Philippe Mahut

Philippe Georges Léon Mahut (; 4 March 1956 – 8 February 2014) was a French professional footballer who played as a defender.

From 1974 to 1993, Mahut played for seven football clubs – all of them in his native France – and scored 30 goals in 654 competitive club matches. He earned nine international caps for the France national team during the early 1980s.

Mahut was described as a "sturdy defender" with "a heading ability above average".

Early life

Philippe Mahut was born in the hamlet of Rosières, which is a part of the commune of Lunery, in the department of Cher. His family had Polish ancestry. He grew up in that hamlet, raised by his grandmother. Philippe's father was an amateur football player and was very good at it, hence Philippe's talent for playing football. Philippe Mahut started his youth football career at AS Montferrandaise when he was nine years old. He subsequently settled in Fontainebleau, where he was raised by his uncle and aunt. Philippe Mahut did his compulsory military service in the south of Seine-et-Marne department.

Club career

Entente BFN Mahut, who had settled in Fontainebleau during his childhood, joined the youth team of that town's local club, Entente BFN. It was in Division 2 from 1970 to 1978. While he was a player of the club, he prepared for but failed his baccalauréat. Thanks to Mahut's fine performances in the youth team, he was included in the senior team at the dawn of the 1974–1975 season by Ladislas Nagy, the head coach of the senior team. In each of Mahut's two seasons (he played 21 and 24 league matches in the 1974–1975 and 1975–1976 seasons respectively) with the club as a senior player, it finished the league season (Group A of Division 2) just one point above the highest-ranked of the bottom three clubs that were to be relegated. Thanks to his good footballing qualities and his fine performances in the Division 2 matches, he rapidly attracted the attention of player scouts. He received several offers to join Division 1 clubs such as Troyes and Paris Saint-Germain. André Watrin, who was then sporting director of Troyes and was also working as a player scout for Troyes, convinced Mahut to join the club. Mahut would explain later that he preferred to play for a modest club like Troyes because he did not have enough self-confidence to stand out at a bigger club like Paris Saint-Germain.

Troyes In July 1976, Mahut joined Troyes (whose head coach was then René Cédolin), initially signing a contract as a semi-professional. On 24 September 1976, he made his Division 1 debut at the Stade de l'Aube against Angers. Mahut played 28 league matches in his first season at Troyes, and the club finished the 1976–77 French Division 1 season in 15th position. After having signed a contract as a full-fledged professional for the first time in his football career, he played 26 leagues matches in his second and final season at Troyes, at the end of which they were relegated to Division 2. While Mahut was a player of the club, he was called up to the France national under-21 football team.

Metz, who had appointed Marc Rastoll - one of their former players - as their head coach at the start of the 1978–1979 season, won their first four league matches of the 1978–79 French Division 1 season. It managed to remain in the top positions of the Division 1 table throughout the entire season. It eventually finished 5th in the Division 1 table and one position below Monaco (because it had a better goal difference than Metz), which thus clinched the second of France's two 1979–80 UEFA Cup spots at Metz's expense. In his first season at the club, Mahut integrated well into the team, formed a centre-back partnership with Wim Suurbier and made 32 league appearances.

The 1989–90 season would prove to be a difficult one for the players of Stade Quimpérois because the club was experiencing major financial problems. These financial problems not only thwarted the club management's dreams of promotion to Division 1 but also forced the club to sell some of its players, including Mahut, between October and November 1989. During the first half of the 1989–90 Division 2 season, Jean-Pierre Hureau, who was then the president of Le Havre, traveled to Quimper to talk Mahut into joining his club.

In his first season with Le Havre, Mahut played 18 league matches and scored 1 league goal. The club finished in 5th position and had the second-best defense in Group B of the 1989–90 French Division 2.

International career Between 1981 and 1983, Mahut earned a total of 9 international caps for the France national football team, scoring no goals.

Mahut made his debut for France on 9 September 1981, in a 1982 World Cup qualifying match against Belgium at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. He also played for his country in a 1982 World Cup qualifying match against the Republic of Ireland on 14 October 1981. He was part of the France squad at the 1982 World Cup finals held in Spain. In that tournament, he only played in one match – the third-place match against Poland in Alicante. That match was his third and last appearance in a competitive match for France.

His final international appearance for his country was on 23 March 1983 in a friendly match against the Soviet Union at the Parc des Princes stadium.

Career in his later years After he retired as a football player, Mahut resettled in Fontainebleau. Beginning in early 1994, Mahut worked as an insurance agent in Moret-sur-Loing, which is about 10 km from Fontainebleau. He later became the manager of a Mutuelles du Mans Assurances (MMA) insurance agency in Moret-sur-Loing.

Besides the insurance business, Mahut was also active in local politics and sports administration. He was elected to the Fontainebleau town council. He assisted its mayor in sports-related affairs for almost a decade, starting from 2005. He was a member of the French Football Federation's National Ethics Council for four years, starting from 2010. Starting from 2012, he was a vice president of the Communauté de communes du Pays de Fontainebleau in charge of sports. From 1995 to 1998, Mahut was the president of Racing Club de Fontainebleau, the first club that he played for in his senior football career. He also served as the honorary president of that club right until his death. Mahut oversaw the initial stages of the 2013-2016 stade de la Faisanderie (Racing Club de Fontainebleau's home stadium) renovation project. In that project, the demolition of the old spectator stands were completed in December 2013 and the renovation works were scheduled to finish three years later.

Personal life Mahut married Corinne, who was from Fontainebleau, in 1979. They had two sons, David and Mickey.

Death and funeral Mahut died in a Paris clinic in the early hours of 8 February 2014 after a long battle against cancer. He was survived by his wife, Corinne, their two sons (David and Mickey) and grandchildren.

Mahut's funeral took place at the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Louis in Fontainebleau at 1030am on 13 February 2014. The funeral was attended by 800 persons that comprised his family, friends, members of the Fontainebleau town council (including Frédéric Valletoux, the town's mayor) and dozens of his former football teammates such as Patrick Battiston, Maxime Bossis, Luis Fernandez, Yannick Stopyra and Luc Sonor. He was later buried at that town's cemetery.