Jean-Marc Furlan

Jean-Marc Furlan (born 20 November 1957) is a French football manager and former player who played as a defender.

Club career
Born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Furlan started his career at Bordeaux, where he signed his first professional contract in 1975, winning the Coupe Gambardella one year later. Furlan later also played for Stade Lavallois, Olympique Lyonnais, Tours FC, where he won promotion to the first division in the 1983–84 season, SC Bastia, Montpellier HSC, in which he achieved another promotion to the top-flight in the 1986–87 campaign, RC Lens and Saint-Seurin-sur-l'Isle, retiring there in 1993.

From 1976 to 1993, Furlan played as a sweeper in 420 professional games, 273 in Division 1 and 147 in Division 2.

Libourne
After retirement, Furlan later opened a sport shop. He felt the need to share his football passion and did so by volunteering as a coach for his son's little league team. His aim was to develop the talent of young players. Due to financial difficulties, the club merged into Libourne/Saint-Seurin and started over in CFA 2 (fifth tier).

Satisfied with the results of the Libourne youth team, Furlan was asked to manage the first-team squad from 1997 to 2004. This was a success; four seasons in a row, he guided Libourne to the round of 32 in the Coupe de France, eliminating Ligue 1 teams such as Olympique Lyonnais and FC Metz and making it to the quarter-finals. At the same time, Furlan achieved promotion from CFA 2 (fifth tier) to CFA (fourth tier) and then the National (third tier).

During his time at Libourne-Saint Seurin, Furlan was widely credited with having overseen the progress of youngsters such as Matthieu Chalmé and Mathieu Valbuena.

Troyes
Furlan's performances as a manager drew the attention of several professional teams. He signed his first professional contract as a manager with Ligue 2 side Troyes AC in the 2004–05 season. His first season was very successful as Troyes was promoted to Ligue 1 and he was personally awarded Manager of the Year, being considered to be a shrewd tactician with collective spirit made up of well-oiled offensive tactics.

Strasbourg
Furlan was appointed manager of Strasbourg from 2007 to 2009.

Nantes
Furlan took over as the new manager of Nantes in the 2009–10 season.

Return to Troyes
In the 2010–11 season, Furlan returned to Troyes and the team was promoted to Ligue 1 the following season. Again in the 2014–15 season, Furlan easily led the side to promotion to Ligue 1, with four games before the end of the season, as well as winning its first national title, Ligue 2. He left the club on 3 December 2015.

Brest
On 30 May 2016, Furlan became the new manager of Stade Brestois 29 for three years after Alex Dupont, the previous manager, failed to bring them back up to Ligue 1 after three years in command.

Despite a low budget in the teams he managed, Furlan developed the talent of very good players such as Damien Perquis, Bafétimbi Gomis, Blaise Matuidi, Djibril Sidibé, Mounir Obbadi and Fabrice N'Sakala.

On 17 May 2019, after Furlan had led Brest to a Ligue 1 promotion, his contract ran out.

Auxerre
He signed with Ligue 2 side Auxerre the same day.

Caen
On 14 June 2023, Furlan was appointed as the manager of Ligue 2 club Caen, signing a two-year contract. He succeeded Stéphane Moulin. Caen won the first four Ligue 2 games under his helm, but only managed 3 draws and 6 losses in the next 9, and Furlan was fired by Caen on 7 November 2023.

Player
Bordeaux
 * Coupe Gambardella: 1976

Tours
 * Division 2: 1983–84

Montpellier
 * Division 2: 1986–87

Manager


Libourne
 * Championnat de France Amateur 2: 1998–99
 * Championnat de France Amateur promotion: 1999–2000, 2002–03
 * Coupe d'Aquitaine: 2003–04

Troyes
 * Ligue 2: 2014–15, third place promotion: 2004–05, 2011–12

Brest
 * Ligue 2 runner-up: 2018–19

Individual
 * Ligue 2 Manager of the Year: 2004–05, 2014–15