French football mourns Eric Roy, the Brest coach who died aged 58 after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
BREST coach Eric Roy has died aged 58 after suffering from pancreatic cancer, his family announced on Wednesday.
Frenchman Roy, who was diagnosed in 2023, guided the Breton club to a 12th-placed finish in French Ligue 1 last season.
Roy was a midfielder who started and ended his playing 16-year career at Nice and had spells at Lyon, Marseille and Sunderland among other clubs.
Roy became director of football at Nice where he then also took over as coach. He was later director of football at Lens and English club Watford.
“For three-and-a-half years, Dad fought against pancreatic cancer,” Roy’s family said on his Instagram account.
“During that time, he continued to live with a strength that still impresses us.
“To go through what he did at the same time as he led a club, through such a powerful story, says a lot about the man he was.
“He will remain, for us, his family, his friends and everyone who loved him a deep source of inspiration,” they added.
Roy joined modest Brest in January 2023 with the aim of keeping them in the top-flight.
He led them to a third place finish in Ligue 1 that year and a historic place in the Champions League.
“His adventure with Brest was one of the most beautiful moments of his life,” his family said.
“It gave him energy, a reason to continue, including in the most difficult moments,” they added.
French football league president Vincent Labrune paid his respects shortly after the announcement.
“It’s with immense sadness that I learn of Eric Roy’s death,” Labrune told AFP.
“French football has today lost one of it most respected, most liked, and most authentic characters,” he added.
Roy was well-known to a wider French public after working as a television pundit.
“We’re going to miss you so much!” ex-Liverpool striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle, now a football analyst on French TV, said on on Instagram.
“I’d just sent you a message a few hours ago and this post is unimaginably violent.
“I’m thinking of you all,” he added.
