François Marque (born 31 July 1983) is a retired French professional footballer who played as a defender and current manager of FC Courtételle in Switzerland.[1]

François Marque
Personal information
Date of birth (1983-07-31) 31 July 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth Troyes, France
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Team information
Current team
FC Courtételle (Manager)
Youth career
Troyes
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 RCS La Chapelle 55 (2)
2004–2005 Libourne-Saint-Seurin 0 (0)
2005–2007 FC Baulmes 45 (1)
2007–2010 FC Basel 58 (0)
2010–2011 Grenoble 28 (1)
2011–2013 Bastia 23 (2)
2013–2014 1. FC Saarbrücken 7 (0)
2014–2015 Amiens 12 (1)
2015 Istres 11 (0)
2015–2017 Le Mont 39 (0)
2017 DPMM 1 (0)
2017–2020 Yverdon-Sport 13 (0)
2020–2022 Stade Nyonnais 29 (2)
2022 Stade-Payerne
2023 FC Thierrens
2023–2024 Concordia Basel 12 (1)
Managerial career
2024– FC Courtételle
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Football career

edit

Marque was born in Troyes. He started his career in his native France with amateur club RCS La Chapelle in 2002 where he played 55 games over the course of two seasons. His good performances there caught the eye of Ligue 2 club FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin for whom he signed for in 2004. Marque did not play any games there and left after just one season to join Swiss Challenge League side FC Baulmes in 2005. He impressed at Baulmes and gathered interest from several Swiss Super League teams. On 12 November 2006 Baulmes played in the Swiss Cup third round against Basel, who needed extra time to win the match 3–2 and proceed to the next round. Therefore, Basel were also one of the clubs who showed an interest in the centre back.[2]

After much speculation about his future Marque joined FC Basel in January 2007. At first, on 24. January, he signed a contract that was valid from July 2007 until 30 June 2010. But then Bruno Berner transferred out from Basel, to Blackburn Rovers for a nominal fee, and this move required an immediate replacement. So, in agreement with FC Baulmes, FCB made use of their opportunity to take over the defender with an immediate effect. A corresponding agreement with all parties was reached on 30 January, which meant that Marque was immediately available.[3] He joined Basel's first team during the winter break of their 2007–08 season under head coach Christian Gross.

During his first six months with the club, Marque played just two league and one cup games. He played his league debut with the team in the away game in the Hardturm on 4 March as Basel won 5–1 against Grasshopper Club coming on as substitute for Scott Chipperfield.[4] Basel ended the league season as runners-up and the Swiss Cup as winners. Marque played the full 90 minutes in the semi-final against Wil but was on the bench during the final.[5]

During the 2007–08 season Marque progressed and formed an effective central defensive partnership with Sweden international Daniel Majstorović and this saw him become a first-team regular. Basel played in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. Winning both matches in the qualification and both matches in the play-off round, they ended the group stage undefeated in second position to advance to the knockout stage. But then they were eliminated here by Sporting CP. Marque played the full 90 minutes in all ten games.[6] At the end of the 2007–08 season he won the Double with the club. They won the League Championship title with four points advantage over second placed Young Boys.[7] In the Swiss Cup via FC Léchelles, SC Binningen, Grasshopper Club, Stade Nyonnais and in the semi-final Thun, Basel advanced to the final, and winning this 4–1 against AC Bellinzona they won the competition.[8]

Majstorović left Basel in Summer 2008 and Marque formed a new partnership with David Abraham. To the beginning of the season, they were members of the Basel team that won the Uhrencup. They beat Legia Warsaw 6–1 and played a 2–2 draw with Borussia Dortmund to end the table on top slot above Dortmund and Luzern.[9]

Basel joined the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round and with an aggregate score of 5–3 they eliminated IFK Göteborg. In the next round they played against Vitória de Guimarães. The first leg ended in a goalless draw, but with a 2–1 win in the second leg they eliminated Vitória and advanced to the group stage. Here Basel were matched with Barcelona, Sporting CP and Shakhtar Donetsk but ended the group in last position winning just one point after a 1–1 draw in Camp Nou. Marque played in nine of the ten games, missing only the away game to Sporting due to an injury.[10] At the end of the 2008–09 Super League season Basel were third in the table, seven points behind new champions Zürich and one adrift of runners-up Young Boys. Marque suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in an away match in April and missed the last nine games of the season.[11] In the 2008–09 Swiss Cup Basel advanced via Schötz, Bulle, Thun and Zurich to the semi-finals. But here they were stopped by YB. After a goalless 90 minutes and extra time, YB decided the penalty shoot-out 3–2 and advanced to the final to become runners-up, as Sion became cup winners.[12]

Marque missed all the games during the first half of the following season due to the ligament injury and after he recovered, he moved on. During his time with the team Marque played a total of 120 games for Basel scoring one goal. 58 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, eight in the Swiss Cup, 19 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 35 were friendly games. He scored his one-goal during a test game.[13]

On 1 February 2010, the central defender signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Grenoble Foot. On 19 July 2011, he played in a friendly for Crystal Palace. On 5 August 2011, he signed with French second league team SC Bastia. In October 2013 he signed for 1. FC Saarbrücken but was released four months later after failing a doping test.[14]

Marque signed for S.League side Brunei DPMM FC for the 2017 S.League season.[15] His debut on 3 March against Home United only lasted half-an-hour as he went off with an injury, but not before conceding a penalty.[16] He was released later that month and was replaced by Serbian Željko Savić.[17]

Later career

edit

In the second half of 2022, Marque played for Swiss amateur club FC Stade-Payerne.[18] In the first half of 2023, he played for FC Thierrens.[19] After that he moved to FC Concordia Basel, where he played until the summer of 2024.[20]

Already in April 2024, it was confirmed that Marque had been hired as manager of the Swiss club FC Courtételle from the 2024-25 season.[21][22]

Honours

edit

Basel

References

edit
  1. ^ "Association cantonale vaudoise de football - Club". www.football.ch (in French). Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (12 November 2006). "FC Baulmes - FC Basel 2:3 n.V. (2:2, 0:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. ^ (red) (30 January 2007). "Berner nach Blackburn, Marque ab sofort beim FCB" [Berner to Blackburn, Marque immediately with FCB] (in German). Onlinereports-ch. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  4. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "Grasshopper Club - FC Basel 1:5 (0:2)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  5. ^ Swiss Football Verband (SFV) (28 May 2007). "FC Basel - FC Luzern 1:0 (0:0)". Swiss Football Verband (SFV) internet. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  6. ^ uefa.com (21 February 2008). "FC Basel - Sporting CP 0:3 (0:2)". uefa.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  7. ^ Karel Stokkermans, Erik Garin (2018). "Switzerland 2007/08". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  8. ^ Swiss Football Verband (SFV) (6 April 2008). "AC Bellinzona - FC Basel 1:4 (0:1)". Swiss Football Verband (SFV) internet. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  9. ^ Garin, Erik (2011). "Coupe Horlogère - Uhren Cup (Switzerland)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  10. ^ Hunter, Graham (4 November 2008). "FC Barcelona - FC Basel 1:1 (0:0)". UEFA.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  11. ^ Stokkermans, Karel (2012). "Switzerland 2008/09" (in French). Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Swiss Football Verband (SFV) (9 May 2010). "Swiss Cup 2008/09". Swiss Football Verband (SFV) internet. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  13. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2022). "François Marque - FCB statistics". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Doping-Sünder Marque fristlos gekündigt" (in German). Kicker. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  15. ^ "FFT's 2017 S.League Preview: Meet the new foreigners". FourFourTwo. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  16. ^ "Protectors Continue Perfect Start To The Season". S.League. 3 March 2017. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. ^ "DPMM Fc". Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  18. ^ Ligue Amateur, al-la.ch, 17 September 2022
  19. ^ Une reprise sous haute tension, laliberte.ch, 9 March 2023
  20. ^ François Marque ist zurück in Basel, sport.ch, 11 September 2023
  21. ^ Le FC Courtételle tient son futur entraîneur, rfj.ch, 3 April 2024
  22. ^ Mais qui est François Marque, le futur entraîneur du FC Courtételle qui a frustré le grand Barça?, lqj.ch, 10 May 2024
edit