Jean-Marc Furlan (born November 20, 1957, Sainte-Foy-la-Grande) is a French soccer manager. He played as a sweeper from 1975 to 1993 and has worked as a manager since 1997.
Club career
From 1975 to 1993, he played 420 games as a professional in the sweeper position.
In that position his physical stature (1.87 m, (6 ft 2 in)) and his temper would prove invaluable. His career started at FC Girondins de Bordeaux, where he signed his first professional contract in 1975. One year later (1976) he won the Coupe Gambardella (French Under-18 Cup). He then played at Montpellier HSC, Stade Laval, Olympique Lyonnais, Tours FC (French Ligue 2 Champion), SC Bastia, Montpellier HSC (French Ligue 2 Champion), RC Lens and Saint-Seurin-sur-l'Isle in 1993 (where he retired).
Managerial career
He retired as a player at Saint-Seurin-sur-l'Isle Ligue 2 where he later opened a sport shop. He felt the need to share his soccer passion and did so by volunteering as a coach for his son’s little league team. His aim was to develop the talent of young players. Due to financial difficulties, the club merged into Libourne/Saint-Seurin and started over in CFA 2 (League 5). Satisfied with the results of the youth team, he was asked to manage the first-team squad (1997-2004). This was a success; four seasons in a row he went to the round of 32 in the Coupe de France (eliminating Ligue 1 teams such as Olympique Lyonnais and FC Metz) and one season making it to the quarter-finals. At the same time, he promoted the club from CFA 2 (League 5) to CFA (League 4) and then National (League 3). During his time at Libourne-Saint Seurin he is widely credited with having overseen the progress of youngsters such as Chalmé (Girondins de Bordeaux) and later Valbuena (Olympique de Marseille).
Furlan’s performances as a manager drew the attention of several professional teams. He signed his first professional contract as a manager at Troyes AC (Ligue 2) in 2004/05. His first season was very successful as Troyes AC was promoted to Ligue 1 and he was personally awarded Manager of the Year, being considered to be a shrewd tactician with collective spirit made up of well-oiled offensive tactics.
He was appointed manager of RC Strasbourg from 2007 to 2009 and then of FC Nantes in 2009/10.
In 2010/11 he returned at Troyes AC and the team was promoted to Ligue 1 the following season. Again in 2014/15, Troyes AC was promoted to the Ligue 1 with ease (4 games before the end of the season) and won its first national title: French Champion of Ligue 2.
Despite a very low budget, Furlan developed the talent of very good players such as Perquis (Real Betis), Gomis (Olympique Lyonnais), Matuidi (Paris SG), Sidibe (Lille OSC), Obbadi (AS Monaco ), N’sakala (Anderlecht)…
Club honours
Managerial honours
References
