Alphonse Areola Biography

Alphonse Areola, born on 27 February 1993 in Paris, is an international French football player currently playing as a goalkeeper for Fulham FC, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain. When he was thirteen years old, he joined Paris Saint-Germain where he received his entire training, doubling up with INF Clairefontaine in the years that followed. With a predetermined career path, he was initially the fourth goalkeeper of the national team during the 2012-2013 season.

The next year, he was loaned to RC Lens to enjoy his first season as a starter in Ligue 2. In the 2014-2015 season, he moved on to SC Bastia, where he played in Ligue 1, and then to Villarreal CF, where he was a top player in La Liga and the Europa League. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Paris SG professional squad. As Kevin Trapp's backup in 2016-2017, he gradually became a regular starter.

He has played in all the French youth teams. He participated in the European championships at U17 and U19 levels and was crowned World Champion at U20 level in 2013. Following a spell with the French U23s, he joined the French senior team.

All You Need to Know About Alphonse Areola Biography

He was the third goalkeeper just behind the legendary Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda during the 2018 World Cup, but it was not until September of the same year and the simultaneous injuries to both players that he received his first caps, during which he showed his worth.

Alphonse Areola Information

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Alphonse Areola biography

we will share some general information such as

Alphonse Areola nationality

.

Alphonse Areola Bio

• Full Name: Alphonse Francis Areola

• Nickname: N/A

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Alphonse Areola Physical Stats

• Weight: 94 Kg

• Height: 1.95 m

• Eye Color: Black

• Hair Color: Black

Alphonse Areola Football Information

• Position: Goalkeeper

• Jersey Number: 1

• Professional Debut: 2010

Alphonse Areola Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 27 February 1993

• Birth Place: Paris, France

• Zodiac Sign: Pisces

• Nationality: French

Now stay tuned to this section of

Alphonse Areola biography

as we want to share some information about

Alphonse Areola childhood

.

Alphonse Areola Early Life

At the age of six, Areola made his football debut at the Entente Sportive des Petits Anges (ESPA) in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. At first, he was playing in the middle of the field, but due to the absence of the regular goalkeeper, he was put back in goal by his coach, a position he has held ever since.

When he was thirteen, he signed for Paris Saint-Germain and won the U14 Federal championship. After spending two years at the club, he left to perfect his training at the INF Clairefontaine from 2008 to 2009, on the recommendation of the Parisian club.

While at the INF, he was nicknamed "Superstar" and on 3 July 2009, when he returned to the capital club, he signed his first professional contract for three seasons.

Alphonse Areola Profile

Following two seasons in the Parisian reserves, Areola played his first professional match in Ligue 1 on 18 May 2013 when he replaced Salvatore Sirigu in the 47th minute against Stade Brestois. His first Ligue 1 start came on 26 May 2013 against FC Lorient.

Loan to RC Lens

Alphonse Areola was loaned out to Ligue 2 side RC Lens on 23 July 2013 for a season. In the north of France, he reunited with his Parisian teammate, Loïck Landre, and his coach in the capital, Antoine Kombouaré. Although on his arrival, he was at odds with Rudy Riou, he very quickly demonstrated his qualities and established himself definitively in the

goal.

His performances at club level allowed him to wear the jersey of the French U-21 team. On the 18th matchday and the visit of Istres FC (1-2), Areola was knocked out when he came out at the feet of Cheick Fantamady Diarra whose knee hit his nose. Areola suffered a fractured nose and had to be stretchered off as the whole stadium chanted his name.

The young goalkeeper played 36 games in all competitions, including 35 in Ligue 2 that season, and contributed to RC Lens' rise to Ligue 1. Following a successful season, Alphonse Areola was voted the best goalkeeper in Ligue 2 at the 2014 UNFP Trophies on 11 May 2014. He was also included in the Ligue 2 team of the year.

Just one week later, after a 0-2 win at CA Bastia, RC Lens confirmed their promotion to Ligue 1 by finishing second in Ligue 2. Areola was voted the 2014 Eurosport Revelation by the channel, rewarding the best player in his first season in Ligue 2. At the end of the season, Areola extended his contract with Paris-Saint-Germain until 2019.

Loan to SC Bastia

With the uncertainty surrounding the validation of RC Lens' rise to Ligue 1 and notwithstanding the fact that the goalkeeper returned to the club for more than a month, Alphonse Areola eventually joined SC Bastia for the 2014-15 season where he was reunited with Claude Makélélé, a former assistant at PSG.

The move was prompted by PSG's desire to ensure that their keeper played in Ligue 1 to further his education at the highest level. Areola's first yellow card of his career came in the Corsican side's 1-2 home defeat to Evian TG on Matchday 16.

On 10 January 2015, Areola and his team hit the ground running in the return match against Paris SG, a club to which he belongs, winning 4-2 after being trailing 0-2. On his return in front of the Lens fans, where he was still highly regarded for his good performances last season, Areola committed a handball that led to a penalty for his former club.

Just four days later, during the League Cup semi-final in Monaco, SC Bastia surprised everyone by beating the

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in a penalty shoot-out. The young goalkeeper saved João Moutinho's penalty kick and joined PSG, his former club and defending champions, in the final.

Alphonse Areola and SC Bastia, down to ten men after just 18 minutes, lost the final 4-0 with two goals from PSG's two leading scorers, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Edinson Cavani. The young prospect made 39 appearances during this loan, including four in the cup. Now stay tuned to this section of Alphonse Areola biography as we want to share some information about his career at Villareal.

Loan to Villareal

loaned their young French talent to Spanish club

CF on 17 June 2015 for a season to help him experience the top European competition and the top flight. Thus, he continued his development after having discovered the Ligue 2 and the Ligue 1.

He played his first minutes in goal for Villarreal CF on 23 August, taking advantage of the long absence of Sergio Asenjo, the usual starter, and earned a draw against Betis in the opening match of the Liga (1-1). Areola and his side pulled off an upset in the 15th matchday on 13 December, beating Real Madrid CF (1-0). He was named player of the month for January 2016 by Villarreal fans.

The following week, after having to make do with a substitute status in the group stage, he played his first Europa League match against

, resulting in a narrow 1-0 victory at home. He made several key contributions in the return match at the Stadio San Paolo, where the Yellow Submarine drew 1-1 and progressed to the last 16.

Alphonse Areola set a club record of 590 minutes without conceding a goal on 2 March. He extended this record for one more match before conceding against Las Palmas after 620 minutes of unbeaten time. Following a 1-0 stoppage-time win in the first leg of the C3 semi-finals against Liverpool FC, the French goalkeeper conceded three goals in the return leg and his side's run came to an end at Anfield Road (3-0).

Areola and his teammates finished fourth in

. On a personal level, the Yellow Submarine keeper made 37 appearances, including 32 in La Liga and five in the Europa League.

Back to PSG

Having spent three seasons successively playing in Ligue 2 at Lens, in Ligue 1 at Bastia, and then in the top flight at Villarreal, Alphonse Areola returned to Paris-Saint-Germain for the 2016-2017 season and was included in the squad by new coach Unai Emery to compete for the starting spot with Kevin Trapp. Throughout the pre-season, the two goalkeepers played matches with equal playing time.

A substitute in the first few games, Areola began his season on September 13, playing the first Champions League game of his career against

(1-1). Then, on September 28, while his team was leading 1-2 in Sofia, he saved a penalty against Ludogorets Razgrad.

In the 2017-2018 season, he was the starting goalkeeper mostly in the league as in the UEFA Champions League. Although he gave a solid performance, he could not prevent the defeat of his team against the future winner,

, in the second round of the Champions League.

Even with the arrival of Gianluigi Buffon at the start of the 2018-2019 season, new coach Thomas Tuchel was giving Areola playing time. Chelsea goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon said on September 7, 2018, that Areola was interested in joining the London club during the past summer, but the move could not be completed. The German coach said on September 10, 2018, that Areola is "in pole" to be No. 1 ahead of Gianluigi Buffon.

Although Buffon was favored by the Italian keeper in the last three Champions League group matches, Areola played in the French Cup after the winter break. For the first time, he wore the captain's armband after Thiago Silva's departure. Now stay tuned in this section of

Alphonse Areola biography

as we want to share some information about his Real Madrid career.

Loan to Real Madrid

Areola joined Real Madrid on 2 September 2019 on a season-long loan as part of Keylor Navas' transfer to PSG. He debuted with the team on September 25 against Club Atlético

at the Santiago Bernabéu resulting in a 2-0 victory.

He played his debut in the Champions League against Club Brugge on October 1, substituting Thibaut Courtois who suffered a dizzy spell at halftime with the match 0-2, ending at 2-2, without Areola conceding a goal. Courtois' absence allowed him to play in the next La Liga match, which finished with a 4-2 win against

Club de Fútbol, where the Frenchman conceded his first two goals while defending the Madrid goal.

After that, he played four more matches in La Liga, which Madrid won. He returned to the French club on August 11, 2020, when Real Madrid C. F. announced the end of the loan.

Loan to Fulham

Areola was loaned to Fulham FC on September 9, 2020, for one season with an option to buy. He played his debut for Fulham in a League Cup match against

(0-1 victory) on September 16. Only three days later, he played in the Premier League, where he conceded four goals in a 4-3 defeat against Leeds.

Now stay tuned to this section of Alphonse Areola biography as we want to share some information about his national career with France.

France National Team

Having played for all the French youth teams since the age of 15, Alphonse Areola took part in the 2010 Euro U17, the 2012 Euro U19, and won the 2013 U20 World Cup, which was France's first world title in this category.

It was during this U20 World Cup that he became known to the public by several decisive saves, especially in the penalty shootout in the final against Uruguay U20 where he stopped two opposing shots. He later revealed that he had instructed his teammates to score their penalty kicks and that he would do the right thing on his end.

He wore the U21 jersey for the first time on September 9, 2013, playing against Belarus in the 2015 U21 Euro qualifiers, where his side won 1-2. Second only to Zacharie Boucher in the hierarchy established by Willy Sagnol, he was less successful against the Icelandic U23s where he was guilty of two goals even though

won by a narrow margin (3-4). When Pierre Mankowski, with whom he was U20 world champion the previous summer, took the lead, Areola changed his status in the U20 team.

He replaced Zacharie Boucher against Kazakhstan for a 1-5 victory that secured a place in the play-offs for the Euro 2015. In the playoffs against Sweden and after a victory in the first leg, Areola and his team was eliminated in the second leg.

On October 1, 2015, Alphonse Areola was called up to the French national team for the first time by Didier Deschamps, after the injury to third goalkeeper Benoît Costil, for a squad that saw France face Armenia and

.

Not included in the 23 French players selected to play in Euro 2016, he was part of a group of eight reserves present during the preparation of the French team and likely to replace a selected player who would finally be withdrawn.

Having been called up to the France squad several times during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, on November 14, 2017, he was in the stands at the RheinEnergieStadion for a friendly match against

(2-2). In that match, Kevin Trapp, his club replacement, was in the starting lineup in the opposing goal.

Areola was selected for the 2018 World Cup in Russia on May 17, 2018. He was the third goalkeeper behind Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda. During that tournament, the French team won and Alphonse Areola was crowned world champion, five years after his title in youth. Although he still had no caps, he became the second world champion player before he was even international.

Didier Deschamps announced on September 3, 2018, that Areola would start in Munich, in the absence of Lloris and Mandanda (injured), for the French team's first match in the newly formed UEFA Nations League. Before that, he had already been called up 29 times but had not played a single minute.

At the Allianz Arena on September 6, 2018, he earned his first cap against Germany, becoming the 78th goalkeeper to keep goal for the French national team. In this first game, he made a perfect record and did not concede any goal, despite numerous attempts on his goal. He made six saves during the match.

It earned him the praise of his teammates as well as his opponents, most notably Joachim Löw, the German coach. Deschamps declared that he was "proud of what he has done". On September 9, 2018, Areola was again a starter, at the Stade de France against the Netherlands. He conceded his first goal for the national team on a rebound from Ryan Babel, but Les Bleus won (2-1).

Now stay tuned to this section of Alphonse Areola biography as we want to share some information about his playing style.

Style of Play

Considered to be one of the greatest young talents of his generation, he is an agile goalkeeper in spite of his size, has good reflexes, and is also good with his feet. Safe in both high and low exits, and in directing the defence, he is also very good at saving penalties.

Reception

Man football critics consider him to be one of the greatest young talents of French football and believe he is on the right path to becoming one of the greatest French goalkeepers ever.

Alphonse Areola outside Football

As a young goalkeeper, at this stage of his career, Alphonse Areola is fully focused on his football, and as a father of three kids, in his spare time, he always spends time with his family. Other than football-related posts on his Instagram account, he usually posts his family pictures. Now stay tuned to this section of Alphonse Areola biography as we want to share some information about his personal life.

Alphonse Areola Personal Life

In this section of Alphonse Areola biography, we will take a deeper look into his personal life and share some information like

Alphonse Areola religion

and

Alphonse Areola life story

.

Family, Children, and Relationships

In the early 1990s, his parents, Cleto and Heidi, migrated from the Philippines to find work in Paris. Alphonse Areola was born on 27 February 1993 in Paris.

On 26 December 2014, Alphonse married Marion. The couple has three daughters, Ayleen-Grace, born in May 2015, Aymma-Lyse, born on 2 January 2017, and Ayva-may Victoria born on 20 October 2020.

Philanthropy

At the time of writing this article, there are no reports of any charity and philanthropy activities regarding Alphonse Areola’s name.

Legal Issues

So far during his professional career and also in his personal life, Alphonse Areola never had any legal issues or disputes and there are no reports of such problems on media.

Alphonse Areola Career Statistics

In this section of Alphonse Areola biography, we will his career stats both as a club and international football player. Stay tuned.

Club

Since the start of his career at Paris Saint-Germain in the 2012-13 season, Alphonse Areola has played a total of 263 matches in all competitions for the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Bastia, Villarreal, Real Madrid, and Fulham. He has played the most part of his career at PSG, with 107 matches in all competitions.

International

Alphonse Areola has played in all ranks of the France national team, starting from France U16. Between 2009 and 2013 he played a total of 57 matches for various youth teams of France. He has also won three caps with the senior France national team in 2018 and 2019.

Alphonse Areola Honors

In spite of his young age, Alphonse Areola has won many titles during his career. At PSG, he won the Ligue 1 title three times, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue two times, and the Trophée des Champions on three occasions. With Real Madrid, he was La Liga and Supercopa de España winner.

On the national level, he has won the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France U20 and France senior national team, respectively.

Of his notable individual titles and awards, we can mention the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament, Ligue 2 Goalkeeper of the Year, Ligue 2 Team of the Season, Eurosport Revelation of the Year, and the 2016 UEFA

Breakthrough XI.

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