24 May 1966 (gbax: fransa) born (gbax: aktyor) and (gbax: futbolçu). As a child Eric was interested in the arts, but later turned to football and began his career in (gbax: fransa). With a hot‑tempered character, Erik spent a few years bouncing around France (sometimes even receiving punishments), before moving to (gbax: ingiltərə) to join the (gbax: leeds united) club. He won the championship with Leeds, and after showing his quality there he transferred to the club that would make him world‑famous – (gbax: manchester united) – where he turned the number “7” shirt into a legend. His successful performances brought consecutive titles to (gbax: manchester united):
Below is a list of the champions in the (gbax: premier leauge). Apart from the 1995 season when he was suspended, he delivered league titles for the Red Devils in every other year he was at Manchester. (Because the “(gbax: premier leauge)” name only existed after 1992, Leeds, champions in the 1991/92 season, are not shown).
Until the end of his career Eric stayed at Manchester, and in 1995 he delivered the famous “flying kick”. In that incident Eric pushed an opposing player, was shown a red card, and a rival fan shouted at him in a racist way "Off! Off! Off! It's an early bath for you, Mr Cantona!". Angered, Eric responded with a kick that knocked the fan’s jaw off its hinge:
He didn’t stop there – after the kick he also threw a punch:
As a result he received a £10,000 fine, a nine‑month ban from football, 120 hours of compulsory community work, and (gbax: manchester united) docked his wages for two weeks. He never issued an apology video :) – in fact, in one interview he said it was one of the best moments of his life. He became one of the few Frenchmen loved by the English (they even gave him the nickname “the king”), and you can see how intriguing his style was:
At the peak of his career, at age 31, he announced that he was quitting professional football, saying he no longer had any interest in the game (although strikers often become twice as strong after that age).
Eric Cantona’s best moments:
(youtube: dRgBKPQw3JU) [1]