three seasons, Lizarazu contributing 101 appearances and 15 goals.

However their league form suffered, dropping to 16th.