Jean-Francois Gillet

Club

_Retired Soccer

Position

Goalkeeper

Nationality

Belgium

Date of birth

1979-05-31

Birthplace

Liège, Belgium

Height

1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)

Weight

77.1

Jean-François Gillet (born 31 May 1979) is a Belgian professional football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He works as a goalkeeping coach at Standard Liège. At international level, he was a member of the Belgian squad that took part at UEFA Euro 2016.
Club career
Standard Liège and Monza
He began his professional career in the youth system of Standard Liège and was called up to the first team at the age of just 17. In 1996, he made his debut in Belgian First Division and the following season he took to the field on another two occasions.

In the summer of 1999, at the age of twenty, he moved outright to Monza, then in Serie B. As a starter, he disputed 33 games.

Bari and Treviso
After playing four games in August with Monza, in the final days of the transfer market he accepted a move to Bari in Serie A, who paid 5 million lire.

His first season in the top flight, despite 20 appearances and some stand-out performances in goal, was marred by a prosecution for doping. After the match Bari-Reggina on 21 January, in fact, he became the first player in Italy to be indicted for testing positive for Nandrolone and was forced by the sports court to serve a four-month disqualification.

Over the next ten years he played 317 games for Bari in Serie A and Serie B, with the exception of a short loan with Treviso in 2003–04, due to some disagreements with the then coach Marco Tardelli.

On 13 March 2008 he renewed his contract with the Galletti until 2011.

In 2007 Antonio Conte arrived at Bari, and Gillet adapted his role in the team and was employed as a sweeper keeper. The team triumphed in Serie B, returning to the top flight after a seven-year absence.

In 2009–10, his performances were confirmed again at the highest level, only conceding seven goals in the first 12 rounds; with the defensive pairing of Andrea Ranocchia and Leonardo Bonucci, they were among the teams in Europe with the least goals conceded.

On 18 March 2010 he renewed with Bari until 2014, and on 12 September 2010 against Napoli, he officially became Bari's most-capped player after reaching 319 appearances for the jersey of the pugliesi, overcoming Bari legend Giovanni Loseto. For this reason, the mayor of Bari gave the Belgian goalkeeper the keys of the city as a sign of attachment to the club and the city. Gillet remained a formidable goalkeeper: saving two penalties from Francesco Totti, during the two matches between Bari and Roma, and one from Rober