Henry, Thierry

▪ 2005

      In mid-2004 Thierry Henry clinched the 2003–04 Golden Shoe as Europe's leading association football (soccer) goal scorer (with 30) and helped the English Football Association (FA) club Arsenal to another Premier League championship. If anyone deserved credit for turning Henry into one of the finest players in the world, it was Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who transformed the young Frenchman from an average winger into a formidable striker. Henry was honoured as European Footballer of the Year for 2002 and 2003 and finished runner-up as Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004.

      Thierry Daniel Henry was born in the Paris suburb of Châtillon on Aug. 17, 1977, of French West Indian stock, and his childhood was spent in low-income housing in Les Ulis, south of Paris. After gaining a place in the national technical centre in Clairefontaine, he joined FC (football club) Versailles in 1992, and, after attracting other club scouts, he was snapped up by Monaco in 1995. Although Henry played as a striker until he was 17, he switched to left wing for Monaco. Monaco won the 1997 French championship, and Henry's game improved noticeably. Midway through the 1998–99 season, a contract mix-up almost sent him to Real Madrid; instead, he was traded to Juventus in Turin, Italy, for £9 million (about $14.9 million). Two weeks before his 22nd birthday, he was on the move again in a £10.5 million (about $17 million) deal to join Wenger at Arsenal.

      Wenger shifted Henry to striker, giving him more responsibility at the cutting edge of the attack, and the Frenchman soon revealed his true ability. With a deceivingly casual approach, the 1.88-m (6-ft 2-in), 85-kg (187-lb) Henry could glide like a fleet-footed gazelle past opposing players, initiate and finish moves, score goals either with a light touch from short range or fiercely from long distances, and contribute his share of headed goals. In all first-team matches for Arsenal, he reached 151 goals by the end of 2003–04, and the club achieved two league titles (2002, 2004) and two FA Cup trophies (2002, 2003), as well as finishing as runner-up in the 2000 Union des Associations Européennes de Football Cup final.

      Henry's international honours when playing for France were equally impressive. In 1996 he was a member of the European under-18 championship team, and two years later he collected a FIFA World Cup title. In 2000 France added the European championship, and in 2003 Henry had a triple success when he scored the winning goal for France in the FIFA Confederations Cup and was awarded both the Golden Ball (as player of the tournament) and the Golden Shoe (as top scorer). First selected to play for his country on Oct. 11, 1997, against South Africa, by the end of the 2004 European championship, Henry had scored 27 goals in 63 full international games.

Jack Rollin

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