A former France international, Pires earned 79 caps between 1996 and 2004 for his country, including winning both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000.

Pires confessed he had difficulty in school because he did not speak French well at the time, due to the fact his parents only spoke Spanish and Portuguese.

At the age of 15, Pires left school and began his dream of a career in football with a two-year sports degree course in Reims.

Pires had a mixed two-year stay in Provence; his first season saw Marseille miss the 1998–99 French Division 1 title by a point (he had been even closer the year before when Metz had finished runners-up on goal difference) and they also reached the 1999 UEFA Cup Final, losing to Parma.

However, he slowly began to regain the form he had shown at Metz, scoring a superb solo goal in October 2000, his first for Arsenal, against Lazio in the 2000–01 Champions League.

[22] However weeks later against the same opposition in the FA Cup Pires suffered a cruciate ligament injury (a game in which he had earlier scored).

[24] After a lengthy layoff, Pires made his comeback in November 2002 as a substitute against AJ Auxerre in the UEFA Champions League.

[29] He went on to be a crucial part of Arsenal's quest for the Premier League title in the 2003–04 season, which they achieved, remaining unbeaten and becoming the first English top flight club to do so in 115 years.

Pires made a sluggish start to the campaign, with just one goal to his name (against Everton) prior to October,[30] but a wonder-goal against Liverpool at Anfield kick-started his season.

[31] Pires showed football fans his sublime technique, skills and finishing, most notably with his goals against Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers, and Leeds United.

He surprised a lot of people with a world class tackle on Claude Makélélé and, following that, a run into the penalty box which dragged William Gallas and John Terry away, thus making space for Patrick Vieira to have a one-on-one with the Chelsea goalkeeper and subsequently scoring.

[citation needed] In the 2004–05 season, Pires finished third in the Premiership goalscorers' table with 14 goals, behind teammate Thierry Henry and Crystal Palace's Andrew Johnson.

[37] Pires also picked up a second FA Cup winners' medal; he scored in the semi-final against Blackburn Rovers[38] and then Arsenal beat Manchester United on penalties in the final.

As the season progressed, though, Pires' form improved, outscoring his selection rivals overall despite a bizarre penalty incident with Thierry Henry against Manchester City when Pires, having scored from the spot earlier in the game, tried passing it to Arsenal's star striker but Henry missed the ball and it went down as a penalty miss.

[citation needed] One of the main reasons Pires gave for leaving Arsenal was that he felt he was no longer a first choice under manager Arsène Wenger.

Pires additionally suggested that Wenger's decision to withdraw him in the UEFA Champions League Final showed he had slipped in the eyes of his French boss.

Pires said that he felt hurt by how Wenger did not trust him anymore, which was a major factor that convinced him that it was time to move on from Arsenal.

[citation needed] On the official Arsenal matchday program for the game against Wigan Athletic on 11 February 2007, Pires revealed his heartbreak of being substituted so early on during the Champions League final.

[citation needed] On 11 July 2008, Arsenal fans voted Pires as the club's sixth greatest player of all time.

He joined on a free transfer, subject to passing a medical, bringing to an end his six-year career as an Arsenal player.

However, on 18 August 2006, Pires damaged the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a friendly match against Cádiz and required corrective surgery to alleviate the problem, which kept him out of action for seven months in his new club in Spanish top flight.

[citation needed] On 13 May 2007, in a 4–1 win at Osasuna, Pires scored a seventh-minute opener as Villarreal continued their late-season push for a European spot.

Against Barcelona at El Madrigal, Pires' technique earned the Yellow Submarine two penalties which were duly converted by captain Marcos Senna.

[51] In 2009, Pires faced former club Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute in the first leg and playing the full 90 minutes at the Emirates Stadium.

Villarreal were defeated 4–1 on aggregate, but Pires received a warm return from the Arsenal supporters, who sang his name throughout both legs.

[63] In September 2011, Pires made a guest appearance for Scottish Premier League side Hibernian in Ian Murray's Testimonial match at Easter Road.

[64] In September 2013, Pires made a guest appearance for Premier League Aston Villa in Stiliyan Petrov's Testimonial match at Celtic Park.

However, a dispute in late 2004 with French national coach Raymond Domenech put a halt to Pires' international career.

[citation needed] Shortly after the split from Nathalie, Pires met French model Jessica Lemarie through mutual friends.

[77] On 17 January 2012, Pires became an ambassador for Grassroot Soccer, an international non-profit that uses the power of football to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV.