Current Genoa manager Patrick Vieira was a French international and former head coach of Crystal Palace, Nice, New York City FC and Strasbourg.
During his playing career, he pulled on the shirt for several of the biggest clubs in Europe, taking in spells at AC Milan, Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City. However, it is his stint with Arsenal for which he is most famous.
Vieira captained Arsenal from midfield and played an instrumental part in winning seven major trophies while with the Gunners.
Vieira won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups with the Gunners, before moving to Italy, winning four Serie A titles in a row with Inter Milan, as well as the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League.
The Frenchman was also a part of France's 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship-winning squads.
He stepped into management in 2013, joining Manchester City's Elite Development Squad before taking the reins at New York City in the MLS in 2016.
Vieira moved to Nice in Ligue 1 in June 2018, but only lasted until December 2020 when he was sacked after a run of five defeats.
Crystal Palace appointed him as their head coach in July 2021, leading the Eagles to 12th in the Premier League and the semi-final of the FA Cup in his first season in charge.
However, he was sacked by the South London club on March 17, 2023 after a winless start to the year.
Palace were sitting just three points above the drop zone after losing seven of their last 12 outings, and claiming just five points since the turn of the year.
In July 2023, Vieira was appointed head coach of Ligue 1 club Strasbourg, but left the club a year later by by mutual agreement.
Serie A side Genoa were Vieira's next destination, taking the reins at The Red and Blues in November 2024.
Vieira signed for Arsenal for a reported £3.5million in 1996 as they beat Ajax to his signature. Vieira later revealed that his move to the Gunners was largely motivated by knowing that Arsene Wenger would be the next Arsenal manager.
The midfielder got off to a solid start at the Gunners, and after Wenger took charge in September 1996, he put the team firmly on an upward trajectory towards a successful period for the club.
In 1997/98, Wenger led Arsenal to a Premier League and FA Cup double, with Vieira's midfield partnership with Emmanuel Petit proving instrumental for the Gunners. The pair made the PFA Team of the Year in 1998/99, despite missing out on the title by just one point to Manchester United.
👕 307 #PL appearances
— Premier League (@premierleague) July 4, 2021
🏆 3 PL titles
Ⓒ Captained Arsenal’s Invincibles season
Patrick Vieira enjoyed a fine career, but how will he fare as manager of @CPFC? 🦅 pic.twitter.com/ZJlU7SA6lq
Vieira missed the 2003 FA Cup final due to injury, but Arsenal were able to lift the prize in his absence. The following season, the Gunners became the first ever champions to go a whole Premier League season unbeaten.
They were therefore known as the "Invincibles" and are widely hailed as one of the greatest Premier League squads of all time. Arsenal won 26 games and drew 12, picking up 90 points.
As captain, Vieira would be handed a special gold trophy commissioned by the Premier League to mark the first unbeaten season by a top-level English team for over a century.
The Frenchman was an integral part of the team that would keep their unbeaten run going into the following season, with an incredible 49 Premier League games without a defeat coming to an end with a 2-0 loss against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
During his time at Arsenal, Vieira developed a fierce rivalry with his midfield counterpart, then-Manchester United captain Roy Keane. They played out some tremendous battles on the pitch, and at times, the tension spilled over off it.
Infamously, in the build-up to a match at Highbury between United and Arsenal in 2005, Vieira got involved in a tunnel bust-up with Keane. According to Keane, he was sticking up for Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville, who he felt was being intimidated by the likes of Vieira and Martin Keown.
Vieira and Keane appeared to reconcile in a 2013 documentary titled "Keane & Vieira: Best of Enemies" where they met and discussed their past battles.
Vieira played 107 times for the French national team between 1997 and 2009, scoring six goals and becoming one of just eight players in history to have reached a century of caps for Les Bleus in the process.
He was a key part of the squad which won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and set up Arsenal team-mate Emmanuel Petit for one of the goals in the 3-0 final victory over Brazil.
As a result, Vieira and his teammates were all given the prestigious Legion d'honneur (Legion of Honour) award - France's highest civilian honour, equivalent to a knighthood in the UK.
The French team would then follow up their global success by beating Italy to win EURO 2000, with Vieira starring in midfield throughout the tournament.
Vieira would help France to another World Cup final in 2006 (eventually losing to Italy on penalties), before calling time on a glittering international career in 2010.
After retiring from playing football in 2011, Vieira went from player to football development executive at Manchester City. Two years later, he was appointed as manager of the club's reserve team, the Elite Development Squad.
In November 2015, Vieira was appointed as head coach of New York City FC (NYCFC), another member of the City Football Group. From 17th in 2015, NYCFC moved up to fourth in 2016 and second in 2017 under Vieira's watch.
.@OfficialVieira reflects on his time at #NYCFC
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) June 11, 2018
📽️ INTERVIEW 👇 pic.twitter.com/6GR1uUCaVM
In June 2018, Vieira left NYCFC to become the new manager of OGC Nice in Ligue 1. Nice finished seventh in 2018/19, a one-place improvement on the previous season under Lucien Favre. In 2019/20, a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nice finished fifth.
In December 2019, Vieira addressed speculation linking him with the then-vacant Arsenal head coaching job following Unai Emery's departure.
Ultimately, the Arsenal job went to another former Gunner, Mikel Arteta, who was previously Pep Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City.
Early in the 2020/21 season, Vieira's Nice suffered a poor run of form, which led to calls for the former Arsenal skipper to be sacked. His contract was set to expire in June 2021 and the club ultimately relieved him of his duties on 4 December 2020, with Nice sitting 11th in Ligue 1.
After Roy Hodgson's departure from Crystal Palace at the end of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, it was announced on the 4th July 2021 that Patrick Vieira would take over as the Eagles' boss.
In his first season in charge he took Crystal Palace to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and a 12th-placed finish in the Premier League.
But things turned sour in the 2022/23 season, and Vieira was sacked in March after a run of one win in 14 Premier League games, which left the Eagles just three points above the relegation zone.
Palace chairman Steve Parish said: "It is with enormous regret that this difficult decision has been made.
"Ultimately, results in recent months have placed us in a precarious league position and we felt a change is necessary to give us the best chance of retaining Premier League status.
"He led the team to a Wembley FA Cup semi-final and respectable 12th-placed finish last season playing some exciting football, which was a challenging and crucial campaign for the club given the changes we made to the squad prior to his arrival."
He led Strasbourg to 13th in the table and into the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France, but on July 18, 2024, left by mutual agreement only one season into a three-year deal.
A statement from Strasbourg president Marc Keller said: “We would like to express our gratitude and thank Patrick for the work he has accomplished during this first phase of the project.
“We will him much success in the future. He will always be welcome at the club.”
On November 20, 2024, Vieira was named as the new manager of Serie A side Genoa.
Vieira suffered racism throughout his professional career. Most infamously, he was on the receiving end of racist abuse from opponent Sinisa Mihajlovic during a UEFA Champions League match between Lazio and Arsenal in 2000. Mihajlovic admitted to abusing Vieira, but claimed he was provoked.
In 2003, Vieira was fined for criticising UEFA's leniency when dealing with racism following abuse he suffered at the hands of Valencia supporters while playing for Arsenal in another Champions League clash.
In 2014, while at Manchester City, he took his players off in a pre-season friendly due to alleged racist abuse.
Patrick Vieira's net worth is reported to be £24million.
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