Jean-Marc Furlan

Furlan as Brest manager in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth	(1957-11-20) 20 November 1957 (age 66)
Place of birth	Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, France
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1962–1973	Vélines
1973–1976	Bordeaux
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1978	Bordeaux	51	(0)
1978–1979	Montpellier	23	(0)
1979–1980	Laval	25	(0)
1980–1982	Lyon	76	(0)
1982–1985	Tours	106	(3)
1985–1986	Bastia	33	(1)
1986–1987	Montpellier	3	(0)
1987–1988	Arras
1988–1989	Lens	16	(0)
1989–1992	AS Saint-Seurin	88	(4)
1992–1993	Libourne	10	(0)
Managerial career
1993–1997	Libourne (youth)
1997–1998	Libourne
1998–2004	Libourne
2004–2007	Troyes
2007–2009	Strasbourg
2009–2010	Nantes
2010–2015	Troyes
2016–2019	Brest
2019–2022	Auxerre
2023	Caen
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jean-Marc Furlan (born 20 November 1957) is a French football manager and former player who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Furlan started his career at Bordeaux, where he signed his first professional contract in 1975, winning the Coupe Gambardella one year later. Furlan later also played for Stade Lavallois, Olympique Lyonnais, Tours FC, where he won promotion to the first division in the 1983–84 season, SC Bastia, Montpellier HSC, in which he achieved another promotion to the top-flight in the 1986–87 campaign, RC Lens and Saint-Seurin-sur-l'Isle, retiring there in 1993.

From 1976 to 1993, Furlan played as a sweeper in 420 professional games, 273 in Division 1 and 147 in Division 2.

Managerial career

Libourne

After retirement, Furlan later opened a sport shop. He felt the need to share his football 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 (fifth tier).

Satisfied with the results of the Libourne youth team, Furlan was asked to manage the first-team squad from 1997 to 2004. This was a success; four seasons in a row, he guided Libourne to the round of 32 in the Coupe de France, eliminating Ligue 1 teams such as Olympique Lyonnais and FC Metz and making it to the quarter-finals. At the same time, Furlan achieved promotion from CFA 2 (fifth tier) to CFA (fourth tier) and then the National (third tier).

During his time at Libourne-Saint Seurin, Furlan was widely credited with having overseen the progress of youngsters such as Matthieu Chalmé and Mathieu Valbuena.

Troyes

Furlan's performances as a manager drew the attention of several professional teams. He signed his first professional contract as a manager with Ligue 2 side Troyes AC in the 2004–05 season. His first season was very successful as Troyes 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.

Strasbourg

Furlan was appointed manager of Strasbourg from 2007 to 2009.

Nantes

Furlan took over as the new manager of Nantes in the 2009–10 season.

Return to Troyes

In the 2010–11 season, Furlan returned to Troyes and the team was promoted to Ligue 1 the following season. Again in the 2014–15 season, Furlan easily led the side to promotion to Ligue 1, with four games before the end of the season, as well as winning its first national title, Ligue 2. He left the club on 3 December 2015.

Brest

On 30 May 2016, Furlan became the new manager of Stade Brestois 29 for three years after Alex Dupont, the previous manager, failed to bring them back up to Ligue 1 after three years in command.

Despite a low budget in the teams he managed, Furlan developed the talent of very good players such as Damien Perquis, Bafétimbi Gomis, Blaise Matuidi, Djibril Sidibé, Mounir Obbadi and Fabrice N'Sakala.

On 17 May 2019, after Furlan had led Brest to a Ligue 1 promotion, his contract ran out.^[1]

Auxerre

He signed with Ligue 2 side Auxerre the same day.^[2]

Caen

On 14 June 2023, Furlan was appointed as the manager of Ligue 2 club Caen, signing a two-year contract. He succeeded Stéphane Moulin.^[3] Caen won the first four Ligue 2 games under his helm, but only managed 3 draws and 6 losses in the next 9, and Furlan was fired by Caen on 7 November 2023.^[4]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 4 November 2023

Honours

Player

Bordeaux

• Coupe Gambardella: 1976

Tours

• Division 2: 1983–84

Montpellier

• Division 2: 1986–87

Manager

Libourne

• Championnat de France Amateur 2: 1998–99
• Championnat de France Amateur promotion: 1999–2000, 2002–03
• Coupe d'Aquitaine: 2003–04

Troyes

• Ligue 2: 2014–15, third place promotion: 2004–05, 2011–12

Brest

• Ligue 2 runner-up: 2018–19

Individual

• Ligue 2 Manager of the Year: 2004–05, 2014–15