Ludovic Obraniak

Ludovic Obraniak

Personal information
Full name	Ludovic Joseph Obraniak
Date of birth	November 10, 1984 (1984-11-10) (age 27)
Place of birth	Longeville-lès-Metz, France
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Lille
Number	11
Youth career
2000–2002	Metz
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2002–2007	Metz	99	(5)
2007–	Lille	149	(17)
National team‡
2004	France U-21	1	(0)
2009–	Poland	19	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 November 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 November 2010

Ludovic Joseph Obraniak (born 10 November 1984 in Longeville-lès-Metz) is a Polish-French footballer currently playing for Ligue 1 side Lille OSC and the Polish national football team. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder.

Football career

FC Metz

Obraniak began his football career with his local club FC Metz. Due to his consistent play in the reserves, he was quickly promoted to the senior side by then-manager Jean Fernandez making his debut during the 2003–04 season in a 0–2 loss to Bordeaux coming on as a late-match substitute wearing the number 13 shirt.^[1] Over the next two years, Metz showed their inconsistent play finishing 16th in 2004–05 and finishing dead bottom of the table in 2005–06, thus being relegated. Obraniak was the primary bright spot in the squad appearing in 61 matches and scoring 3 goals over those years.

With Metz in Ligue 2, several Ligue 1 clubs drew their interest over to Orabniak. Despite this, he still played half the season in Ligue 2 with Metz appearing in 20 matches and scoring 2 goals. The following winter would see his departure. After weeks of silent negotiating, Metz finally came to an agreement on January 23, 2007 with the Nord-Pas de Calais-based side Lille OSC. Metz received €1.2m, as well as the Swiss striker Daniel Gygax.^[2]

Lille OSC

Obraniak agreed to a 4-year contract keeping him with the club until 2010. He made his debut with Lille four days later coming on substitute in a match against Bordeaux. He played in every remaining match that season, making on and off starts and substitute appearances. With Lille playing in the UEFA Champions League that season, he appeared in both legs of their knockout stage match against Manchester United. The following season, Obraniak had a solid season appearing in 35 matches and scoring 2 goals, though Lille finished out of Europe in the league standings. For the 2008–09 season, he got off to a fast start scoring 7 goals in only 16 appearances contributing to Lille's 5th place position heading into the winter break, but he has since cooled off scoring just twice in his last 8 league matches.

International career

Obraniak made an appearance for the France under-21 squad, however, since it was not a match for points FIFA did not consider him permanently capped. This was later confirmed by FIFA's decision to remove the age limit on nationality switches of players who had only been capped at youth level.^[3]

Due to having Polish roots through his grandfather, Zygmunt Obraniak who was from Pobiedziska in Poznań County,^[4] the player became the subject of interest from the Poland national football team and applied for citizenship of the country.^[5] Since his grandfather had never renounced Polish citizenship, according to Polish laws Obraniak's citizenship did not need to be granted by the Polish government but simply verified by the Masovian voivode. Obraniak was confirmed as a Polish citizen on June 5, 2009.^[6]

On 23 July 2009, he was officially called up to the Poland team by coach Leo Beenhakker for the squad's friendly against Greece,^[7] where Obraniak scored the only two goals in the match making the final score a 2–0 victory for Poland.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	12 August 2009	Bydgoszcz, Poland	Greece	1-0	2-0	Friendly match
2.	12 August 2009	Bydgoszcz, Poland	Greece	2-0	2-0	Friendly match
3.	12 October 2010	Montreal, Canada	Ecuador	2-1	2-2	Friendly match
4.	17 November 2010	Poznań, Poland	Côte d'Ivoire	2-1	3-1	Friendly match

Honours

Club

OSC Lille

• Ligue 1: 2011
• Coupe de France: 2011

Personal life

Obraniak's daughter was born on June 1, 2011.^[8]

References

1. ^ Bordeaux v. Metz Match Report
2. ^ Lille land Metz man
3. ^ "FIFA nie przeszkodzi już Obraniakowi w grze dla Polski" (in Polish). eurosport.pl. 2009-06-04. http://www.eurosport.pl/pilka-nozna/fifa-nie-przeszkodzi_sto1964431/story.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-05. 
4. ^ Nawrot, Radosław (August 10, 2009). "Tu mieszkał dziadek Ludovica Obraniaka" (in Polish). sport.pl. http://www.sport.pl/celebrities/1,101205,6911748,Tu_mieszkal_dziadek_Ludovica_Obraniaka.html. Retrieved February 22, 2011. 
5. ^ http://www.sport.pl/pilka/1,73556,6313986,Ludovic_Obraniak_wystapil_o_nadanie_polskiego_obywatelstwa.html
6. ^ "Ludovic Obraniak obywatelem Polski" (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. 2009-06-05. http://wyborcza.pl/1,91446,6692156,Ludovic_Obraniak_obywatelem_Polski.html. Retrieved 2009-06-05. 
7. ^ Beenhakker announces squad for Greece friendly
8. ^ "New father Obraniak will make France game". AFP. FIFA. 3 June 2011. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1446449.html. Retrieved 3 June 2011. 

External links

• Lille OSC Profile
• LFP Profile
• L'Equipe Profile
• National team stats on the website of the Polish Football Association (Polish)

Persondata
Name	Obraniak, Ludovic
Alternative names
Short description	Polish-French footballer
Date of birth	10 November 1984
Place of birth	Longeville-lès-Metz, France
Date of death
Place of death