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Mickaël Antoine-Curier (born 5 March 1983) is a French professional footballer who plays for Scottish Premier League side Hamilton Academical, on loan from Dundee in the Scottish First Division. Curier has had a nomadic career so far, having played for 14 different clubs in four different countries, despite having played professionally for just eight years.

[edit] Career

[edit] France

Antoine-Curier began his career as a youth in France with Paris Saint-Germain and OGC Nice.

[edit] England

Eager to play in the United Kingdom, he signed for Preston North End and then Nottingham Forest as a youth. He initially played academy football, finish top scorer for the Forest academy team with 22 goals in 19 games. He won the trophy for the academy player of the year and was selected as man of the match of the Charity Vase final by Brian Clough, but he never made it for the first team. During the 2002–03 season, the Forest manager Paul Hart loaned him out to Brentford, where he made 11 starts, scoring three goals. This included a brace in an important 2–0 victory at Chesterfield.

He came to prominence at the start of the 2003–04 season in the third tier of English football, having signed for Oldham Athletic. He grabbed his first cup goal in a 2–1 defeat at Scunthorpe United, then scored his first league goal for the "Latics" four days later in a 2–2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium. He grabbed another goal in a 3–2 home defeat to Blackpool the following week. He made a total of six starts and three substitute appearances for the Boundary Park club, scoring three goals, before being released.

Curier then joined Kidderminster Harriers, before joining Rochdale on a non-contract basis. He made five starts and five substitute appearances for Rochdale, scoring on his debut in a 1–1 draw at Lincoln City. He then left Rochdale to join Sheffield Wednesday, a club he had scored against earlier on in the season. He made just one substitute appearance for Wednesday, in a 0–0 draw against Luton Town at Hillsborough.

He then joined Notts County, where he made four starts, scoring in a 3–1 win over Grimsby Town, who he signed for shortly afterwards. He also made five appearances for Grimsby, but could not score. Both Grimsby and Notts County were relegated at the end of the season.

[edit] Norway

After an unsettled time in the UK, Curier joined Norwegian second-division side Vard Haugesund in 2004. In his first season he scored 7 goals in 16 appearances, but the club were relegated. He scored 27 goals in 21 games in the 2005 season, winning the Norwegian Golden boot and the Norwegian Second Division player of the year award. He then transferred to FK Haugesund, and scored eight goals in 24 appearances in the 2006 season and seven goals in 15 appearances in the 2007 season.

[edit] Scotland

Antoine-Curier was invited by manager John Collins to Scottish Premier League side Hibernian for a trial period in 2007. He starred in a friendly match against First Division side Livingston, scoring four goals in a 5–2 victory. FK Haugesund captain Kevin Nicol, a former Hibernian player, was full of praise for Antoine-Curier, expressing his belief that the French striker "would do really well" if he was signed by Hibs.^{[1][dead link]} Curier signed a one year contract with Hibernian, who paid FK Haugesund a nominal transfer fee, on 31 August 2007. ^[2]

Antoine-Curier scored against Motherwell in the CIS Cup and Kilmarnock in the SPL. Despite scoring four goals in nine appearances, Antoine-Curier fell down the pecking order of new manager Mixu Paatelainen at Hibs after they signed Colin Nish from Kilmarnock. Curier was then loaned to Dundee in January 2008 until the end of the season. Curier scored 6 goals in his first 4 appearances, including a hat-trick in a 6–1 win over Stirling Albion. On 7 May 2008, Curier signed a three year deal with Dundee after a successful loan.^[3]

Dundee loaned out Antoine-Curier at the end of the 2009 summer transfer window to SPL side Hamilton Academical. Antoine-Curier made his debut against Hibernian in the SPL and marked it with a goal after 12 mins.

[edit] International career

Curier was selected by Guadeloupe for the Caribbean Cup 2008, scoring 6 goals in 8 games. He also participated in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup for Guadeloupe, in which they reached the quarter finals.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mickaël Antoine-Curier career stats at Soccerbase
• International Statistics at CaribbeanFootballDatabase
• Norwegian & International Statistics of Football - Antoine-Curier factfile

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