Philippe Mahut (; 4 March 1956 – 8 February 2014) was a French professional footballer who played as a defender. From 1974 to 1993, Mahut played for seven football clubs – all of them in his native France – and scored 30 goals in 654 competitive club matches. He earned nine international caps for the France national team during the early 1980s. Mahut was described as a "sturdy defender" with "a heading ability above average". Early life Philippe Mahut was born in the hamlet of Rosières, which is a part of the commune of Lunery, in the department of Cher. His family had Polish ancestry. He grew up in that hamlet, raised by his grandmother. Philippe's father was an amateur football player and was very good at it, hence Philippe's talent for playing football. Philippe Mahut started his youth football career at AS Montferrandaise when he was nine years old. He subsequently settled in Fontainebleau, where he was raised by his uncle and aunt. Philippe Mahut did his compulsory military service in the south of Seine-et-Marne department. Club career Entente BFN Mahut, who had settled in Fontainebleau during his childhood, joined the youth team of that town's local club, Entente BFN. It was in Division 2 from 1970 to 1978. While he was a player of the club, he prepared for but failed his baccalauréat. Thanks to Mahut's fine performances in the youth team, he was included in the senior team at the dawn of the 1974–1975 season by Ladislas Nagy, the head coach of the senior team. In each of Mahut's two seasons (he played 21 and 24 league matches in the 1974–1975 and 1975–1976 seasons respectively) with the club as a senior player, it finished the league season (Group A of Division 2) just one point above the highest-ranked of the bottom three clubs that were to be relegated. Thanks to his good footballing qualities and his fine performances in the Division 2 matches, he rapidly attracted the attention of player scouts. He received several offers to join Division 1 clubs such as Troyes and Paris Saint-Germain. André Watrin, who was then sporting director of Troyes and was also working as a player scout for Troyes, convinced Mahut to join the club. Mahut would explain later that he preferred to play for a modest club like Troyes because he did not have enough self-confidence to stand out at