Eric Cantona (born May 24, 1966) is a former French footballerer. He ended his professional footballing career at Manchester United where he won four Premiership titles in five years, including two FA Cup "doubles". Cantona is often regarded as having played a major role in the revival of Manchester United as a footballing powerhouse. In 2000 he was voted Man U's player of the century.
Cantona first joined Leeds United on his arrival in England in 1992, where he helped them win the old First Division championship that season (1991/92). In the following season, he was transferred to Manchester United for a relatively small fee of 1.2 million pounds (1.86 million US Dollars). - former Auxerre and Marseille player - needs info
Cantona is infamous for an incident that occurred in January 1995. In an away match against Crystal Palace, Cantona launched a 'kung-fu' style kick against a spectator after being sent off by the referee. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after an appeal court overturned a 2 week prison sentence for assault. He was also suspended by the Football Association until October.
After the 1996/97 season, Cantona announced his retirement from football, at the age of 30.
His subsequent career has mostly been in the French cinema, primarily as an actor although he has also directed a short movie Apporte-moi ton amour in 2002. He was also the "organizer" of "underground" games between football superstars in a Nike ad campaign during the run-up to the 2002 World Cup.
In 2003 he was named foreign Premier League player of the decade by the English FA.
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