Alain Perrin

Alain Perrin
Personal information
Full name	Alain Perrin
Date of birth	7 October 1956 (age 60)
Place of birth	Lure, France
Youth career
1966–1970	SR Haguenau
1970–1971	Tomblaine
1971	Nancy
Senior career*
Teams managed
1993–2002	Troyes
2002–2004	Marseille
2004	Al-Ain
2005	Portsmouth
2006–2007	Sochaux
2007–2008	Lyon
2008–2009	Saint-Étienne
2010–2012	Al-Khor
2012–2013	Qatar (Olympic)
2012–2013	Al Gharafa
2013	Umm Salal
2014–2016	China
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.; ;

Alain Perrin (born 7 October 1956 in Lure, Haute-Saône), is a retired French footballer and has most recently coached the China national football team.

Managerial career[edit]

Perrin began his coaching career at AS Nancy in 1983, as junior coach to Arsène Wenger. He built up a reputation as a talented young coach whilst at the club, and was appointed to run the club's academy.

In 1993, Perrin had his first chance at management, taking over as manager of French National 2 (fourth division) club Troyes AC, quickly taking the club to Ligue 1 after three promotions in six seasons, and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. This success led to his being offered the position as manager of Olympique de Marseille in 2002.

During his time at the club, Perrin paid a French domestic transfer record for Didier Drogba. However, Perrin was sacked by Marseille, after a poor run of league form in January 2004.

Perrin was linked to a number of positions around Europe, including the position of manager at Southampton.^[1] However, in July 2004 he was named manager of Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates. Perrin had little luck with his new club however and was sacked after a disappointing run in October 2004.

In April 2005, he was appointed manager of Portsmouth,^[2] replacing caretaker Velimir Zajec, who had been in charge, since previous manager Harry Redknapp left in November 2004. Immediately, he was nicknamed 'Reggie' by the British press, and the Pompey fans, after the character Reginald Perrin from "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin". He succeeded in keeping the club in the top flight, and will be fondly remembered for the 4-1 win of local rivals Southampton, a result that contributed to their eventual relegation. However, just 8 months into the job, and after achieving only four wins from 20 games, Perrin was sacked.^[3]

He remained out of football management for 6 months, before returning on 19 May 2006 to the familiar territory of the French league at Ligue 1 side Sochaux. In 2007, he won the French Cup with his new club over Marseille.

Perrin took over as manager of Olympique Lyonnais on 30 May 2007, after Gérard Houllier resigned earlier that month.^[4] In his first season, he led the club to a seventh consecutive Ligue 1 championship title. He also managed to retain the French Cup which he had won with Sochaux the previous year. He left the club in June 2008.^[5] He was rumoured to take over the position of French national manager, but it was confirmed on 3 July 2008 that Raymond Domenech would remain in the position. On 11 November 2008, he became the new manager of Saint-Étienne,^[6] and was fired on 15 December 2009.^[7]

On 1 June 2012 Perrin decided to leave Al-Khor Sports Club to take up the vacant Qatar U23 position.^[8] His first assignment was to lead the team at the AFC Under-22 qualifiers, however the team were unable to make the tournament after they were knocked out in the group stages of the qualification process. Despite this disappointment Perrin continued to lead them into the 2012 Under 23 Gulf Cup of Nations where the team faired considerably better reaching the semi-finals of the tournament and eventually coming fourth overall in the competition.

On 20 December 2012, Perrin joined Al Gharafa and left just about two months after. In March 2013, he was appointed new head coach of Umm Salal to replace Bertrand Marchand. However, he resigned from his post on 30 September 2013.

On 28 February 2014, he was named as new China national football team manager, replacing Antonio Camacho. On 5 March 2014, China qualified for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia. In the tournament, Perrin secured a 1–0 victory for China over Saudi Arabia and two another 2–1 victories over Uzbekistan and North Korea. China finished first in the group and qualified to knockout stage after 11 years, where they faced host country Australia in quarter-finals where they lost 0–2.

Statistics[edit]

Manager[edit]

As of 17 November 2015

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	D	L	Win %
Troyes		1 July 1993	30 June 2002	324	133	105	86	41.05
Marseille		1 July 2002	14 January 2004	60	31	9	20	51.67
Al-Ain		13 July 2004	24 October 2004	4	2	0	2	50
Portsmouth		7 April 2005	24 November 2005	21	4	6	11	19.05
Sochaux		1 August 2006	30 June 2007	47	22	13	12	46.81
Lyon		1 July 2007	16 June 2008	59	39	11	9	66.10
Saint-Étienne		12 November 2008	15 December 2009	51	16	12	23	31.37
Al-Khor		14 June 2010	31 May 2012	67	20	15	32	29.85
Qatar U23		1 June 2012	19 December 2012	9	3	3	3	33.33
Al Gharafa		20 December 2012	21 February 2013	7	3	3	1	42.86
Umm Salal		13 March 2013	30 September 2013	11	4	2	5	36.36
China		28 February 2014	8 January 2016	28	15	9	4	53.57
Total				677	286	184	207	42.25

China PR Result[edit]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Goalscorers	Competition
2014
1	June 18, 2014	Shenyang, China	Macedonia	2–0	Yu Hanchao & Gao Di	Friendly
2	June 22, 2014	Jinan, China	Macedonia	0–0		Friendly
3	June 29, 2014	Shenzhen, China	Mali	1–3	Gao Lin	Friendly
4	September 4, 2014	Anshan, China	Kuwait	3–1	Yang Xu, Yu Hanchao & Wu Lei	Friendly
5	September 9, 2014	Harbin, China	Jordan	1–1	Gao Lin (P)	Friendly
6	October 10, 2014	Wuhan, China	Thailand	3–0	Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool (OG), Sun Ke & Yang Xu	Friendly
7	October 14, 2014	Changsha, China	Paraguay	2–1	Zheng Zhi (P) & Wu Lei	Friendly
8	November 14, 2014	Nanchang, China	New Zealand	1–1	Zheng Zhi	Friendly
9	November 18, 2014	Xian, China	Honduras	0–0		Friendly
10	December 13, 2014	Chenzhou, China	Kyrgyzstan	4–0	Yang Xu(2), Zheng Zhi & Wu Lei	Friendly
11	December 17, 2014	Qingyuan, China	Kyrgyzstan	2–0	Yang Xu & Gao Lin	Friendly
12	December 21, 2014	Chenzhou, China	Palestine	0–0		Friendly
2015
13	January 3, 2015	Sydney, Australia	Oman	4–1	Yang Xu, Yu Hai, Wu Lei & Hao Junmin	Friendly
14	January 10, 2015	Brisbane, Australia	Saudi Arabia	1–0	Yu Hai	2015 AFC Asian Cup
15	January 14, 2015	Brisbane, Australia	Uzbekistan	2–1	Wu Xi & Sun Ke	2015 AFC Asian Cup
16	January 18, 2015	Canberra, Australia	North Korea	2–1	Sun Ke (2)	2015 AFC Asian Cup
17	January 22, 2015	Brisbane, Australia	Australia	0–2		2015 AFC Asian Cup
18	March 27, 2015	Changsha, China	Haiti	2–2	Yang Xu & Yu Dabao	Friendly
19	March 31, 2015	Nanjing, China	Tunisia	1–1	Yu Dabao	Friendly
20	June 16, 2015	Thimphu, Bhutan	Bhutan	6–0	Yang Xu(3), Yu Dabao(2) & Wu Lei	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
21	August 2, 2015	Wuhan, China	South Korea	0–2		2015 EAFF East Asian Cup
22	August 5, 2015	Wuhan, China	North Korea	2–0	Yu Dabao & Wang Yongpo	2015 EAFF East Asian Cup
23	August 9, 2015	Wuhan, China	Japan	1–1	Wu Lei	2015 EAFF East Asian Cup
24	September 3, 2015	Shenzhen, China	Hong Kong	0–0		2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
25	September 8, 2015	Shengyang, China	Maldives	3–0	Yu Dabao(2), Zhang Linpeng	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
26	October 8, 2015	Doha, Qatar	Qatar	0–1		2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
27	November 12, 2015	Changsha, China	Bhutan	12–0	Yang Xu(4), Yu Dabao(2), Wang Yongpo(2), Yu Hanchao(2), Mei Fang, Zhang Xizhe	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
28	November 17, 2015	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	0–0		2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)