Mickaël Antoine-Curier

Mickaël Antoine-Curier (born 5 March 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker from 2001 until 2018.

Born in France, he represented Guadeloupe at international level.

Antoine-Curier played in seven countries for twenty two different sides.

In England with Preston North End, Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Kidderminster Harriers, Notts County, Grimsby Town and Burton Albion, In Norway for Vard Haugesund and FK Haugesund, in Scotland with Hibernian, Dundee, Hamilton Academical and Dunfermline Athletic, in Cyprus for Ermis Aradippou and Ethnikos Achnas, in Malaysia for Felda United, in Kazakhstan for FC Atyrau, in Belgium for Union SG and Eendracht Aalst and finally in his native France for FC Mulhouse.

Antoine-Curier was capped by the Guadeloupe national team competing in the Caribbean Cup and the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Antoine-Curier was born in Orsay, Essonne.

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

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.

Antoine-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, whom 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.

After an unsettled time in the UK, Curier joined Norwegian First Division side Vard Haugesund in 2004.

In his first season, he scored seven goals in 16 appearances, but the club was 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.

His time at Norway was a positive one, where he was nicknamed as Batigol and David Trezeguet.

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.

Curier signed a one-year contract with Hibernian, who paid FK Haugesund a nominal transfer fee, on 31 August 2007.

Antoine-Curier scored against Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup and Kilmarnock in the SPL.

Despite scoring four goals in nine appearances, Antoine-Curier fell out of favour after Hibs signed Colin Nish.

Curier was loaned by Hibs to Dundee in January 2008.

Curier scored six goals in his first four Dundee 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.

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 minutes.

On 15 October 2010, Antoine-Curier had his contract terminated by Dundee, a victim of the club entering administration.