Eric Cantona

Eric Cantona (born May 24, 1966 in Marseille) is
a former France|French football
(soccer)|footballer. He ended his professional
footballing career at Manchester United
F.C.|Manchester United where he won four FA
Premier League|Premiership titles in five years,
including two FA Cup "The Double|doubles". Cantona
is often regarded as having played a major role in
the revival of Manchester United as a footballing
powerhouse. In 2000 he was voted their player of
the century, and till this day United fans refer
to him as "Eric the King".

==Biography==
===Professional football career===
====France====
Cantona played in France for first division team
Olympique de Marseille (a.k.a. l'OM). He quite
often showed sign of being "short tempered".
During a friendly game against Torpedo Moscow
Cantona ripped off and threw away his jersey after
being substituted. His club responded by banning
him for a month. A few weeks later he insulted the
coach of the national team on TV.

Cantona moved to FC Girondins de Bordeaux|Bordeaux
on loan and then to Montpellier where he won the
French Cup. He returned to Marseille for a time
but was transferred to Nimes. During a game he
threw the ball at the referee, having been angered
by one of his decisions. The French Football
Federation|French FA banned him for a month.
Cantona responded by insulting them once again,
and his ban was increased to 2 months. For Cantona
this was the last straw and he decided to retire
from football.

Thanks to pressure from high profile football fans
Cantona was persuaded to make a comeback and moved
to England to restart his career.

====England====

Cantona first joined Leeds United F.C.|Leeds
United on his arrival in England in 1992 (after
having originally come to England for a trial with
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday),
where he helped them win the old Football League
First Division|First Division championship that
season (1991/92). The following November, he was
transferred to Manchester United for a relatively
small fee of 1.2 million Pound Sterling | pounds .
United's season had been disappointing up to
then, as they had had problems scoring goals,
partly caused by the sale of Mark Robins and an
injury to Dion Dublin.  However Cantona quickly
settled into the team, not only scoring many goals
but creating chances for the other players.  For
the next two years, United went on an amazing run,
winning the league in 1993 and the double in 1994,
with Cantona's two penalties helping them to a 4-0
win over Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea in the F.A. Cup
final.


There had been much speculation that Cantona would
leave English football when his ban finished, but
Alex Ferguson persuaded him to stay in Manchester
and he was once again inspirational.  United had
sold several key players at the start of the
season and replaced them with players from the
club's youth team and, as in 1992, their prospects
of winning the league were not looking good.
Cantona scored a penalty against Liverpool
F.C.|Liverpool in his first game after the ban,
and his goals helped United to recapture the
league having been ten points behind in December.
He also scored the winning goal in that year's
F.A. Cup final, making United the first team to
win the double twice.

As United retained the league in 1996/97 season,
Cantona had won six league titles in seven years,
with the exception being the 1995 season which he
had largely missed through suspension. At the end
of the season, he surprisingly announced his
retirement from football, at the age of 30.
Shortly afterwards, he became captain of the
French National Beach Football team.

===Career in "retirement"===
Cantona's subsequent career has mostly been in the
French cinema, primarily as an actor although he
has also directed a short film Apporte-moi ton
amour in 2002; outside of France, he had a cameo
as the French ambassador in the movie Elizabeth
(movie)|Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett in
1998. See filmography below.


==Filmography==
For a full list of films Eric has appeared in see:
imdb name|id=0134642|name=Eric Cantona
*Le bonheur est dans le pré - 1995 - Lionel
*Eleven Men Against Eleven - 1995 - Player
(uncredited)
*Elizabeth (movie)|Elizabeth - 1998 - Monsieur le
Foix
*Mookie - 1998 - Antoine Capella
*Les enfants du marais - 1999 - Jo Sardi
*La grande vie! - 2001 - Joueur de pétanque
2
*L'Outremangeur - 2003 - Séléna

==Bibliography==
*Rob Wightman: FourFourTwo Great Footballers: Eric
Cantona, Freeman. ISBN 0753506629
*Eric Cantona: Cantona on Cantona: reflections of
a sporting legend ISBN 0233990453
*Michael Robinson: La Philosophie De Cantona ISBN
1898051399
*Kit Bryson (Editor): The Meaning of Cantona:
Meditations on Life, Art and Perfectly Weighted
Balls ISBN 1851589503

==Reference==
*http://www.manutd.com/bio/bio.sps?iBiographyID=31
01 Biography on the official Manchester United
website