Patrice Garande

Patrice Garande grew up as a footballer in Saint-Étienne, with whom he made three appearances in his first two seasons as a professional. In 1980, after a season in the Swiss Super League with Club Sportif Chênois, he returned to his homeland, first joining Orléans, and then moving to Association Jeunesse (AJ) Auxerre, scoring 58 goals over five seasons, which would later prove to be the most prolific period of his career. He was the best goalscorer in Ligue 1 in the 1983/84 season with 21 goals.

Between 1986 and 1993, Garande also wore various shirts of some famous Ligue 1 clubs of the time including FC Nantes, Montpellier Herault SC, Le Havre AC, and FC Sochaux, accumulating 315 matches and 97 goals in French Ligue 1. If you add his 27 matches and 13 goals in 1979-1980 season for CS Chênois in Suisse D1, he played 342 matches and scored 110 goals. He retired at age 34, after a period spent in the minor category with the amateurs of Orléans, for whom he had already played in Ligue 2 in the 1980-81 season.

Internationally Garande reached the pinnacle of his career by winning the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics with his national team. He played a total of 116 minutes in that tournament, 11 in the final against Brazil replacing François Brisson and scored 1 goal in the opening match against Qatar. He won his only cap for France A team on 27 April 1988, in a 0–0 friendly away draw against Northern Ireland in Belfast. After his playing days, he became coach of several teams, including Caen Calvados, Toulouse FC, and Dijon Football Côte-d’Or.