Nicolas Sebastien Anelka is a French professional football manager and retired player who played as a forward.
60 Facts About Nicolas Anelka
2.
Nicolas Anelka became a first team regular and won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award the following season.
3.
On 12 December 2011, Shanghai Shenhua announced that they had reached an agreement with Nicolas Anelka to join the team in the winter transfer window.
4.
Nicolas Anelka played 69 times at international level and won his first international honours with France at UEFA Euro 2000, and won the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup the following year.
5.
Nicolas Anelka later claimed to be "dying with laughter" at the 18-match ban, as he had already decided to retire from international play.
6.
Nicolas Anelka was born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, to parents who had moved from Martinique in 1974.
7.
Nicolas Anelka's mother is a secretary in the local high school.
8.
Nicolas Anelka acted in the 2002 film Le Boulet as a footballer named Nicolas.
9.
Nicolas Anelka has said that when he retires from football, he would like to work in the film industry because he has a friend in the business.
10.
Nicolas Anelka has said that he initially fasted during daylight hours as is required for the Muslim month of Ramadan, but "I realised I often got injured just after the period of Ramadan, so I don't observe it strictly any more".
11.
Nicolas Anelka is known for his controversial relationship with French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala and attracted widespread condemnation after performing the quenelle hand gesture, created by M'bala and regarded as anti-Semitic, on the pitch when playing for West Bromwich Albion in 2013.
12.
In 2020, Nicolas Anelka said the quenelle was only a protest against his former manager Steve Clarke, who is not Jewish.
13.
Nicolas Anelka has been the subject of the 2012 Canal+ documentary L'Entree des Trappistes about his friendship with Sy and Debbouze, and the feature-length 2020 Netflix documentary Nicolas Anelka: Misunderstood.
14.
Nicolas Anelka began his career at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player at age 16.
15.
Nicolas Anelka was a key player in Arsenal's Double win of both the Premier League and FA Cup that season.
16.
Nicolas Anelka placed at 29th in the club's compilation of the 50 Greatest Gunners of all-time.
17.
Nicolas Anelka failed to score for Real Madrid in his first five months at the club, eventually recording his first goal in the opening match of the FIFA Club World Championship against Al-Nassr on 5 January 2000.
18.
Nicolas Anelka helped the Turkish club win the Super Lig title in 2005, and played with them in the UEFA Cup that season, as well as the UEFA Champions League the season after.
19.
Nicolas Anelka made his debut for Bolton against Watford on 9 September 2006.
20.
In January 2007, Nicolas Anelka stated he would be willing to leave Bolton for a return to former club Arsenal.
21.
In June 2020 Nicolas Anelka admitted he signed the contract so that Bolton could get a bigger transfer fee when he left.
22.
Nicolas Anelka made his Chelsea debut against Tottenham Hotspur on 12 January 2008, and scored his first goal two weeks later in the FA Cup against Wigan Athletic.
23.
Nicolas Anelka later blamed manager Avram Grant for his penalty miss, claiming Grant brought him on to play as a late substitute without a proper warm up beforehand and too late in the game to acclimatize himself in it.
24.
Nicolas Anelka established himself as an important member of the squad and maintained his place in the team despite the return to fitness of Drogba.
25.
Nicolas Anelka did not celebrate the goal which he scored in the game, as he disclosed "he still loved Arsenal".
26.
Nicolas Anelka scored one of the best goals of his season against APOEL in the Champions League with the ball being passed into the net from outside the box.
27.
Nicolas Anelka continued this fine form into the next match scoring in an FA Cup tie against Preston North End, bringing his tally in the previous four matches to five goals.
28.
Nicolas Anelka joined Henning Berg in the exclusive band of players who have won the Premier League title with two different clubs.
29.
On 24 June 2010, Chelsea announced Nicolas Anelka had signed a new one-year extension to his existing contract that will keep him at the club until 2012.
30.
Nicolas Anelka assisted Florent Malouda's last goal against West Brom on the opening day of the Premier League season, scored a double in the next game against Wigan Athletic, then won a penalty against Stoke City in Chelsea's third game of the season.
31.
Nicolas Anelka continued this fine form in Chelsea's first Champions League match, scoring a first half brace against MSK Zilina.
32.
In total, Nicolas Anelka scored 59 goals for Chelsea in 184 appearances.
33.
Nicolas Anelka failed to make his Chinese Super League debut due to ankle injury on the opening league match of the season against Jiangsu Sainty.
34.
On 11 April 2012, Nicolas Anelka was named as part of the coaching staff to help struggling manager Jean Tigana.
35.
On 7 June 2012, it was claimed Nicolas Anelka was keen on a move back to the Premier League after he was involved in a heated exchange with a fan for refusing to bow in front of the travelling Shenhua fans with his teammates.
36.
On 26 January 2013, Nicolas Anelka joined Italian side Juventus on a five-month loan deal.
37.
Nicolas Anelka made his debut for Juventus against Celtic in the Champions League.
38.
Nicolas Anelka made two further appearances for Juventus, both in Serie A, as the club won the league title.
39.
On 4 July 2013, Nicolas Anelka joined West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer after being released by Shanghai Shenhua, marking another return to the Premier League, the sixth Premier League club he has played for in his career.
40.
Nicolas Anelka said he would like to end his career in England, at West Brom.
41.
On 22 August 2013, Nicolas Anelka reportedly walked out of a training session telling staff he was leaving the club to retire.
42.
On 28 August 2013, it was announced that since completing his week of compassionate leave, Nicolas Anelka had decided to remain with the club and would begin training the following day in preparation for West Brom's forthcoming match against Swansea City.
43.
Nicolas Anelka used social media to announce he was terminating his contract with West Brom.
44.
West Brom responded that Nicolas Anelka had given the club no official notification of his intention to leave, and later gave him 14 days notice of termination from the club for gross misconduct.
45.
On 15 September 2014, Nicolas Anelka joined Mumbai City of the newly formed Indian Super League.
46.
Five days later, in his first home match at the DY Patil Stadium, Nicolas Anelka scored the match's only goal to defeat Kerala Blasters.
47.
Nicolas Anelka played a total of seven matches for Mumbai, as they finished seventh and did not qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.
48.
In January 2015, Nicolas Anelka had agreed a deal to join Algerian side NA Hussein Dey on an 18-month contract.
49.
At youth level, Nicolas Anelka played for the French under-20 team at the 1997 World Youth Championship, and made his senior team debut for France in a goalless draw with Sweden national team on 22 April 1998.
50.
Nicolas Anelka made his first appearance in a major tournament at Euro 2000, which France went on to win.
51.
In November 2005, now under, Raymond Domenech, Nicolas Anelka returned to the France squad for a friendly against Costa Rica in Martinique.
52.
The match in the homeland of Nicolas Anelka's parents was the team's first in the French Caribbean.
53.
Nicolas Anelka featured in the France squad for Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
54.
Nicolas Anelka started France's first group game against Romania, but was substituted after 72 minutes.
55.
Nicolas Anelka did not start either of France's remaining two games in the tournament against the Netherlands and Italy, coming on as a substitute in both games.
56.
Nicolas Anelka played a key role in France's 2010 World Cup playoff against the Republic of Ireland.
57.
Nicolas Anelka scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute that put France in a good position with one away goal.
58.
Nicolas Anelka later claimed to be "dying with laughter" at the 18-match ban, as he had already decided to retire from international play.
59.
Nicolas Anelka lost the case as he only denied the wording of the insult that was attributed to him, and not the fact that he made an insult.
60.
Nicolas Anelka departed three months later, on 4 May 2021, with no first team game taking place during his tenure due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France.