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Red Bull’s Head of Global Football, Gérard Houllier will be sharing his vast football expertise at this year’s Soccerex Asian Forum from December 4/5 in Doha, Qatar.
Houllier is a hugely experienced figure in the football industry having managed several world-renowned teams such as Lens, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and Lyon and over seen the development of stars such as Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, William Gallas and Steven Gerrard. At the Soccerex Asian Forum, Gerard will be discussing the different ways to maximise player’s performance.
Following an early coaching career that included roles with Le Touquet, Lens and Paris Saint Germain, Houllier was appointed as Technical Director and Assistant to the France national team in 1988, where his role was to oversee the fabled Clairefontaine national football centre and the development of players such as Thierry Henry who were central to the French side that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championships.
After 10 years of training different age groups within the France National team set-up, Gerard was appointed as the joint Head Coach of Liverpool with Roy Evans, before going onto to take sole charge when Evans resigned a few months later. Gerard was tasked with rebuilding Liverpool FC after a pro-longed period without a trophy and led the club to a hugely successful 2000–01 season with the club winning the League Cup, the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup and finished third in the Premier League. In August 2001, Liverpool won the UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich, leading Houllier to be voted to the World Manager of the Year and the European Coach of the year in 2001.
Afetr leaving Liverpool, Gerard was appointed as Olympique Lyon Manager in 2005 with the task of improving their performance in Europe; however they lost to AC Milan and in 2006 were knocked out by AS Roma in the last 16 round. Furthermore, Lyon failed to win the Coupe de La Ligue against Bordeaux, but with his last season as Coach, Gerard led the team to their sixth straight Ligue 1 title, and was awarded the Ligue 1 Manager of the year in 2007.
Since July 2012, Gérard Houllier has been the Head of Global Football for Red Bull where he is responsible for football development at Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig, New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Brasil and the Red Bull Ghana academies.
At the Forum in Doha, Gerard will be speaking alongside Dr. Ryland Morgans, Head of Performance for the Football Association of Wales, who has trained players such as Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. At a club level, Ryland has worked at Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Swansea City, Liverpool and Crystal Palace, gaining promotion from every division and gaining Europa and Champions League experience along the way. Gerard and Ryland will be discussing the different aspects of maximising player performance, from coaching methodologies and management skills to training regimes and creating the right team culture.
