https://www.scmp.com/rss/48777/feed The latest news on Eric Cantona, French former professional footballer and actor, including celebrity news and updates. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Beckham, the Netflix limited documentary series about the legendary footballer and his family, quickly made its mark on the streaming charts, racking up to 12.4 million views during its first week in Netflix’s English-language category. The four-part series delves into David Beckham’s childhood, his Manchester United fame and his personal life, including the highs and lows in his relationship with his wife, Victoria Beckham. Since the release of the docuseries, Beckham has seen his social media... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/celebrities/article/3238480/david-beckham-sidekicks-6-football-icons-netflix-docuseries-whove-been-becks-besties-through-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/celebrities/article/3238480/david-beckham-sidekicks-6-football-icons-netflix-docuseries-whove-been-becks-besties-through-years?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2023 11:00:09 +0000 Some 25 years ago this April, Crystal Palace made one of the weirdest midseason trips to Hong Kong. They made a 72-hour round trip to play a game in the international break – despite a fixture pile-up after reaching the semi-finals of the League and FA Cup and being involved in a relegation dogfight. The trip had been celebrated as a coup, at least initially. “In the opening weeks of 1995, the Eagles were invited to participate in a prestigious friendly game against Happy Valley, traditionally... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3081157/day-premier-league-crystal-palace-play-hong-kong-friendly-1995?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3081157/day-premier-league-crystal-palace-play-hong-kong-friendly-1995?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Apr 2020 02:16:02 +0000 Just as many fans feared at the start of the season, Manchester United’s squad is looking light after a few injuries. Marcus Rashford, the player of the season, is the latest casualty and likely to be out for months with a back problem. He will be missed, just as Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba are. No player started more games than Rashford before his injury, but what do United do now he’s unavailable? Sad though it sounds for a club of their stature, they’re in the chase for a Uefa Champions... https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3047148/manchester-united-linked-bruno-fernandes-and-edinson-cavani-will?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3047148/manchester-united-linked-bruno-fernandes-and-edinson-cavani-will?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2020 07:09:16 +0000 "I am like a butterfly." A delicate, winged insect is not the first creature that springs to mind when you meet Eric Cantona (he's more of a bear), but, fortunately, he explains his thinking. "It metamorphoses, it changes. I change every time." Change is indeed the one thing that has remained constant in Cantona's eclectic career. The Frenchman, now 48, achieved demigod status as a striker at Manchester United football club. Affectionately nicknamed King Eric by the fans, he was adored for his... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1672670/how-eric-cantona-turned-artistic-butterfly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1672670/how-eric-cantona-turned-artistic-butterfly?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:45:00 +0000 In the heart-warming 2009 film about football, Looking For Eric, the hapless, down-at-heel Manchester United supporter asks his idol Eric Cantona what his sweetest moment was playing for the Red Devils. He reels off a series of guesses, naming nearly all the breathtaking goals scored by the maverick Frenchman. "It must be a goal, Eric!" insists the football-fanatic postman, who, with his life descending into crisis, demands answers from his ghostly alter ego. Cantona shakes his head and... https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1120022/kings-crown-fits-van-persie-nicely?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1120022/kings-crown-fits-van-persie-nicely?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The World Cup is nothing short of a battleground for the 32 competing national teams. But the event is also a battleground for two very different adversaries - sports equipment manufacturers Nike and Adidas, whose fight takes place not on the pitch, but in the media. The winner of this corporate fracas is the viewer, as the soccer equipment wars are the reason for the tremendously entertaining - and phenomenally expensive - football advertisements that flood television and the net during the... https://www.scmp.com/article/718814/pitch-battles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/718814/pitch-battles?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000 He could not get on the Tube in London without getting mobbed. But former Manchester United captain Eric Cantona was spotted riding the MTR from Central to Causeway Bay on Tuesday without too many people noticing. According to our source, the legendary footballer, 39, was travelling with a little girl, presumably his daughter, and another man. And although he's gained some weight and grown a beard since he retired at 30, fans should have been able to identify the superstar from recent press... https://www.scmp.com/article/509044/ohh-aah-are-you-eric-cantona?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/509044/ohh-aah-are-you-eric-cantona?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Jul 2005 16:00:00 +0000 Former French star Eric Cantona will make a rare appearance in Hong Kong on Monday as he helps open a new Manchester United soccer school here - the first of its kind in Asia. Cantona, who has never played in Hong Kong despite Manchester United touring Asia in 1997, will be a special guest at the press conference to be held at the Hong Kong Football Club. The controversial Frenchman is considered one of the all-time greats of Manchester United, but the striker has not been far away from... https://www.scmp.com/article/463418/cantona-open-reds-clinic-hk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/463418/cantona-open-reds-clinic-hk?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Gooooaaaaalll! It is that four-yearly time again, when Mexican waves and Brazilian steel bands spill from the television into the living-room, and when talk in offices throughout Hong Kong - and indeed the world - will be of bad referees, whether Ronaldo was offside, and that Iran should definitely have been awarded that penalty. With the World Cup upon us, there are thousands of football books on the market, most (at least those in English) published by British companies, and a suspiciously... https://www.scmp.com/article/243508/world-cup-words-wisdom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/243508/world-cup-words-wisdom?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jun 1998 16:00:00 +0000 England soccer international Teddy Sheringham arrived in Hong Kong yesterday with the rest of his Manchester United teammates for tomorrow's exhibition match against South China. He was last in Hong Kong 14 months ago with the England squad. That tour created headlines after trouble on a Cathay Pacific flight. Sheringham, 31, United's major close-season signing at GBP3.5 million (HK$45 million) from Tottenham, was bought as a replacement for the controversial and enigmatic French star... https://www.scmp.com/article/204415/united-star-sets-himself-new-goal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/204415/united-star-sets-himself-new-goal?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jul 1997 16:00:00 +0000 Organisers of Thursday night's Reunification Cup are confident they will not fall in the red despite a smaller than expected crowd of 17,000 at the historic match at the Hong Kong Stadium. Rain kept many spectators away from the match which helped Hong Kong celebrate the handover, although $4.9 million was generated from gate receipts. Wet weather and a spate of withdrawals from leading players such as Brazilians Leonardo and Edmundo and the failure to lure retired French maestro Eric... https://www.scmp.com/article/202733/all-stars-financial-loss-fears-likely-prove-unfounded?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/202733/all-stars-financial-loss-fears-likely-prove-unfounded?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jul 1997 16:00:00 +0000 Brazilian free-kick sensation Roberto Carlos has been targeted to play for the FIFA World All-Stars in next Thursday's Reunification Cup. The organisers, the Sport Community for Celebration of Reunification of Hong Kong with China (SCCRHKC), are also seeking help from former German ace Franz Beckenbauer to secure superstar Eric Cantona. SCCRHKC member Alexandre Rego said FIFA president Dr Joao Havelange had promised to ask the Brazilian Football Association to release Real Madrid's Carlos... https://www.scmp.com/article/201421/all-stars-line-brazilian-hot-shot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/201421/all-stars-line-brazilian-hot-shot?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Jun 1997 16:00:00 +0000 AS he did so often during a tempestuous career, Eric Cantona caught the football world by complete surprise when he decided to end it last week. Manchester United's multitude of fans and English football at large will have to come to terms with life minus the brooding Gallic genius, who paved the way for the influx of foreign legionnaires who have transformed the English game. Two weeks ago in this column I said that United's season mirrored that of Cantona, and suggested that there could be... https://www.scmp.com/article/197333/life-must-go-without-gallic-genius?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/197333/life-must-go-without-gallic-genius?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 May 1997 16:00:00 +0000 Cantona is not on holiday in the South of France but has been in Macau the whole time, writes Lawrence Wadey. In fact this big, bustling brute is a regular at Taipa racecourse but so far he's been unable to kick a goal for a toffee. He has a career record of played 10 lost 10 and that is unlikely to change too much tomorrow when he contests the day's second event, a humble Class Five 1,400-metre affair which will be run out in front of a crowd of around 6,000. Old Trafford this ain't but at... https://www.scmp.com/article/197232/eric-cantona?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/197232/eric-cantona?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 May 1997 16:00:00 +0000 WHEN the tough get going, Eric Cantona gets a new lease of life. By scoring in six consecutive games this time last year, he helped Manchester United reel off the victories which hauled in Newcastle. The big Continental game away from Old Trafford remains the only stage on which Cantona has yet to impose his artistry and authority This week, away to Porto, United finished off the job in their European Cup quarter-final second-leg with a 0-0 draw after hammering the Portuguese side 4-0 at... https://www.scmp.com/article/189204/gallic-flair-man-all-seasons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/189204/gallic-flair-man-all-seasons?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Mar 1997 16:00:00 +0000 WHEN Manchester United played host to Liverpool at Old Trafford last season, the eyes of the football world were on one man - Eric Cantona. When the same teams meet at the same venue tomorrow, all eyes will be on one man once again - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The 23-year-old United striker has set English football alight this season since joining the Old Trafford giants in the summer from Norwegian club Molde for GBP1.5 million. Solskjaer, who has been nicknamed the 'baby-faced killer' by... https://www.scmp.com/article/177489/son-norway-could-hold-key-big-match?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/177489/son-norway-could-hold-key-big-match?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 1996 16:00:00 +0000 DEAR PREMIER SOCCER, I write following the riot which took place at the Hong Kong Stadium on Sunday, September 29, during the match between South China and the Indonesian club side Mastrans Bandung Raya. If the Asian Football Confederation do nothing about this incident they will look like a total joke in the eyes of the football world. One player, the Indonesian No. 10 [Adjat Suradjat], was seen on television all over the world throwing a corner flag in javelin fashion into the crowd. ... https://www.scmp.com/article/177488/indonesias-cantona-must-receive-severe-punishment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/177488/indonesias-cantona-must-receive-severe-punishment?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 1996 16:00:00 +0000 Dear Premier Soccer, Regarding the Premier Soccer Comment on George Graham (September 13, 1996), as an Arsenal fan I would like to make two points. First, if you or I had done what George Graham did with his employers, we would probably have a criminal record and would never be employed again. Second, it's obvious that George Graham was (is) not the only manager taking 'bungs' - just that he was the one who was caught. I think he was a scapegoat for a lot of other managers who get away... https://www.scmp.com/article/174701/grahams-rehabilitation-raises-questions-ethics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/174701/grahams-rehabilitation-raises-questions-ethics?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Sep 1996 16:00:00 +0000 The benevolent shadow of Michel Platini has hung over French football since the national team he led were beaten by Germany in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Platini, arguably the best player the country has ever produced, currently heads the organising committee for the World Cup in France in two years time. Four years ago he coached France in the European Championship in Sweden where they were disappointing. A decade after Mexico and 12 years after the tears flowed at the Parc des Princes when... https://www.scmp.com/article/162697/platinis-legacy-inspire-france?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/162697/platinis-legacy-inspire-france?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jun 1996 16:00:00 +0000 Yesterday's live soccer match between the Hong Kong Golden Select and England was so bad that I was longing for more commercial breaks. The most entertaining part of the bore-fest on ATV was the Nike commercial featuring Eric Cantona. But the match itself, or at least England's role in it, was dreadful. Golden could not be faulted for mounting a brave defensive effort but England's chronic lack of creative response was unbelievable. It was no surprise when the chants of 'What a... https://www.scmp.com/article/161319/commercial-steals-show-england-players-fail-make-game-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/161319/commercial-steals-show-england-players-fail-make-game-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 May 1996 16:00:00 +0000 SCOTTISH football writers are known as 'fans with typewriters' for reasons which become ear-splittingly apparent when the national team scores a goal. Fellow scribes often have a problem with the Scots reporters' passion for players wearing the dark blue with the thistle emblem over their hearts. On many an occasion the journalists have been asked by their colleagues to refrain from being so raucous in support of their side or vacate the press box. At the opposite end of the spectrum you... https://www.scmp.com/article/146903/coach-jacquet-shows-no-love-flair-cantona-and-ginola?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/146903/coach-jacquet-shows-no-love-flair-cantona-and-ginola?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jan 1996 16:00:00 +0000 FRENCHMAN Eric Cantona headed an equaliser 10 minutes from time to give Manchester United a 2-2 draw with Sunderland and save them from a shock FA Cup third-round defeat at Old Trafford yesterday. United trailed 2-1 to their First Division opponents after conceding two goals in three minutes midway through the second half from Steve Agnew and Craig Russell. Their comeback meant that only Sheffield Wednesday of the Premier League fell at the first hurdle, losing 2-0 at First Division... https://www.scmp.com/article/145163/cantona-goal-saves-united-shock-cup-defeat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/145163/cantona-goal-saves-united-shock-cup-defeat?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jan 1996 16:00:00 +0000 THE English Premier League title race will go down to the wire after Manchester United did what they had to do, beat Southampton 2-1, to cut Blackburn Rovers' lead at the top back to two points. But it was a desperately close-run thing. It took a penalty nine minutes from time, after Ken Monkou pulled back Andy Cole, to end Southampton's determined resistance in a packed, almost hysterical Old Trafford. Denis Irwin, the coolest man in the stadium, was unruffled by both the pressures of the... https://www.scmp.com/article/117353/irwin-keeps-his-cool-old-trafford-finds-its-voice-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/117353/irwin-keeps-his-cool-old-trafford-finds-its-voice-again?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 May 1995 16:00:00 +0000 'We hope he will be carrying out his public duties by helping young people who aspire to be professional footballers and others who merely aspire to play the game and enjoy it.' Judge Ian Davies, who ordered footballer Eric Cantona to serve 120 hours of community service after quashing a two-week jail sentence for assaulting a fan. https://www.scmp.com/article/112774/quote-week?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/112774/quote-week?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Apr 1995 16:00:00 +0000 A BRITISH judge yesterday forgot a lesson every schoolchild knows: that 'sticks and stones' - to say nothing of flying kicks from a thug in football boots - 'may break my bones, but names will never hurt me'. In making that elementary mistake, Judge Ian Davies, who quashed Manchester United striker Eric Cantona's two-week jail sentence for assaulting a fan and ordered him to serve 120 hours community service instead, did the game and the public a disservice. No matter what the verbal... https://www.scmp.com/article/112680/sending-wrong-message?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/112680/sending-wrong-message?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Mar 1995 16:00:00 +0000 I AM afraid I cannot agree with your editorial headlined 'Penalty too lenient' (SCMP January 30) that comments on the Eric Cantona incident. Although I must admit Cantona was insensible to react ferociously to the curse of a spectator, it is unfair for Cantona to share most of the blame. As you all know, soccer is an exciting sport that requires high concentration and great enthusiasm; it is sometimes impractical for a player to control his temper during the game. The tension is particularly... https://www.scmp.com/article/106474/time-share-blame?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/106474/time-share-blame?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Feb 1995 16:00:00 +0000 FOOTBALL commentators have been complaining for decades about declining standards of sportsmanship and rising levels of cynicism and misdirected aggression. Last week, however, in attacking a spectator, Manchester United player Eric Cantona crossed a line that had been considered inviolable. If young people now seek to emulate their idol by expressing their joie de vivre with flying kicks, there is no reason to believe the world will be a safer, or more generous place. Two young children were... https://www.scmp.com/article/105252/penalty-too-lenient?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/105252/penalty-too-lenient?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Jan 1995 16:00:00 +0000 FRENCHMAN Eric Cantona was formally charged last night with misconduct which brought the game into disrepute following his attack on a fan during an English Premier League match on Wednesday night. The Manchester United forward, who made a flying two-footed leap into the fan's chest, has 14 days in which to appeal against the English Football Association charge. FA chief executive Graham Kelly said: 'We have spent the last 18 hours with the police and officials of Manchester United and... https://www.scmp.com/article/104911/cantona-formally-charged-fa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/104911/cantona-formally-charged-fa?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jan 1995 16:00:00 +0000 MANCHESTER United stars Eric Cantona and Andrei Kanchelskis have been invited to make guest appearances for Hong Kong First Division club Happy Valley in their exhibition match against English Premier League side Crystal Palace in April. Happy Valley chairman Nick Lee is confident the United pair will start in the exhibition scheduled for April 23 at the Hong Kong Stadium. 'We have already begun negotiations and things are looking bright for the pair to come to the territory. United have... https://www.scmp.com/article/104035/cantona-asked-play-valley?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/104035/cantona-asked-play-valley?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jan 1995 16:00:00 +0000 FRENCH coach Aime Jacquet will field an experimental defence and a reshaped midfield for today's soccer friendly against the Netherlands in Utrecht. Nantes midfielder Christian Karembeu, back from a one-match suspension, switches to the unfamiliar right-back role with Torino's Jocelyn Angloma dropped. Manchester United's Eric Cantona retains the captaincy but retreats into midfield while Bayern Munich's Jean-Pierre Papin and French league leading scorer Patrice Loko of Nantes link up in... https://www.scmp.com/article/103757/friendly-experiment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/103757/friendly-experiment?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Jan 1995 16:00:00 +0000 A STUNNING overhead goal from Paul Ince and another Wembley penalty from Eric Cantona earned English double winners Manchester United a 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers yesterday's Charity Shield. Injury-weakened Blackburn, appearing in the Wembley pre-season opener as league runners-up, held United to a single goal from a first-half penalty until nine minutes from time. Midfielder Ince doubled United's winning margin with a spectacular bicycle kick in front of goal after Cantona headed a... https://www.scmp.com/article/84783/united-give-weakened-blackburn-top-scoring-lesson?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/84783/united-give-weakened-blackburn-top-scoring-lesson?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Aug 1994 16:00:00 +0000 TWO goals in four minutes from Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes rescued English Premier League leaders Manchester United, who surged from behind to beat Queen's Park Rangers 2-1 yesterday. QPR, unbeaten in their last five games, looked capable of becoming the first team to win at Old Trafford this season when Les Ferdinand set up Bradley Allen after eight minutes. But after the break, Cantona in the 53rd minute and Hughes in the 57th earned United their sixth win in seven home games and, with... https://www.scmp.com/article/49854/cantona-and-hughes-send-champions-11-points-clear?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/49854/cantona-and-hughes-send-champions-11-points-clear?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Oct 1993 16:00:00 +0000