Top facts about Andre-Pierre Gignac, Dede

André-Pierre Christian Gignac is a French international footballer who plays in the position of forward for Mexico’s first-tier league club Tigres UANL and the Les Blues of France.

He amazingly has been honoured to get the No. 1 spot on People With Money’s top 10 highest-paid footballers for 2021 with an estimated $75 million in combined earnings with a net worth of around $215 million.

Back to his early career, Dede began playing football with local clubs Fos and Martigues in Bouches-du-Rhone. Then he went through Brittany and joined Lorient to become a professional footballer.

Following a loan span at Pau, he moved to Toulouse in 2007 where he managed to come to the spotlight despite struggling initially.

In the 2008/09 campaign, he spectacularly became the league’s leading goal scorer while he left Toulouse to make a 5-year contract with Olympique Marseille.

Much to many people's consternation, after five years, he left Europe and moved to South America so as to join Tigres UANL in the Mexican League.

It was a big surprise for football pundits because he was considered a top-class striker who was expected to be transferred to one of the many big clubs in Europe.

Top facts about André-Pierre Gignac that you might want to know

Here we have gathered everything there is to know about Top facts about André-Pierre Gignac. It is to be hoped you enjoy reading as much as we did.

If you are interested to know more about the other footballers playing in Liga MX, you can probe into

as well. 

One of the most amazing top

facts about André-Pierre Gignac

is that he was the captain of the

Olympic team at the Tokyo Olympics as he was one of two over-aged players included in the French squad to make his debut appearance at the Olympics.

Not to mention that he also put away his first Senior International Goal at the Tokyo Olympics, yet it was not adequate to lead them beyond the group stage.

That is to say, he converted a penalty in the group A opening game so as to just decrease the intensity of France’s defeat at the end of the game to 4-1.

On that point, his apology to the Mexicans for scoring against them at the Tokyo Olympics is considered to be one of the other incredible top facts about André-Pierre Gignac.

When he scored the goal from the penalty spot in the tournament, as a French striker he had not any kind of goal celebration. Instead, he preferred to pick the ball from the back of the net, kick it away and make a gesture with his hands for expressing his plea.

Because despite representing France, he has been staring in the Mexico league for a span of six years with his incredible feat of scoring 149 goals in his 264 appearances for Tigres UANL. After all, he is now part of them, as he gained citizenship in Mexico and two of his children were born there.

Now better say, the Mexican legend is determined not to become retired any day soon as he aspires to be a member of France Olympic squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with age 38 years old on that time, continuing his professional career until his being 40 years old.

André-Pierre Gignac facts in brief

Bio

• Full Name

  : Andre-Pierre Gignac

• Nickname

  : Dede

General information

• Date of Birth

  : 5 December 1985

• Age

  : 35

• Zodiac Sign

  : Sagittarius

• Place of birth

  : Martigues, France

• Nationality

  : French/Mexico

• Ethnicity

  : Romani descent

• Religion

  : NA

Personal information

• Marital Status

  : Married

• Spouse

  : Deborah Gignac

• Children

  : Five (Eden Gignac, Grace Gignac, Mavy Gignac as well as Leonard Gignac and Andre-Pierre Jr. Gignac)

• Siblings

  : Alexis Gignac and Nadine Gignac

• Net worth

  : $215 million

• Salary

  : $75 million 

Physical status

• Height

  : 6 ft 2 in, 1.87 m

• Weight

  : 84kg

• Eye colour

  : Dark Brown

• Hair colour

  : Dark Brown

Football information

• Profession

  : Footballer

• Playing Position

  : Attacker /Centre Forward

• Foot

  : Right

• Current club

  : Tigres UANL 

• Jersey number

  : 10

Andre-Pierre Gignac childhood

While he is partially of Romanian descent, he was born in the city of Martigues in Bouches-du-Rhône of the south of France and considers himself to be an adopted Manouche.

Likewise, it is to be said that he is the cousin of the retired defender Jacques Abardonado and winger Yohan Mollo. In

André-Pierre Gignac childhood

, when he was just five years old, he began his youth career with the local club ES Fos-sur-Mer.

He trained for a span of five years at the club and then joined hometown club FC Martigues. While he spent seven years of his youth career at the club, he was released when he was informed that he needed to bulk up.

Afterwards, he moved over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) to the Brittany district in order to enter the youth academy of professional club FC

.

As he was developed in the club's academy for two seasons, then manager Christian Gourcuff promoted him to the club's senior team for the 2004–05 Ligue for a period of 2 seasons.

André-Pierre Gignac professional career

In his debut appearance with his first senior club on 13 August 2004, he came on as a 78th-minute substitute as they were 1–1 against Châteauroux; but as soon as he came on he put away the winning goal so as to led Lorient to grab a 2–1 triumph.

However, in the next matches, he did not feature very outstandingly as he appeared most of the time as a minor substitute. So he was loaned out to Championnat National club Pau FC in the winter transfer period, while Lorient was promoted to Ligue 1 in the next season without him.

In his loan span with Pau FC, he made 20 league appearances and put away 8 goals for them consisting of a double in a triumph over Toulon and a hat-trick against Châtellerault.

Then in his return to Lorient senior team for the 2006–07 Ligue 1 season, in spite of a few matches, he was mostly inserted as a starter. In the fourth league game against Nantes, he scored a hat-trick in 27 minutes in a 3–1 triumph. Then he ended up the campaign appearing 37 times and scoring 9 goals in the league.

Afterwards, on 25 June 2007, it was announced that he got contracted a four-year contract with Toulouse. He debuted for Toulouse in the first leg of the team's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round of their 1–0 defeat to

, as a 65th-minute substitute.

In the 2008–09 season, Gignac proved to be the pillar member of the team as he put away a number of crucial goals for his side.

These included braces against Sochaux, Grenoble, Saint-Étienne,

and twice against Nice, consisting of his final two goals of the season as in the 19th league match he exceeded Johan Elmander who was Toulouse's top scorer of the previous season with 11 goals.

One of the most fascinating

top facts about

André-Pierre Gignac

is that once his coach Alain Casanova challenged him to net a goal with his left foot (weak foot).

He took an oath to kiss his left foot with the presence of everyone else in case he would score with his left foot against FC Nantes in the match.

So he trained day and night for a week shooting with his left foot to such an extent that he became potent to score the only goal of the match with his left foot.

Thus he ran towards the coach where Alain bowed down to let him kiss his foot but he prohibited him from doing so and hugged him out of respect. Following this challenge, he enhanced his shooting abilities with his left foot and continued to make more feat with it.

For this endeavour, he was granted the UNFP Player of the Month award twice for September and March and was nominated for the Ligue 1 Player of the Year Award yet it was won by Yoann Gourcuff.

He also was honoured to be selected to the Ligue 1 Team of the Year and received the league's top scorer award with scoring 24 goals. 

Then on 14 August 2009, he extended his contract with Toulouse one more year until 2013. Although he was injured for most of that spring campaign, he ended up being the club's top scorer in the season.

He scored 34 Ligue 1 goals for the club and remained their highest scorer in the league in the 21st century until September 2014, when Wissam Ben Yedder smashed his record. If you are interested, you can check in to

.

Then in the 2010–11 season, he got contracted a five-year deal with the club Marseille for an undisclosed transfer fee of around €16–18 million. He put away his first goal for the club two months later in a 1–1 draw with Saint-Étienne.

Then on 3 November, he amazingly scored a hat-trick in the 7–0 away victory over Slovak club MŠK Žilina in a UEFA Champions League group stage match.

Although in the first two seasons, he failed to make such an outstanding feat as he was relegated to Marseille's reserve squad in November 2011.

Yet, in the 2012–13 season, he earned his position on the first team again and put away a goal in Marseille's first home game of the season, the first in a 2–0 triumph over Sochaux. Afterwards, he netted the only goal of an away winning against reigning league champions Montpellier.

On 6 January 2013, he found the back of the net twice, consisting of the extra-time winner, when Marseille defeated Guingamp 2–1 in the last 64 of the Coupe de France. His 13 goals finally led Marseille to gain the second spot, behind

.

In the 2013–14 season, he netted in each of Marseille's three opening games of the league season, consisting of all triumphs, while the third one was the 84th-minute only goal of an away victory at Valenciennes on 24 August.

Likewise, in the 2014–15 season, he got his best goal return for Marseille, as he put away 23 goals in all competitions and 21 in Ligue 1 play as he ended up as runner-up to Lyon's

for the league's golden boot.

Afterwards, on 18 June 2015, he made a deal with Mexican club Tigres UANL, in spite of the fact that a number of European teams were interested in him. But he was determined to win the domestic league and reach the final of Copa Libertadores with them.

He debuted on 15 July in the away 2–1 defeat to Brazil in the semi-finals of the 2015 Copa Libertadores. Then in the second leg, he netted his first goal to open a 3–1 triumph, leading his team to the finals against River Plate of Argentina.

On 1 March 2020, he managed to score a bicycle kick in a 3–0 victory over Pumas in Liga MX Clausura 2020 as it has been nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award 2020. On 22 December 2020, he netted the decisive goal in a 2–1 triumph over Los Angeles FC in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League Final.

On 4 February 2021, he succeeded to score a brace in a 2–1 victory over Ulsan Hyundai in the second round of the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup.

On 7 February, he managed to score a penalty in a 1–0 triumph over Palmeiras in the semi-finals so as to led his team to be the first Mexican club to reach the final of the competition. Thereby he later promoted his deal until 2024.

On the international stage, he was first called up to France national team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying game against st Lithuania.

Gignac received his first international call-up for France for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Lithuania.

Although he did not appear in the first match owing to injury, he earned his first cap on 1 April 2009 appearing as a substitute in the 69th minute and amazingly provided the assist to

's goal in the 1–0 winning.

He also featured in World Cup 2010 in his side opening group stage goalless draw against Uruguay, as he was replaced with Sidney Govou as an 85th-minute substitute.

He also starred in the final two group stage games, including a start against the hosts South Africa while France was beaten 2–1, as they were eliminated from the competition. He also participated in a number of qualification matches for the 2014 World Cup.

Likewise, he was among Didier Deschamps' squad in their hosting of UEFA Euro 2016 as he starred in six of their seven matches.

But he starred only in the goalless group draw with Switzerland while he was also a 78th-minute substitute for

in their final defeat to Portugal in extra time.

So far you might have understood that he has been a true legend in both his club and national side but he has become shining light more widely in the Mexican league as he anchored nine titles to his names.

These include the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League which ended in the FIFA Club World Cup victory too. So it is no wonder to see him make a feat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a 35-year-old golden oldie in the France squad.

That is to say not only he converted a penalty in the group A opening game to make France’s 4-1 defeat to Mexico less disappointing, but also he amazingly scored a hat-trick in an incredible 4-3 victory over South Africa to lead France to come from behind in the last five minutes at Tokyo Olympics.

André-Pierre Gignac personal life

Considering

top facts about André-Pierre Gignac

in line with his personal life affairs one can suggest that, he has married to Deborah Gignac as they are blessed with three children together called Grace, Eden and Mavy.

While Deborah is recognized as the performer of several altruistic tasks, she is the second wife of our footballer since he had married Stéphanie Le Menarch until 2010 as he had two children with her as well.

André-Pierre Gignac social media

When it comes to top facts about André-Pierre Gignac social media activity, we can suggest that he is active on platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

While he racked up around 1 million and 500 thousand followers on Instagram with his account of

, most of the time he shares the posts in regard with his football profession as well as his lovely children.

But his wife Deborah has kept a low profile on social media as she is not present in any images that André shares on his accounts.

Among some of his recent activities on social networking platforms, it is notable to indicate that he shared his passion for playing video games in his three-week relaxation after he underwent an injury at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which was just a small fracture in his right fibula.

He also expressed his anger on his social media accounts against the journalist, Aldo Rodríguez who had commented on the probable poor performance that they might show after they participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with France.

André-Pierre Gignac net worth

In the last part of our top facts about André-Pierre Gignac, it is pertinent to note that People With Money reported that Gignac is considered to be the highest-paid footballer in the world, as he made a whopping $75 million between July 2020 and July 2021, an approximately $40 million lead over his most recent competition.

While

André-Pierre Gignac net worth

is estimated to be around $215 million, he gained his fortune through smart stock investments, vast property holdings, lucrative endorsement deals with CoverGirl cosmetics and a number of other deals as well as possessing multiple restaurants.

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