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Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (French pronunciation: [aʁsɛn vɛŋɡɛʁ]; born 22 October 1949) is a French former football manager and player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. He was the manager of Arsenal from 1996 to 2018, where he was the longest-serving and most successful in the club's history. His contribution to English football through changes to scouting, players' training and diet regimens revitalised Arsenal and aided the globalisation of the sport in the 21st century. Born in Strasbourg and raised in Duttlenheim to an entrepreneurial family, Wenger was introduced to football by his father, the manager of the local village team. After a modest playing career, in which he made appearances for several amateur clubs, Wenger obtained a manager's diploma in 1981. Following an unsuccessful period at Nancy in 1987, Wenger joined Monaco; the club won the league championship in 1988. In 1991, Wenger guided Monaco to victory in the Coupe de France. In 1995, he moved to Japan to coach J.League side Nagoya Grampus Eight and won the Emperor's Cup and Japanese Super Cup in his first and only year. Wenger was named manager of Arsenal in 1996; his appointment was greeted with little enthusiasm from the English media and his players alike. In 1998, he became the first foreign manager to win a Premier League and FA Cup double. Wenger guided Arsenal to another league and cup double in 2002, and won his third league title in 2004, which earnt distinction as he guided his team to an undefeated domestic league season – something achieved only once before in English football, by Preston North End, 115 years previously. Arsenal later eclipsed Nottingham Forest's record of 42 league matches unbeaten and went seven more matches before losing in October 2004. Under him, the club made its first appearance in a Champions League final in 2006, though the team lost to Barcelona. Wenger oversaw Arsenal's relocation to the Emirates Stadium, and prioritised the club's finances in his second decade to meet costs. This coincided with a nine-year spell without winning a trophy, before Wenger guided Arsenal to further FA Cup successes in the 2010s; he holds the record for most wins in the competition with seven. He departed as manager in 2018. The nickname "Le Professeur" is used by fans and the English press to reflect Wenger's studious demeanour. He is one of the most celebrated managers of his generation, having changed perceptions of the sport and profession in England and abroad. His approach to the game emphasises an attacking mentality, with the aim that football ought to be entertaining on the pitch. Wenger's Arsenal teams were criticised for their indiscipline and naivety; his players received 100 red cards between September 1996 and February 2014, though the team won awards for sporting fair play. At Monaco, Wenger earned a reputation for spotting young talent and developing a youth system, which he carried through at Arsenal. Early life Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger was born on 22 October 1949 in Strasbourg, Alsace, the youngest of three children born to Alphonse and Louise Wenger. He lived in Duppigheim during the 1950s, but spent most of his time in the neighbouring village of Duttlenheim, 16 km (10 miles) south-west of Strasbourg. Arsène's father, Alphonse, like many Alsatians, was conscripted into the German Army by force following Germany's earlier annexation of the French region of Alsace-Lorraine. He was sent to fight on the Eastern Front in October 1944, at the age of 24. The Wenger family owned an automobile spare parts business and a bistro named La Croix d'Or. In his book, My Life in Red and White, Wenger says the "alcohol, brawling and violence" of the bistro's patrons sparked his early interest in human psychology. His parents had difficulty looking after their children, but Duttlenheim was a village where everyone took care of the young; Wenger compared it in later years to a kibbutz. Before Wenger started school, he expressed himself in the local Alsatian dialect of Low Alemannic German. The primary school which Wenger attended was run by the Catholic Church, and as one of its brightest students, he later was accepted into a secondary school in Obernai. According to his father, who also managed the village team, Wenger was introduced to football "at about the age of six". He was taken to games in Germany, where he held an affection for Borussia Mönchengladbach. Alsace was an area steeped in religion; Wenger and the village boys often needed to seek permission from the Catholic priest to miss vespers in order to play football. Playing career Because the population of Duttlenheim was short in numbers, it proved difficult to field a team of 11 players of equal ages; Wenger did not play for FC Duttlenheim until the age of 12. Claude Wenger, a teammate of Arsène's, noted his lack of pace as a player, which he made up for with his "ability to guard the ball, [seeming] to have a complete vision of the pitch and having an influence among his team-mates", according to Marcel Brandner, the president of FC Duttlenheim. As a young teenager, he was called Petit; the nickname ceased when he had a growth spurt and broke into FC Duttlenheim's first team, aged 16. The team did not have a coach to prepare the players tactically, rather a person who supervised training sessions. Wenger took it upon himself to manage the side, with Claude stating "Arsène wasn't the captain and yet he was. It was 'You do this, you do that, you do this, you do that.' He was the leader". In 1969, Wenger was recruited to nearby third division club Mutzig. The club was famed for playing the "best amateur football" in Alsace and managed by Max Hild, who would later go on to become Wenger's mentor. Wenger's emergence at Mutzig aged 20 was considered too late for him to build a reputable playing career. Football was not seen as his future; the plan was for him to run the family's spare parts business. He was, however, of the age to start increasing his tactical knowledge of the sport. He frequently read France Football and alongside Hild made trips to Germany to watch Bundesliga matches and observe the different managerial styles. During Wenger's three years at Mutzig, the club beat Strasbourg 3–0 to win the Coupe d'Alsace. He also represented Alsace in a competition held annually between the regional leagues. Wenger took his studies further, and in 1971 enrolled at the Faculté des sciences économiques et de gestion (Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences) at the University of Strasbourg to read politics and economics after a brief stint in medicine. In 1973 he joined semi-professional club Mulhouse and balanced his football career with his education. Wenger completed an economics degree a year later. He was selected to represent the national French students squad and visited Nigeria, Lebanon, and Uruguay – where the World Students Championship was held in 1976. .... Discover the Gary Wenger popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gary Wenger books.