Thierry Henry Biography

Thierry Henry is no doubt one of the icons of the game. The Frenchman helped reinvent the role of a striker and a winger while playing for Arsenal and Barcelona in his prime. His blistering pace, technique and intelligence coupled with his devastating finishing ability made Henry one of the best finishers ever and earned him 2 consecutive European Golden Shoes as well as a record 4 Premier League Golden Boots. On top of that, He also became Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer with 228 goals.

Already a World Cup winner at 21, Henry went on to have a career packed with trophies, from his 2 FA Cups and 2 Premier League trophies with Arsenal, one of which came at the end of an unbeaten season, to his days with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona where they achieved an unprecedented sextuple of trophies in a single season. Aside from his numerous records, trophies and achievements, a lot could be said about the legendary Thierry Henry so join us as we take an extensive look at his life and career in this

Thierry Henry biography

.

Thierry Henry Biography

In this brief Thierry Henry bio, we take a closer look at how he became one of the greatest ever strikers in football history, starting from his days playing football in the suburbs of Paris to his absolute domination of the Premier League and his years at Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and finally his final days as a player in MLS:

Thierry Henry Information

So let’s start Thierry Henry bio with a general information about his physical attributes and his position on the pitch:

Thierry Henry Bio

• Full Name: Thierry Daniel Henry

• Nickname: The King, Titi Henry, King of Highbury, Va-Va-Voom

• Profession: Former footballer and current manager

Thierry Henry Physical Stats

• Height: 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

• Eye Color: Brown

• Hair Color: Black

• Weight: 83 kg   

Thierry Henry Football Information

• Positon: Striker

• Professional Debut: 31 August 1994

• Jersey Number: 14

Thierry Henry Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 17 August 1977

• Birth Place: Les Ulis, France

• Nationality: French

Thierry Henry Early Life

Born to Antillean parents, Antoine and Maryse, in the Les Ulis suburb of Paris,

Thierry Henry date of birth

is 17 August 1977. His father’s love to football draw young Thierry towards the sport so much so that he claims that his first memories are playing football with his dad.

Much of

Thierry Henry childhood

was spent playing football in a couple of local football clubs like, CO Les Ulis, US Palaiseau and later Vary-Chatillon where he would get his first big break, being scouted by Arnold Catalano from Monaco, who offered to sign Henry for Monaco provided that he first attended France’s famous Clairefontaine academy first.

Although Henry’s school grades were poor and Clairfontaine academy were at first reluctant to accept him, he eventually got into the prestigious academy and upon completing his course joined Monaco’s academy in 1992 at the time when Monaco’s first-team coach was none other than Arsene Wenger.

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Thierry Henry Profile

We will take a look at Henry’s career as a footballer in the different teams that he played throughout his career in this section of Thierry Henry biography and that all starts with his time at Monaco:

Football Career

First let’s take a look at Thierry Henry’s club career as well as his time with the French national team:

Monaco

After signing with

, Henry began playing for the youth teams and he made an impression on the Monaco manager Arsene Wenger, who gave Henry his professional debut in 31 August 1994 in a 2-0 loss to Nice. Wenger left his position a few weeks later, with Jean Tigana take over his place, but he left his mark on the club by giving the young Thierry his debut.

Under Jean Tigana, players like Henry and Trezeguet who were introduced to the first team by Wenger were given a bigger role. Henry who signed his first professional contract in 1995, went on to help Monaco win the

in the 1996-97 season. young Henry was massive for the club and a year later helped them reach the Champions League semi-final by scoring 7 in the competition, a record at the time for a French player.

Henry followed that success with being a big part of the 1998 World Cup squad, helping his country lift the trophy for the first time ever by scoring 3 goals in the competition and becoming France’s top scorer in the tournament. This achievement was followed by a move to Italian giants Juventus in the January of 1999.

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Juventus

The next chapter in

Thierry Henry life story

would be its most forgettable as he joined the Italian Giants, Juventus in a £10.5 million in January of 1999. At

, Henry was played mostly out of position in the wide midfield or even as a wing back and he failed to have an impact. He decided a move away after 6 months would be best and later cited disagreements with Juve’s director at the time, Luciano Moggi, as the reason he left the club.

Arsenal

After a fairly unsuccessful spell at Juve, Henry was ready for a move to a new club where he was appreciated and where better than Arsenal, a club managed by the man who gave Henry his debut, Arsene Wenger. Initially Henry’s £11 million transfer, coupled with his lack of goals in his first months at

raised a few eyebrows but Henry soon paid Arsenal in droves.

Wenger believed Henry to have the abilities of a forward and started using him in that position despite Henry himself believing his best position to be a winger. But Wenger’s foresight seemed to pay off as Henry finished his first season at Arsenal with 26 goals in all competitions.

Henry then started his journey to become the greatest ever

player, constantly scoring 30+ goals a season. his first taste of success with Arsenal came in his third season with the Gunners lifting the Double of FA Cup and Premier League in 2001-02 season. Henry scored 32 and assisted 23 times in the following season and was runners-up in the FIFA World Player of the Year.

The 2002-03 season would prove a historic one, as Arsenal went on through the whole Premier League campaign unbeaten, with Henry and Co. being named the Invincibles. Henry contributed massively by scoring 39 goals in all competitions which earned him the European Golden Shoe. He was once again runners-up in the FIFA World Player of the Year award.

Another European Golden Shoe followed in the 2004-05 season and that was followed by Henry leading Arsenal as captain to the

final in the 2005-06 season. however, a 10-man Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona. The season after Henry had a myriad of injuries that kept him on the sidelines on what was to be his last season at Arsenal.

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Barcelona

After losing most of the 2006-07 season, Thierry Henry decided to move to

in a £20.6 million deal, expressing his uncertainty about Arsenal’s future because of David Dein’s departure and Arsene Wenger’s contract running out, the reason for his transfer.

Together with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o, Henry made a fearsome trio that after a little adjustment in the first season would take over the La Liga in the 2008-09 season under the management of Pep Guardiola. Henry who played on the left wing scored 26 and assisted 10 more and Barcelona went on to win every trophy that season, completing a sextuple.

In his third season at Barcelona, Henry fell out of favor and the young Pedro seemed to take his place more and more often. He then decided to move away from Barcelona in the summer of 2010.

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New York Red Bulls

In July 2010, after a fairly long and successful career in 4 out of 5 big European Leagues, Thierry Henry decided to move over to MLS and his destination was

. Henry, who was 33 by this point, went on to play for Red Bulls for 4 and a half seasons, taking more of a leader and playmaker role.

A short two-month loan to Arsenal in January of 2012 happened when Henry came back to fill-in for Arsenal’s lack of forwards who were on international duty. He scored 2 goals in that period, one against Leeds in FA Cup with his signature right foot curl and the other a stoppage time winner against Sunderland.

After that Henry went back to Red Bulls to play the last two seasons of his career, becoming Red Bulls’ all-time assist leader with 37 assists as well as scoring 52 goals. He also led Red Bulls to its first trophy in the history of the club which was the Supporters Shield in the 2013. He retired from football a season later, taking up a punditry job with Sky Sports a few months later.

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International Career

Thierry Henry nationality

is French and he was given his France debut in June 1997. He would go on to feature in France’s squad in 1998 World Cup, scoring 3 times as France won the competition. 2 years later France was victorious once again, this time in the Euros, where Henry once again scored 3 goals and picked up another winners’ medal.

Two disappointing tournaments in 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 followed with a Confederations Cup victory in between but in the 2006 World Cup, Henry, Zidane, Thuram and Vieira once again helped France reach the final but they were defeated by Italy in the penalties.

Once again 2 disappointing tournaments in Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup followed as France was eliminated in the group stages in both competitions. Henry’s last international came in the last group-stage match of 2010 World Cup against South Africa after which he retired from football, leaving as France’s all-time leading goal scorer and 2nd most capped player.

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Style of Play

Thierry Henry started his career as a winger mainly due to his outstanding pace and ability to dribble past opponents but over the course of his career he successfully implemented all those abilities to forge a new way of playing as a striker, one that used the traditional skills of a forward with that of a pacey winger.

This combination proved to be lethal to many defenders as Henry could go past them either with the ball at his feet or run in channels behind them. In truth, Henry was multiple forward players rolled into one. He could be winger, a goal poacher or a distance shooter.

But perhaps the most surprising thing about Henry’s player was the fact that he was almost as good of an assist provider with numbers of assists that even the best of playmakers can’t replicate. Arsenal’s 4-4-2 formation in the Invincibles season helped Henry show all these abilities perfectly, as he would seamlessly switch between a winger and a forward position.

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Reception

Henry is considered by many to be one of the greatest strikers ever. His brand of melding a striker and a winger role together gave rise to a new breed of forwards that operated mainly outside the box by creating chances for themselves as well as other players around them, namely players like Lionel Messi and lately Kylian Mbappe.

Henry has been named EPL Player of the Season a couple of times as well as winning 4 EPL Golden Boots and 2 European Golden Shoes but he famously was snubbed in the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year ceremonies twice and is perhaps the greatest player to never have won those awards.

Henry is also one of only 3 Arsenal players to have a statue outside the Emirates stadium. He remains the club’s all-time leading goal scorer and is generally considered to be the Gunners’ greatest player ever.

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Goal Celebration

On the pitch, Thierry Henry displayed a certain arrogance and competitiveness which he also showed in most of his goal celebration. He has had a variety of celebrations ranging from gesturing opposition supporters into silence to grabbing the corner flag or just plain old shouting.

But undoubtedly his most famous goal celebration would be the one he did after scoring against

in 2002. After scoring one of his most amazing goals from a 70-m solo run, Henry ran all the way back to where Tottenham supporters were sitting behind Arsenal’s goal and did a knee slide.

The celebration has been turned into a statue, which is situated outside Arsenal’s home ground.

Thierry Henry Outside Football

Thierry Henry was one of the most marketable athletes during the early 2000s, with him endorsing brands like Nike, Pepsi, Puma and even Renault. His ad for Renault in which he used the expression Va-va-voom, which means life or passion, became extremely popular and later the phrase became one of his nicknames.

Henry has also talked at length about racism in football and has been involved in many movements against the issue.

An incident with Spain’s head coach Luis Aragones in which he called Henry a ‘black shit’ caused Nike to launch a campaign called ‘Stand Up Speak Up’ which Henry was a big part of.

Thierry Henry Personal Life

Our Thierry Henry biography wouldn’t be a complete without mentioning his personal life. So read on as we take a look at Thierry Henry life story, relationships and philanthropy in this

Thierry Henry bio

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Despite his fame, Thierry Henry has always led a rather quiet personal life. The Frenchman is a quite a private person and has had no high profile public relationships. Thierry Henry married the English model Nicole Merry in July of 2003 and the couple had their only kid, Tea, in the May of 2005.

Henry and Merry finalized their divorce in 2008, after Henry paid a divorce settlement of £10 million. He has been dating Andrea Rajacic since 2008 and the couple have a son named Tristan born in 2012.

One other interesting fact about Henry is that

Thierry Henry religion

is Islam and he in fact converted to the religion after his friends from the national team, like Ribery and Abidal, talked to him about the faith. He confirmed this in an interview with Aljazeera Sports Channel in December of 2008.

Philanthropy

Thierry Henry has been involved with many charity foundations over the years like Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Cystic Fibrosis Trust. He is also part of the UNICEF-FIFA squad and has appeared in several charity matches.

Like the match where Henry and his 98 World Cup winning teammates played against an All-star team that included Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt. The proceeds from the match went Mecenet Cardiac Charity and the Children of the World fund.

Most recently, Robbie Savage, a former Blackburn player, auctioned Henry’s shirt in which he scored his 100th Arsenal shirt in, with Henry’s blessing to raise funds for the NHS foundation in the aftermath of Coronavirus pandemic.

Legal Issues

Thierry Henry’s handball goal against Republic of Ireland in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match prevented the Irish from reaching the World Cup, after which the Republic of Ireland threatened legal actions against FIFA but later settled the case outside court. That is the only legal issue that involved the French striker to an extent

Thierry Henry Career Statistics

It’s time to review some of Henry’s statistics in this section of Thierry Henry biography, both at the clubs he played at and the French national team:

Club

Thierry Henry biography

isn’t complete without his general statistics in the clubs that he played, starting with Monaco where he got his professional debut in 31 August 1994 and went on to score 28 goals in 141 games for the French side, helping them to a Ligue 1 title.

He then moved on to Juventus, where he stayed for half a season, appearing in 20 matches and scoring only 3 goals before his big move to Arsenal in the beginning of 1999-2000 season. Henry went on to have a successful career with the Gunners, appearing in 370 games and scoring 228 goals as well as over 100 assists.

After 8 successful seasons with Arsenal and winning 4 major trophies, Henry made his way to La Liga and the Catalan giants Barcelona, where he appeared in 121 games, scoring 49 goals and picking up 5 major trophies. He then moved to

Side New York Red Bulls where he played 135 games and scored 52 goals before retiring from football in 2014.

International

Making his debut for France in the June of 1997, Henry went on to become France’s all-time leading goal scorer with 51 goals. He is also France’s 2nd most capped player after Lilian Thuram with 137 Caps.

Managerial

Thierry Henry has had 2 managerial jobs as of yet. His first job was at Monaco, where he managed his boyhood club in 20 games with a 20% win-percentage. He then moved back to MLS to manage Montreal Impact.

He has had a 31% win-percentage in the 29 games he has managed Montreal, as of writing this article.

Thierry Henry Honors

In the final section of Thierry Henry biography, we take a brief look at his achievements, either team or individual achievements, throughout his years in the Ligue 1 to his later years playing for Arsenal and Barcelona and his eventual retirement in MLS.

Making his professional debutfor Monaco in 1994 season, Henry became an integral part of the Monaco side that won the Ligue 1 in 1996-97 season. He then joined Juve in 1999 but left for Arsenal after only six months, where he won 2 Premier League titles and 2 FA cups.

After 8 seasons with Arsenal, Henry joined Barcelona in 2007 and won 2 La Liga trophies, 1 Champions League, 1

and a FIFA Club World Cup before leaving in 2010 for New York Red Bulls, where he stayed for 4 seasons and won a Supporters’ Shield in 2013. He then retired from football a year later.

With 51 goals and 123 matches for France Henry has become the country’s leading top goal scorer and has featured in 4 World Cups and 3 Euro. He has won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with France as well as the Confederations Cup in 2003.

On individual level, Henry is one of the most decorated European players having won 4 EPL Golden Boots and two consecutive European Golden Shoes. He was twice runner up for the FIFA World Player of the Year and once for the Ballon d’Or and is also Arsenal and France’s all-time leading goal scorer. A whole article could be written about his personal achievements but sadly we are coming to the end of our

Thierry Henry biography

. And that concludes our account of the life of one of the greatest ever strikers, we hope that you enjoyed reading it!

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