Alain Casanova

Alain Casanova is a former footballer and an acting coach. He was born on September 18, 1961 in Clermont-Ferrand.

Alain performed rather well when a player. Throughout his career he played 200 matches in the first division of the French championship having appeared for INF Vichy, Le Havre and Marseille (played in the 1990/91 UEFA Champions League Final). The footballer with a big surname finished his playing career in Toulouse FC where he joined the team staff.

Together with Rolland Curbis, Alain Giresse and Guy Lacombe he worked as remote assistant coach after which he first assisted Erick Mombaerts who was later replaced by Elie Baup. In 2006, Alain got his professional coaching certificate after which he worked as an assistant for some time. It was only on May 30, 2008 that he was appointed head coach instead of Baup.

In his first season he made a couple risky moves which, nevertheless, bore fruit and the team finished fourth in the first division. Thus, his team got an opportunity to play in the UEFA Europa League where they failed to perform in a noteworthy way. Nevertheless, under his charge Toulouse FC has played in an interesting manner and, what is more important, stood its ground. It is much due to Casanova’s defence-oriented schemes. Thus, in one of the seasons the team conceded the fewest number of goals in the league – 27.