45 Facts About David Ginola

David Ginola-Ceze was born on 25 January 1967 and is a French former professional footballer who has worked as an actor, model and football pundit.

David Ginola continued playing in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Everton before retiring in 2002.

David Ginola is a regular contributor to BBC, BT Sport and CNN.

David Ginola has hosted Match of ze Day, a program which broadcasts live Premier League matches on Canal+.

In January 2015, David Ginola attempted to run for the FIFA presidency but withdrew after failing to receive the required backing of at least five national football associations.

David Ginola played at club level for Toulon, RC Paris, Brest, Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Everton.

David Ginola played fourteen times in his first season, and by 1986 he was a regular in the Toulon line-up.

David Ginola joined Paris Saint-Germain in January 1992, at a time when it was pushing for major honours with the financial backing of TV channel Canal+.

David Ginola quickly adapted to the club and became a fan favourite noted for his elegant first touch and flair.

David Ginola's popularity did not suffer any consequence even when he admitted that he supported Paris Saint-Germain's rivals Olympique Marseille as a boy and that he would have joined them rather than PSG.

Alongside Paul Le Guen, Bernard Lama and Antoine Kombouare and coached by Artur Jorge, David Ginola provided 13 goals in 38 games, which made him the top club goalscorer.

David Ginola was signed at a time when manager Kevin Keegan was attempting to turn the club into one of the major forces in English football, and the board was prepared to offer strong financial backing to sign a number of European superstars.

David Ginola fell out of favour and sought a transfer elsewhere.

David Ginola weaved in and out of a number of Barnsley players and finished in the left side of the net, the only goal of the game.

David Ginola was the first player in Premiership history to win the award while at a club who finished the season outside of the top four.

David Ginola is fondly remembered by Spurs fans for his extravagant forward play and personality off the pitch.

David Ginola was inducted into the Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame on 11 December 2008.

David Ginola expressed his disappointment that Tottenham had sold him, saying the news that they had accepted the offer was a "bombshell".

Villa manager John Gregory challenged David Ginola to prove he could still perform in the Premiership, rather than move to a less demanding league abroad, as David Ginola was now in his 33rd year and seemed unlikely to continue at professional level for much longer.

In 2002, Ginola signed for Everton playing five games for the club before retiring in May 2002, just after David Moyes took over as manager.

David Ginola's contract was not renewed and Ginola, without a club, retired.

David Ginola announced his intention to move into either acting or football coaching.

In 1987, David Ginola played for the France under-21 team at the Toulon Tournament.

David Ginola is infamous in France for his mistake in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Bulgaria.

France needed only a draw in their final group qualifying match on 17 November 1993 to qualify for the finals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and David Ginola had come on as a late substitute for Jean-Pierre Papin.

David Ginola played his last match for the national team in 1995.

In 1999, Dutch legend Johan Cruyff remarked that it was his belief that David Ginola was currently the best player in the world.

Too often David Ginola was a luxury player who struggled for consistency.

David Ginola took his first steps towards a career in acting by attending classes at RADA.

In 2000, David Ginola made a cameo appearance in the first episode of the ITV drama series At Home with the Braithwaites.

In 2003, David Ginola played himself, announcing the results for the first Euro Lottery.

Later that year David Ginola appeared, again as himself, in the ITV series City Lights.

In 2008, David Ginola appeared in an episode of Chop Shop on Discovery Turbo where he had a one-off car designed for his son's birthday and in the same year he appeared as Alexandre, a fashion photographer, in the special edition of the CBS series The Young and the Restless, shot in Paris to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show's broadcast in France where it is known as Les Feux de l'amour.

David Ginola has featured in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was on the cover for the International edition of FIFA 97.

David Ginola was an ambassador for the Paris 2012 Olympic bid and was an ambassador for the French Golf Federation in their successful bid to stage the Ryder Cup 2018 in France.

David Ginola campaigned worldwide for the English FA bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

David Ginola is a campaigner for the Red Cross Anti-Landmine campaign and Unesco and was respectively patron and president of the UK based Vision and Sparks charities.

David Ginola started his campaign on the same day by denouncing the credibility of Sepp Blatter's FIFA before admitting he knew little about the governing body's processes or institutions.

David Ginola worked as a football pundit with the BBC, BT Sport, Canal Plus, CNN, Sky Sports and Talksport.

In 2008, David Ginola received a silver medal at the International Wine Challenge for a rose wine produced at his vineyard in Provence.

David Ginola was one of the contestants in the first season of Danse avec les stars.

David Ginola was administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the pitch by fellow footballer Frederic Mendy.

Professor Gilles Dreyfus, who operated on David Ginola, said that were it not for Mendy who administered CPR on him he would be dead, or have suffered permanent brain damage.

Dreyfus said that David Ginola had "very complicated coronary lesions " which required the quadruple heart bypass operation to be performed.

On 30 May 2016, David Ginola was discharged from hospital and returned home, thanking people on Twitter for their "incredible messages of love and affection".