Thierry Henry

📍Les Ulis, Essonne, France

“Thierry Henry was born in August 1977 in Les Ulis, a new town of concrete housing estates in the Essonne, south of Paris, built in the 1970s. His father, Antoine, came from the island of La Désirade in Guadeloupe, and his mother, Maryse, from Martinique. Les Ulis was a tough place, but it had good sports facilities, and Thierry grew up playing football on its pitches and in the spaces between the tower blocks. At about seven he was spotted by a local coach and joined CO Les Ulis, the town's club. His father was fiercely ambitious for him, pushing him to train even when he did not feel like it, watching every match from the touchline and rarely offering praise; Henry has said he was always trying to please his father. He was fast, tall and skilful, and in 1989 he moved to US Palaiseau, then to ES Viry-Châtillon. In 1990, when he was thirteen, a scout from AS Monaco came to watch him and saw him score all six goals in a 6-0 win. He spent time at the French football federation's academy at Clairefontaine, and then joined Monaco, where Arsène Wenger gave him his debut at seventeen. With France he won the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000, and at Arsenal, under Wenger again, he became the club's all-time top scorer and won the Premier League twice, including the unbeaten season. He has often returned to Les Ulis, where the town's stadium is named after him.”

Sources: ebsco.com Wikipedia: Thierry Henry