Early career Dacourt was born in
Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. He made his debut in
Division 1 with
Strasbourg on 20 March 1993 in an away game with
Auxerre, which Strasbourg lost 2–0. On 24 May 1997, he scored his first Ligue 1 goal for Strasbourg in an away match against
Paris Saint-Germain, however, Strasbourg lost the match 2–1. Dacourt transferred to
Everton in 1998 and his debut game in the
Premier League was a 0–0 draw against
Aston Villa on 15 August 1998. On 23 September 1998, he scored his first goal in a
League Cup tie against
Huddersfield Town. Dacourt became a fan favourite with the Everton supporters, but was booed at the club's final home game of the season in May 1999 against West Ham after comments in a French article that he was unhappy at the club and looking to leave in the summer. Dacourt returned to France after one season at Everton to play for
Lens, where he impressed and earned a multimillion-pound move back to the Premier League, joining the Yorkshire club
Leeds United.
Leeds United Dacourt joined
Leeds United from Lens in a £7.2 million move in 2000, and broke Leeds' transfer record at the time. He proved to be an instant hero at Elland Road with his tenacious style and ball winning play. His time at Leeds saw them reach the Champions League semi finals and also finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League. He was a regular in centre midfield under manager
David O'Leary, mainly partnering
David Batty in Leeds' midfield. His form at Leeds also saw Dacourt become a regular for the French national side. But after the sacking of O'Leary, his replacement
Terry Venables dropped Dacourt from the Leeds team and favoured players like
Paul Okon ahead of him. Venables had a public falling out with Dacourt, in which Venables claimed he 'would personally drive Dacourt' away from the club. With Leeds' financial problems Dacourt was loaned out to
Roma, and during his time out on loan Venables was sacked and replaced by
Peter Reid with many believing Dacourt would return, but during the summer his loan move to Roma was made permanent. Dacourt proclaimed that he would like to return to Leeds one day in the future after playing in his former teammate
Lucas Radebe's testimonial.
Roma and Inter Milan Dacourt joined
Roma on loan, with an option to purchase for £4 million. He signed a contract worth €1.85 million in gross. On 10 July 2003, Roma agreed to sign Dacourt outright for a new price: €5 million. Dacourt signed a 3-year contract, worth €4 million in gross each season. After being on the losing side in the
Coppa Italia final against
Inter Milan in 2005–06, Dacourt joined the club from Roma on a two-year contract in accordance with the
Bosman ruling. Originally signed as a backup player for Inter Milan, he became a key player of the league victory, in light of all the injuries to
Patrick Vieira. On 2 December 2007, against
Fiorentina, he damaged his left knee, with a torn cruciate ligament and damage to two other ligaments in it. He was expected to be out for the rest of the 2007–08 season. In the 2008–09 season after recovering from injury, Dacourt did not feature as regularly and was not in Inter manager
José Mourinho's plans.
Fulham and Standard Liège On 2 February 2009, Dacourt joined English side
Fulham on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season after being signed by
Roy Hodgson. However, he had to settle for being confined to mainly substitute appearances due to the impressive form of Fulham's midfield and also Dacourt picking up some injury niggles, Dacourt's move to Fulham was not made permanent come the summer, Dacourt briefly returned to Inter where his contract then expired and he became a free agent. Dacourt signed a one-year contract with
Standard Liège on 23 September 2009. He was brought in to replace
Steven Defour who had an injury on his foot and should be inactive for three months, Defour was the central midfield partner to
Axel Witsel. On 8 February 2010, Standard Liège declared the end of his contract. ==International career==