Johan Micoud was an elegant French playmaker with a wonderful passing range and a taste for the spectacular. He shone in Ligue 1 with Bordeaux before excelling abroad, most notably as the creative fulcrum of Werder Bremen, whom he helped to a domestic double in Germany.
Comfortable dictating tempo from a deep-lying role, he earned caps for France and was admired as one of the more refined midfielders of his day.