Pierre Cangioni

Cangioni was born in Paris in 1939. His parents were from Corsica, and he grew up in Bocognano, Corsica.[1][2] He remembers Bocognano being protected by the Italian Army during the Second World War.[1] He attended Bocognano school.[1] His family later moved to Ajaccio.[1]

TF1 presenters including Cangioni at the 1977 French Open

Cangioni started working on the television coverage of French sport in 1972, commentating on football and boxing.[1] He worked as a commentator on the French television coverage of the 1976 European Cup Final between Bayern Munich and Saint-Étienne at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.[3] In 1977, Cangioni had the idea for a French football television programme. He pitched the idea to bosses of TF1, who agreed to pay 700,000 F to acquire the rights for the coverage from Division 1.[4] Cangioni presented the first episode of Téléfoot,[5][6][7] France's first dedicated football television programme.[8] He presented the programme for five years.[9] Cangioni commentated with Jean Raynal at the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina.[10] In 1986, Cangioni also commentated on Formula One and the Paris–Dakar Rally.[1]

Fellow Téléfoot presenter Christian Jeanpierre said that Cangioni had a distinctive Corsican accent.[6] French footballer Zinedine Zidane said that Cangioni was one of "the three voices of French football commentary, along with Thierry Roland and Thierry Gilardi."[11]

In December 1994, Cangioni became the president of Olympique de Marseille, replacing Bernard Tapie, who had been forced to resign due to the French football bribery scandal.[5][12] Cangioni took ownership of 33% of the club, with the rest still belonging to Tapie.[5] He left the role in May 1995,[13] saying that the role was not well suited to him.[14] In 2009, Cangioni was critical of the appointment of Jean-Claude Dassier as Marseille president.[13]