Thierry Henry - Former French Footballer, Timeline and Childhood

Thierry Henry was born on August 17, 1977 in a small suburban town of Paris called Les Ulis to Antoine and Marylese Henry. Right before his birth, his parents left the French Antilles to make a better life for themselves. They moved to a ghetto like neighborhood.

Henry’s family lived in a small apartment and the living conditions were not very supportive but Antoine encouraged Henry to play sports and invest his energy into athletics. He used to take Henry to local soccer matches.

It was soon quite evident that Henry was a way better soccer player than the other children of his age. He started playing for the junior team of Les Ulis and Palaiseau. At the age of 13, Henry started playing for the Viry-Chatillon’s Under-15 team.

Around the same time, his parents separated and his mother took him to Orsay to get him admitted into the Alexander Fleming School. Even there, Henry’s focus was on soccer. At 14, he was elected into the French Football Federation’s Clairefontaine Academy.

At the academy, Henry signed an apprentice contract with the manager of the Monaco team, Arsene Wenger. He made his first professional appearance in football in 1994 in a 2-0 loss against Nice. He was put on the left wing by Wenger.

In 1996, Henry became France’s Young Player of the year under the guidance and training of Asene Wenger. He led France’s Under-18 team to the European Championship and scored 7 goals in the competition.

As a result of his splendid performances at other tournaments, he became a part of the French FIFA World Cup 1998 team. He continued to play for Monaco and impressed everyone with his brilliant performance. He scored 20 goals in 105 matches.

In 1999, Henry left Monaco and became a part of the Italian Series A club Juventus. He was paid a sum of 10.5 million pounds to join the team. In the same year, he scored his first goal for the team, two in 3-1 defeat of league leaders Lazio.

After some time, he was transferred to Arsenal for a sum of 11 million pounds and there he was untied with his old mentor Arsene Wenger. Wenger made him into a striker and he went off the mark in 1-0 win over Southampton.

In 2000, Henry’s second season with Arsenal was successful as he became the team’s ace goal-scorer. The team reached the finals of the FA Cup but lost 2-1 to Liverpool. Henry was pumped up to make his club a powerhouse.

In 2002, Henry became the top goal-scorer of the league and scored a total of 32 goals in all of the matches. He helped Arsenal to a double and received his first silverware with the club. He played against Uruguay in the World cup finals.

In 2003, he scored 32 goals in the season which led his club to another FA Cup victory and he was declared the man-of-the-match in the finals. He was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.

In 2004, he was the top scorer in the Premier League and scored 30 goals which helped Arsenal win the title without losing even a single match - this kind of victory was last achieved 115 years ago.

Around the same time, he was again voted as the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year and it was for the first time in 50 years that a player was named FWA Footballer of the year for two consecutive years.

In 2005, Henry helped his club Arsenal win FA Cup but he suffered from a knee injury which kept him out of the final match against Manchester United. He became the top-scorer in the history of Arsenal.

The 2005–06 season was a landmark one for Henry. On 17 October 2005, he became the club's top goal-scorer of all time as he broke Ian Wright's record of 185 goals

In 2006, he scored his 200th goal for his club Arsenal in a winning match over Birmingham. He was voted the Footballer of the Year for the 3rd time, which made him the first to receive the award 3 times in 59 years.

He also captained his club Arsenal in their first Champions League final. In that match, Arsenal was beaten by Barcelona by 2-1. He signed another 4 year contract and stayed with Arsenal, turning down 2 high paying bids from Spanish clubs.

In 2007, Henry joined Barcelona for 24 million pounds. He scored his first goal for his new club in a 3-0 Champions League win over Olympique Lyonnais. He could not score as well as he used to do in Arsenal.

In 2009, Barcelona won the Primera Division and Champions’ League and Henry helped his new team to win a sextuple, consisting of the Supercopa de Espana, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

In 2010, he signed a contract, for multiple years, with Major League Soccer club New York Bulls for the season as its second designated player. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 victory against San Jose Earthquakes.

From 2011-2012, Henry went back to Arsenal for a 2 month loan deal; he covered for Gervinho and Chamakh when they were participating that year in the Africa Cup of Nations. He played against the Leeds United in the FA cup.

In 2012, he went back to the Red Bulls and gave his first hat-trick for the club in a 5-2 against Montreal Impact. He was titled as the MLS Player of the Month. He was the highest paid player of the MLS.

It was announced on 1 December 2014 that Henry had left New York Red Bulls and on 16 December 2014, Henry announced his retirement as a football player and he also said that he would begin working for Sky Sports.

He was a member of the FIFA World Cup 1998 winning French team and also part of the UEFA European Football Championship 2000 winning team. He also helped his team win the FIFA Confederations Cup and King Hassan II International Cup Tournament in 2000.

He has won FWA Footballer of the Year three times and French player of the Year for four times. He also received European Golden Boot Winner twice and won the MLS Player of the Month and Best MLS Player ESPY Award.

In 2003, Henry married Nicole Mary, also known as Claire, who is an English model and they had a child together, named Tea, two years after their wedding. But within 5 years of their marriage, the couple divorced in December 2008.

Henry is a member of UNICEF-FIFA Squad.

He has a home in Hampstead, North London.

Henry paid his wife 10 million dollars as divorce settlement.

He is now romantically involved with a Bosnian model Andrea Rajacic.

He is known to be the 9th most commercially marketable footballer in the world and is the 8th richest Premier league Player.

He once featured in the Renault Clio ad with his ex-wife Claire Merry.

Henry endorsed brands like Nike, Reebok, Puma, Gillette and Pepsi.