Stéphane Léoni (born 5 March 1976) is a French former footballer, who was most recently manager of Progrès Niederkorn.

Stéphane Léoni
Personal information
Date of birth (1976-03-05) 5 March 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth Saint-Mihiel, France
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Left-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1998 Metz B
1998–2000 Bristol Rovers 38 (0)
2000–2001 Dundee United 6 (0)
2001–2002 Sedan 8 (0)
2002–2003 AS Beauvais 36 (0)
2003–2004 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 0 (0)
2004–2005 FC Rouen
2005–2006 FC Sète
2006–2009 Metz 36 (0)
2009–2010 AS Cannes 17 (0)
2010–2012 FC Differdange 03 34 (0)
Managerial career
2012–2013 Amiens (assistant)
2013 Amiens (caretaker)
2015–2018 FC Trémery
2018–2020 Sarre-Union
2020–2022 Progrès Niederkorn
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career edit

Léoni was born in Saint-Mihiel. A defender, he initially joined Metz as a youth player but failed to break through to the first team. After leaving the club in 1998 he sought to continue his career in England, signing for Bristol Rovers, where he spent two seasons and scored his only goal for the club in an FA Cup tie against Rotherham United in January 1999.[1] In 2000, he had a four-month spell with Dundee United in the Scottish Premier League before returning to France. Since then, he has spent a season each with CS Sedan Ardennes, AS Beauvais Oise, FC Rouen and FC Sète prior to rejoining his first club, Metz, in June 2006, before signed in summer 2009 for AS Cannes.

Coaching career edit

Returning to FC Metz in June 2012, Léoni was hired as a playing assistant coach.[2][3] After manager Francis De Taddeo was fired on 15 September 2013, Léoni was appointed manager on interim basis.[4] Léoni left Amiens 10 days later, as Olivier Echouafni was hired.

After a three-year spell as FC Trémery's manager, Léoni was appointed manager of US Sarre-Union in June 2018.[5] He left the club in May 2020, in the wake of financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] At the end of November 2020, Léoni was appointed manager of Luxembourgian club FC Progrès Niederkorn, signing a deal until June 2023.[7] However, after difficult second part of the 2021-22 season, Leóni left the club at the end of the campaign, one year before his contract expired.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ "Rotherham v Bristol City". rotherhamunited1925.co.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  2. ^ Rennes a un nouveau président, republicain-lorrain.fr, 26 June 2012
  3. ^ Cartier – De Taddeo, destins croisés, lasemaine.fr, 28 September 2012
  4. ^ FOOTBALL Amiens pense aussi à Marsiglia, courrier-picard.fr, 17 September 2013
  5. ^ "Sarre Union : Un ancien messin nouveau coach (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Stéphane Léoni va quitter Sarre-Union" (in French). Le Républicain Lorrain. 19 May 2020.
  7. ^ Stéphane Leoni et Chadli Amri débarquent au Progrès Niederkorn, republicain-lorrain.fr, 25 November 2020
  8. ^ Leoni et le Progrès, c’est fin, mental.lu, 25 May 2022

External links edit