His professional playing career spanned 15 seasons, from 1961 to 1975: between 1961 and 1969 he played for Sedan and lost the Cup in 1965, before moving to Nantes, Nancy and Lens. He won 6 caps for France between 1968 and 1971.
Manager career
Between 1975 and 1978, he was the coach of Red Star from Saint-Ouen, and then went back to RC Lens for a season as coach, before moving to Paris FC for two seasons. In the 1983–1984 season, he ran Espérance Sportive de Tunis in Tunisia. On his return to France, he again took up his post as Red Star manager. For 10 seasons, he coached the French national military team, with whom he won the World Championships. In 1997, he finished the season with Lens and saved it from relegation. He assisted Aimé Jacquet in the French team's 1998 World Cupvictory. This paved the way for him to take over as the national coach, winning Euro 2000 in Netherlands/Belgium and FIFA Confederations Cup next year. However, after the team suffered a stunning first-round exit in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he was sacked by the French Football Federation. Undeterred, the Tunisian Football Federation soon hired Lemerre to be the manager of their national side. There, he guided them to victory in the African Nations Cup in 2004 making him first coach in football history to win two different continental tournaments i.e. Euro 2000 and AFCON 2004, and led them to qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He was sacked in February 2008 following the team's exit from the 2008 African Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals. Lemerre was named the new head coach of Morocco national football team in May 2008 and took charge on 1 July. He was fired on 9 July 2009, for disappointing results. On 18 December 2009, he accepted a managing job at Ankaragücü on a 6-month deal that could be extended if both parties agreed. Former Turkish international Ümit Özat was appointed as his assistant coach. In May 2010, despite the fact that Lemerre had turned the team around and possibly saved them from relegation, the club decided not to extend Lemerre's contract and he was replaced by his assistant Ümit Özat for season 2009/2010. In December 2013, Lemerre agreed a six-month deal to take a coaching job at Tunisian team Étoile du Sahel. In January 2016 he became new manager of CS Sedan Ardennes.
