Fabien Alain Barthez (French pronunciation: [fabjɛ̃ baʁtɛz]; born 28 June 1971) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, Monaco, Manchester United and Nantes. At international level, he played for the France national team, with whom he won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, representing his nation at a total of three editions of both the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship; he also reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, after which he retired from international football.
Since August 2026, he has been the goalkeeping coach of the French national team.
Nicknamed Le Divin Chauve ("The Divine Bald One"), due to his trademark shaved head, Barthez was France's most capped player in the FIFA World Cup, with 17 appearances at the finals and shares the record for the most World Cup clean sheets with Peter Shilton, with ten. In club football, he won the UEFA Champions League with Olympique Marseille in 1993 as well as several Ligue 1 and Premier League titles. After retiring from football in 2007, Barthez began a career in motorsport in 2008.
Fabien Alain Barthez was born on 28 June 1971 in Lavelanet, Ariège.
Connections with the rugby world
Fabien Barthez is the son of Alain Barthez, a former RCNM player. In November 2015, Barthez was due to become an honorary member of the club's Socios association. According to association president Gérard Sutra, the honor reflected Barthez's friendship with Sutra, who had played alongside his father, and the Barthez family's attachment to Narbonne. As a boy, Barthez held a rugby license and played the sport until adolescence.
Having spotted him earlier during regional selections, Élie Baup, then head of goalkeeping at Toulouse FC, brought him into the Toulouse pre-academy in 1986. Baup gave him his debut in the national Cadets league. After two successful seasons, Barthez joined the football academy, directed by Serge Delmas.
Barthez made his Division 1 debut for Toulouse on 21 September 1991, against Nancy.
After a solid performance with Toulouse against the club during the season, Barthez became a priority transfer target and subsequently joined Marseille in 1992, winning both the French league and the Champions League in his first season at the club, keeping a clean sheet during the final in a 1–0 victory over Milan. The continental victory made him the youngest goalkeeper to win a Champions League title until Iker Casillas did so in 2000.
Marseille, however, would be stripped of their domestic title, due to their involvement in a domestic match fixing scandal days before the Champions League final, and in April 1994 was officially declared relegated to Division 2 for the 1994–1995 season. He stayed with the club for the 1994–95 season, despite many offers from elite French clubs, helping Marseille to win the title. This, however, did not earn them a promotion back to Division 1 due to their massive debts and unstable financial state, directly caused by the relegation. French football's financial watchdog DNCG ruled that the club was not financially viable enough to compete in the top flight.
Following Marseille's relegation to the second tier, Barthez left the club in 1995. It was reported that his departure was motivated by a desire to continue playing in the top flight in order to maintain his position in the French national team.
In 1995, Barthez joined Monaco and won Ligue 1 titles in 1997 and 2000. He also played in Jean Tigana's talented Monaco side, which famously put his future club Manchester United out of the Champions League in 1998 on away goals after a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford.
As a result of Barthez's success in the World Cup and the Euros, he caught the attention of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who was searching for a star goalkeeper to replace the recently departed Peter Schmeichel, as Ferguson did not think that the previous season's goalkeeper, Mark Bosnich, was a long-term replacement. Barthez joined United for £7.8 million in 2000. He was later reunited with national teammate Laurent Blanc, who joined United in 2001. The Barthez–Blanc head-kissing ritual was performed at the start of Champions League matches.
Known eccentric, Barthez started out well for Manchester United. In his first season he answered all the questions about how he would handle rainy Manchester compared to sunny Monaco. Barthez quickly became a crowd favourite. The fans loved his eccentric behaviour, his taunting dribbles and step-overs past opposing strikers, and his reaction saves. Very often, it was critical saves that kept United from defeat or dropping valuable points, helping United to the 2000–01 FA Premier League title, their third in a row.
A memorable incident happened when Manchester United faced Leeds United in March 2001. After dropping a cross from Robbie Keane, Barthez deliberately kicked out with his foot at Ian Harte, who fell to the ground on the edge of six yard box, and the referee awarded a penalty to Leeds. Harte stepped up but Barthez made a low, one-handed save to his right. The only blemish in his first season was his failed attempt at "psyching out" West Ham United's Paolo Di Canio in the FA Cup Fourth Round; Di Canio beat the offside trap, while Barthez stood still with his hand up expecting the referee to blow his whistle, or Di Canio to stop. Di Canio continued and scored the only goal of the game, and later said it was "better to score and then see whether the goalkeeper is right or wrong".
The 2001–02 season was split into two parts for him. The first half was tumultuous. The Frenchman seemed to be taking some unnecessary risks outside his penalty area, and his antics began to have consequences that allowed unneeded goals for opposing teams. He was at fault for two goals in a 3–2 home defeat by Deportivo de La Coruña in October 2001. Ferguson said how "eventually he will get caught out" and it wouldn't happen again. But another couple of late errors against Arsenal in a 3–1 defeat at Highbury the following month put much pressure on Barthez, with two goals gifted to Thierry Henry, one of which came from a mis-hit clearance. Barthez was at the centre of further controversy when, after already being on a yellow card following an argument with Matthew Upson, he was caught by television cameras raising his middle fingers behind his back towards the Arsenal supporters, who had been taunting him for his errors towards the end of the match; the incident was missed by the referee Peter Jones, however. There was much speculation as to what was the source of Barthez's decline, and critics such as the BBC's Phil McNulty urged him to be dropped. Sir Alex Ferguson, however, had faith in his goalkeeper, and stuck by him. Consequently, in the second half of the season, Barthez repaired his reputation with consistent, solid performances and the spectacular saves that he was famous for. His turn in fortunes was shown in a 2–2 draw with Derby County at Pride Park. Derby forward Malcolm Christie looked to have sealed his hat-trick, but referee Steve Dunn controversially disallowed the goal, ruling that Christie kicked the ball out of Barthez's hands.
He was also noted for playing mind games before opposition players took a penalty. The first time this occurred was in November 2001 when Leicester City came to Old Trafford. As Muzzy Izzet prepared to take a penalty, Barthez stood aside from the goal, with his hands behind him on the post. Izzet, tired of waiting, slotted the ball in the bottom corner, but referee Andy D'Urso made him retake the penalty, this time with Barthez in goal. Izzet went the same way, but Barthez denied him with a fine save to his right. An almost identical incident happened less than a year later in October 2002, when Barthez was unhappy about the awarding of a penalty to Fulham, and so went from post to post banging his boots, and refused to be in goal for the penalty. This time he was booked for his antics by referee Mike Dean, and so he then took his place between the posts and made it work again by saving Steed Malbranque's spot kick.