Patrice Evra

Club career

Early career

Evra began his football career playing for hometown club CO Les Ulis. After playing in the streets for years, he was brought to the club by friend Tshymen Buhanga, who informed the club coach, "I bring you the new Romário." Evra spent one year at the club under the watch of coach Jean-Claude Giordanella, who later became vice-president of the club. Giordanella described the player as "more quiet, almost shy. He was a good kid". Evra originally played football in the striker position and, while training at Les Ulis, underwent trials with professional clubs Rennes and Lens. Following the conclusion of the evaluations, Evra was rejected primarily due to his size. In 1993, he joined amateur club CSF Brétigny based in nearby Brétigny-sur-Orge. Similar to his stint with Les Ulis, Evra went on trials with several clubs, most notably Toulouse and Paris Saint-Germain. He was ultimately signed by the latter and converted into a winger. Evra trained at the Camp des Loges for a few months, but was later released.

After failing to convince PSG officials of his ability as a footballer, Evra returned to Brétigny and was invited by a friend to participate in an indoor five-a-side football tournament organised by the Juvisy-sur-Orge sports center. While playing, he was spotted by an Italian scout who offered him the opportunity to attend a trial with professional club Torino. Evra spent ten days training with the club and, after the trial, was offered a place on the club's youth team. Afterwards, he was approached by Serie C1 club Marsala, whose officials enticed him with the prospect of becoming a professional. Evra chose the latter option and signed his first professional contract at age 17. Evra spent only one season with the club, appearing in 27 total matches and scoring six goals. After this, he moved to the Serie B level to join Monza for a €250,000 transfer fee after potential moves to Serie A clubs Roma and Lazio fell-through. Evra only appeared in three matches, making his debut on 29 August 1999 in a 2–1 away defeat against Alzano. He left the club following one season after becoming frustrated with his lack of appearances.

Nice

Evra returned to France joining professional club Nice in Ligue 2, the second division of French football. He spent the majority of his first season with the club playing with its reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football. He primarily played as a midfielder on the team and appeared in 18 matches, scoring one goal. Midway through the campaign, he was called into the first team by manager Sandro Salvioni. He was assigned the number 26 shirt and made his club debut on 7 October 2000 in the team's 7–2 defeat to Châteauroux, starting in the left winger position. Evra made four more appearances during the campaign, appearing as a substitute in defeats to Cannes, Nancy and starting in the team's 3–0 win over Laval and 1–0 loss to Le Havre in the final match of the season. Evra played primarily as centre forward in the matches.

In the 2001–02 season, Evra switched to the number 17 shirt and was promoted to the first team on a permanent basis. In the team's first league match of the season against Laval, he started in the team's 2–1 win. Towards the end of the match, reserve left-back Jean-Charles Cirilli, who was starting in place of the regular starter José Cobos, suffered an injury, which required the player to be substituted. As a consequence, Evra dropped back into the role and played out the rest of the match in the position. Following the match, due to injuries to both Cobos and Cirilli, Evra was informed by Salvioni he would take over the position. Evra made his debut in the position in the team's following league match against Strasbourg, a 3–0 defeat. He appeared regularly in the campaign and, following the return of Cobos, was even allowed to play in his preferred left wing role. With the club in the midst of a promotion battle, Evra scored his first and only goal for Nice in his last match with the club, a 4–3 win over Laval. The victory placed Nice in third place, which resulted in the club earning promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time since 1997. For his performances, Evra was named to the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Ligue 2 Team of the Year in the left-back position.

Monaco

Following the season, Evra was recruited by Nice's Derby de la Côte d'Azur rivals Monaco. Despite wanting to play as a left winger again, Evra was advised by manager Didier Deschamps he would only play as a left-back; Evra has since credited Deschamps for allowing him to become a better defender after initially describing the role as being "not fun". Evra was inserted into a back four that consisted of centre-backs Rafael Márquez and Sébastien Squillaci and right-back Franck Jurietti. Evra was assigned the number 3 shirt and made his debut for the club in the opening match of the 2002–03 season against Troyes. He played the entire match in a 4–0 win. On 28 September, Evra scored his first goal for the club, scoring the match-winner in a 2–1 victory against Rennes. On 22 March 2003, he scored his second goal of the season in a 3–0 away win over Le Havre. The victory allowed Monaco to maintain its position at the top of the table, as the club was in a three-way battle with Lyon and Marseille. Monaco climactically conceded first place to Lyon in May, which resulted in Lyon being declared champions for the second time in its history. Monaco finished the campaign in second place, which merited the club an appearance in the UEFA Champions League. The club was also rewarded domestically for its performance in the Coupe de la Ligue where it reached the final. Evra featured in the team's 4–1 win over Sochaux in the match. The league cup title gave Evra the first major honour of his career.

After the season, Márquez and Jurietti departed Monaco for Spanish club Barcelona and Bordeaux respectively, and were replaced by Gaël Givet and Hugo Ibarra, the latter joining the club on loan. In the 2003–04 league season, Deschamps installed Evra as a vice-captain and he responded by appearing in 33 matches and providing four assists. Monaco spent six months from September to March in first place, but, like the previous season, conceded the top spot to Lyon as the season wore on. Evra made his UEFA Champions League debut on 17 September 2003 in the team's opening group stage match against PSV. Evra played the entire match in a 2–1 win. He appeared in all six group stage matches as Monaco finished in first place. For his performances in the first half of the 2003–04 season, Evra was linked with a 2004 winter move to English club Arsenal, Italian clubs Juventus and Milan, and Spanish club Barcelona.

After appearing consistently with the team, on 24 March 2004, Evra suffered an ankle injury in the club's 4–2 first leg defeat to Spanish club Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Evra subsequently missed two weeks in the league, but was healthy enough to return for the team's second leg quarter-final tie against Madrid, which Monaco won 3–1. The win allowed the club advancement to the Champions League semi-finals on the away goals rule. In the semi-finals, Monaco faced English club Chelsea. Evra appeared in both matches as Monaco advanced to the final, beating the London club 5–3 on aggregate. In the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final, Monaco were pitted against Porto at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The club was defeated 3–0 by Porto. Evra played the full 90 minutes. After the season, Evra was given the UNFP Young Player of the Year award, becoming only the second defender and the first since 1997 (Philippe Christanval) to win the award. He was also named to the organisation's Ligue 1 Team of the Year.

Manchester United

On 27 December, French sources revealed that Manchester United was interested in signing Evra. Despite rumours of Monaco reaching a transfer agreement with Internazionale, on 3 January 2006, Evra revealed he preferred to move to England to join Manchester United. The following day, Manchester United officially issued a transfer bid for the player. On 6 January, United manager Alex Ferguson confirmed a deal for Evra was reached. Four days later, the transfer was official as Evra joined the club for a transfer fee of around £5.5 million and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract. Evra's arrival signalled Ferguson's intention to shore up the club's defence that had suffered since the sidelining of Gabriel Heinze. After joining the club, Evra affirmed that Manchester was his only future destination: "I was not very keen to go forward in the talks with Arsenal, Liverpool or Real Madrid. They all talked with my agent in the past two seasons. But to me, it was over. As I said to the Monaco officials, I only wanted to hear about Manchester."

Evra initially had some problems adapting to the English game. He made his debut for the club on 14 January in a 3–1 away defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League, and he was substituted at half-time after failing to make an impact. After the conclusion of the match, Ferguson stated, "Maybe it was a bit of a gamble playing Evra," while the player himself admitted that "playing for Manchester United was something I was not prepared for". Despite the initial set-back, Evra started in the team's ensuing match against Liverpool, a 1–0 victory, and was praised for his performance by teammate Rio Ferdinand. On 26 February, Evra appeared as a substitute in United's 4–0 win over Wigan Athletic in the 2006 League Cup final. On 2 March, it was reported that Liverpool defender Steve Finnan had racially abused Evra in the match. The abuse claims surfaced from two deaf television viewers lodging a police complaint. The viewers claimed to have lip-read Finnan abusing Evra during the televised match. Finnan denied the charge and, after an investigation, The Football Association (FA) decided against charging the player. Evra regularly alternated between the bench and the starting 11 to close out the campaign. He finished the season with 14 total appearances for his new club.

In Evra's first full season as a Manchester United player, he struggled to consistently appear as a starter early on in the season as Ferguson preferred Evra's compatriot Mikaël Silvestre. After appearing as an unused substitute in United's first two Champions League matches, on 17 October 2006, Evra made his European debut for the club in its 3–0 group stage win over Copenhagen. On 18 November, he provided the assist for the game-winning goal, scored by Wayne Rooney, in the team's 2–1 win over Sheffield United. Eight days later, Evra scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 league win over Everton, also contributing an assist. By December, Evra began featuring as a regular in the starting 11. After starting in United's 3–1 Champions League win over Benfica on 6 December, Evra started nine consecutive matches. Evra provided assists in two of the matches; a Rooney goal in a 2–1 away defeat to Arsenal and another in a 2–0 victory over Charlton Athletic. On 10 April 2007, Evra scored the final goal in a 7–1 win over Roma in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. The goal was his first-ever in the Champions League and helped progress Manchester United to the semi-finals, where the club suffered defeat to the eventual champions Milan. Following the league season, which Manchester United won by a six-point margin, Evra was named to the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Team of the Year, despite only appearing in 24 league matches.

Juventus

On 21 July 2014, Evra joined Italian Serie A club Juventus on a two-year contract. The fee was £1.2 million, which rose to £1.5 million, after Juventus qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League. On 14 December 2014, he scored his first goal for the club, opening the scoring of a 1–1 home draw to Sampdoria. On 6 June 2015, Evra started for Juventus in the 2015 UEFA Champions League final as Juventus were defeated 3–1 by Barcelona at Berlin's Olympiastadion. The match was the fifth Champions League final in which he had appeared, and the defeat meant he became the first and only player to lose four Champions League finals. In addition, he becomes the first and only player to lose the final with three different clubs, and the first and only player to lose against the same opponent, Barcelona, on three occasions.

Evra made his 100th UEFA Champions League appearance in a 1–0 home win over Manchester City on 25 November 2015, becoming the second French player to do so after Thierry Henry. Evra scored a goal in the last match of the 2015–16 Serie A season on 14 May 2016, in a 5–0 home win over Sampdoria, as Juventus celebrated winning the league title for a fifth consecutive time since the 2011–12 season. On 6 June 2016, Evra signed a one-year contract extension with Juventus; the deal included an option for a further extension of one year.

Marseille

On 25 January 2017, Evra joined Marseille on a free transfer, signing an 18-month contract with the club. On 7 May 2017, he scored his only goal for Marseille in a 2–1 win over his former club Nice.

In the warm-up preceding a Europa League match on 2 November 2017, Evra was sent off for kicking a spectating Marseille fan in the head, who was reportedly "ridiculing" him as he trained. Marseille coach Rudi Garcia was critical of the fans, but also criticized Evra for reacting to the provocation. On 3 November, the day after Evra's altercation with a fan, he was suspended from playing indefinitely by Marseille, pending an interview with the player regarding his conduct and further investigation before any other sanctions are imposed on him. Marseille released a statement concerning the incident, condemning Evra's actions. He also received a charge of violent conduct from UEFA as a consequence. Evra also received a UEFA ban that made him ineligible to play in any UEFA competitions until June 2018. Marseille subsequently terminated Evra's contract with immediate effect.

West Ham United

On 7 February 2018, West Ham United signed Evra on a free transfer. He signed a contract until the end of June 2018. He made his debut against Liverpool on 24 February. Evra departed West Ham United when his contract expired at the end of the season, having made five appearances for the club. Evra remained a free agent for a year before finally announcing his retirement from professional football in July 2019.

Brentham

In a bid to build fitness ahead of Soccer Aid 2020, Evra made a one-off appearance for Middlesex County League Premier Division club Brentham in a 3–2 friendly defeat to North Greenford United on 29 August 2020.

International career

Under-21s

Evra is a former French youth international having played for the under-21 team. Due to harboring in Italy during his development years, he failed to earn call-ups with teams below the under-21 level. Evra earned his first call-up to the under-21 team under coach Raymond Domenech on 3 October 2002 for matches against Slovenia and Malta. He made his under-21 debut in the match against Slovenia as France cruised to a 1–0 victory. Evra was forced to miss the match against Malta after suffering an injury in the win over Slovenia. The defender regularly appeared for the team through 2002–2004 as France attempted to qualify for both the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and the football tournament at the 2004 Summer Olympics. France failed to qualify for both competitions, which resulted in the end of Evra's youth career.

Senior team

Evra earned his first call-up to the senior national team in May 2004 after coach Jacques Santini named him to the 31-man preliminary squad to participate in UEFA Euro 2004. Following the trimming of the squad to 23 players, Evra was not included and subsequently missed out on the competition. Following the European Championship, with former under-21 coach Domenech now coaching the team, Evra was called up to the senior team for its friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 18 August 2004. The defender admitted that he was "very proud" to have been called up to the team. Evra made his senior international debut in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He started on the left wing before being substituted in the 75th minute for Robert Pires. The match ended in a 1–1 draw.

Due to an injury to starter Eric Abidal, Evra supplanted him and appeared as the starting left-back in France's first two 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification matches. After being called up for the team's March 2005 friendly against Switzerland, Evra was forced to withdraw from the team due to injury. As a result, William Gallas was inserted in the role as a makeshift left-back. Following Abidal's return from injury and, due to Domenech preferring Mikaël Silvestre as the incumbent's back-up, Evra went without a call-up for almost two years and, consequently, missed the 2006 World Cup. In October 2007, the defender explained to L'Équipe that the World Cup snub "gave me my determination".

Evra returned to the team in November 2006 for the team's friendly match against Greece. He appeared as a half-time substitute for Abidal as France won the match 1–0. After going another year without representing France, Evra began appearing as a regular under Domenech in 2007. On 28 May 2008, he was included in the squad to participate in UEFA Euro 2008. He was initially placed onto the squad to serve as back-up to Abidal, however after failing to appear in the team's opening 0–0 draw with Romania, there were calls from the French media urging Domenech to insert Evra into the starting line-up at the behest of Abidal. Domenech relented and started Evra in the team's next match against the Netherlands, which ended in a 4–1 defeat. In the must-win final group stage match against Italy, Evra started his second consecutive match, but France lost 2–0 and were eliminated from the competition in the first round. Following the match, cameras witnessed Evra and teammates Patrick Vieira and Abidal getting into an altercation in the tunnel. Vieira later stated the video was shot after he got into an argument with a set of French supporters. A day after the team's elimination, Evra admitted his frustration to L'Équipe, stating, "I am someone who does not like losing but I'm not going to make excuses. We had three games in this Euro, we have not won one. It's even hard to believe, to say it's over now."

Style of play

Evra is a fast left-back known for his acceleration. Despite his size, he is physically strong and good in the air, allowing him to play as a centre-back on occasion. In addition to his physical attributes, he is a technically proficient player with good vision who is comfortable in possession and frequently advances into attacking positions as a wing-back, where he can deliver crosses to teammates. Earlier in his career, he also played as a winger earlier on in his career. He is also been noted for his leadership and tenacity on the pitch.

Family and personal life

Family

Evra was born in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. His father was a Senegalese national of Bissau-Guinean ancestry, while his mother, Juliette, was a Cape Verdean national. His father divorced three times and had 24 children; as of 2007, two of these children are deceased. One of his brothers, Mamadou, changed his name to Claude in order to get a job in France. Evra was raised in Catholicism and has said that his father held anti-Muslim views.

Evra's father was a diplomat and, when Evra was a year old, moved to Brussels in Belgium to work at the Senegalese embassy. After over two years living in Belgium, when Evra was three, the family moved to France and settled in Les Ulis, a commune south of Paris. The family first settled in the local Bergeries neighbourhood before moving to the Hautes Plaines quarter shortly after. Evra was raised on Senegalese culture and values that quickly became "Westernised". At age 10, he returned to Senegal for a short period, describing the return as "not a good experience" primarily because he went back to the country to undergo circumcision. He had not returned to the country as of 2011. Ahead of the 2010 World Cup, Evra revealed he had suffered abuse from supporters of the Senegal national team for choosing to represent France internationally over his country of birth.

Evra earned good marks in school.

He was married to Sandra with whom he has a son, Lenny and a daughter, Maona. As of 2020, Evra and his wife are separated and he is engaged to Danish model Margaux Alexandra.

Personal life

Evra speaks five languages: his native French, English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. He is allergic to eggs, a condition which he did not discover until an examination by Juventus. He participated in the Shoot for Love Challenge, raising funds for children suffering from cancer, organised by the Guus Hiddink Foundation.

In March 2019, Evra denied making homophobic comments against Paris Saint-Germain. In January 2022, he spoke about homosexuality in football, where he said that many teammates, who rejected the idea of having a gay teammate, distanced themselves from him due to his position of accepting gay players. Evra said that he had friendships with players who were gay but that were afraid of coming out publicly. Evra was a pundit on ITV for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In September 2019, he returned to Manchester United as a trainee coach while completing his professional coaching badges. He spent time with the club's Academy coaching staff for a period. Evra announced his autobiography, I Love This Game, in 2021. In October 2021, he alleged that he was sexually abused by a teacher when he was 13. He said that he was interviewed by police at the age of 24 in regards to the abuse, however, he denied it. Evra was a participant on the BBC's Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof in 2022. In February 2023, Evra was convicted, fined and ordered to pay compensation to two anti-hate campaigns by a Parisian court, for the homophobic remarks he made in the video from 2019. In May 2023, Evra was part of the MYFC consortium that bought Portuguese club Estrela da Amadora. The team won promotion to the Primeira Liga via the playoffs days later.

In July 2024, Evra has been found guilty by a French court of abandoning his wife and their two children and handed a suspended 12-month prison sentence. He also owes over £800k in unpaid alimony.

In April 2025, it was announced that Evra had signed a contract with the Professional Fighters League to compete in an amateur mixed martial arts bout. He was expected to make his debut at PFL Europe 2 on 23 May 2025, against a to be announced opponent. However, in early May, it was announced that this event had been cancelled.

Career statistics

Club

Sources:

International

Source:

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Honours

Monaco

Coupe de la Ligue: 2002–03

UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2003–04

Manchester United

Premier League: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13

Football League Cup: 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10

FA Community Shield: 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013

UEFA Champions League: 2007–08; runner-up: 2008–09, 2010–11

FIFA Club World Cup: 2008

FA Cup runner-up: 2006–07

Juventus

Serie A: 2014–15, 2015–16

Coppa Italia: 2014–15, 2015–16

Supercoppa Italiana: 2015

UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2014–15

France

UEFA European Championship runner-up: 2016

Individual

UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2003–04

UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2003–04

PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10

FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2009