Pierre Issa

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Template:Short description Template:Use South African English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography

Pierre Sanharib Issa (born 11 September 1975) is a South African former professional soccer player who played as a defender. He is the current sporting director of the Greek side Olympiacos. Born in South Africa, Issa is of Lebanese descent and was naturalised as a French citizen at the end of the 1990s.

Club career

Issa was born in Germiston, South Africa, in a family of Lebanese Christians. His maternal grandfather was Lebanese consul in Johannesburg. Pierre Issa joined France at 11 years old.[1] He began playing for French semi-professional side Dunkerque.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

He started his professional career with Marseille in 1995 and went on to play in the 1999 UEFA Cup Final.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". He became a naturalised French citizen shortly after his arrival in Marseille.[1]

He moved to Chelsea on loan in January 2001, although he did not play a competitive game for the London club.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

He is best known in England for his spell with Watford in 2001–02. Signed by new manager Gianluca Vialli from Marseille, Issa scored once, against Portsmouth.[2] Issa was memorably dropped by his stretcher bearers after an injury in a home game against Birmingham City,[3] and was put on the club's transfer list on 14 February 2002, only five months after he had signed for the club.[4] He never played for Watford again, but played for his country at 2002 FIFA World Cup whilst still contracted to Watford.[5][6]

After leaving Watford, Issa signed for Olympic Beirut and won both Lebanese Premier League and Lebanese FA Cup in his first season with the club, but was released in the 2004–05 season as the club's ownership was changed due to financial considerations.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

He signed for Ionikos of Greece and later for OFI, also in Greece, where he stayed until 2009.[7]

International career

Issa played 47 times for South Africa since making his debut on 15 November 1997 against Germany, having also captained his country.[4]

In the 1998 FIFA World Cup, during the opening match, he scored two own goals against France.[8][9] Issa was also selected for the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Honours

Olympic Beirut

Individual

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Navboxes colour Template:2002–03 Lebanese Premier League Team of the Year

  1. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named stretcher
  4. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named bbcprofile2
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 2002match
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named exit
  7. ↑ Template:NFT
  8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named worldcupsquad
  9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named bbcprofile1
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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