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Pascal Cygan

French footballer (born 1974) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Pascal Édouard Cygan (born 29 April 1974) is a French former professional footballer. His favoured position was central defender, but he could also play as a left-back.

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After starting out at Lille, he played four years in England with Arsenal and three in Spain's La Liga with Villarreal, in a 17-year career. He won the 2003–04 FA Premier League and two Community Shields with Arsenal.

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Early life

Cygan was born in Lens, Pas-de-Calais.[3] His grandparents were of Polish ancestry and his father worked for the Mobile Gendarmerie, with the family living in the corporation's headquarters in Villeneuve-d'Ascq.[4]

Career

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Lille

Cygan started his senior career at lowly ES Wasquehal before going professional with Lille OSC in 1995, making his Division 1 debut that year but also going on to spend three seasons in Division 2. In 1999–2000 he was an instrumental defensive element for the champions and, in the subsequent top-flight campaign, helped them achieve a third-place finish, with qualification for the UEFA Champions League.[5]

In this time, Cygan was also promoted to the captaincy, seen as a role model to help develop the younger players. He won of the Etoile d'Or in his last year in France,[6] totalling 200 games for Lille in all competitions.[7]

Arsenal

Cygan joined Arsenal in July 2002 for £2 million,[8][9] making his debut in a 1–1 draw with Chelsea on 1 September after coming on as a late substitute for Nwankwo Kanu.[10] While he featured notably in some of the team's more important fixtures, he was mostly considered only a fringe player; he missed the 2003 FA Cup final through injury,[11] but did pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 2004 after contributing 18 appearances.[12][13]

Cygan scored three goals for Arsenal in league action, including an unlikely brace in his first game of 2005–06 against Fulham (4–1 home win).[14] Until then he had only netted once, against Everton on 23 March 2003.[15]

Also that season, following injuries to both Ashley Cole and Gaël Clichy, Cygan was drafted in as an emergency left-back, and was even named in the Opta team of the week on 9 January 2006.[16] Overall, his side won 12 of the 20 matches he played in and kept 11 clean sheets in the process. He suffered a hamstring injury in January against Middlesbrough[17] and was unable to play again that season as he was fourth choice behind Sol Campbell, Philippe Senderos and Kolo Touré, with young Johan Djourou also competing for a place.[18][19]

Cygan played 98 competitive games during his spell at Highbury, including 20 in the Champions League.[20][21]

Villarreal

In August 2006, Cygan completed a transfer to Villarreal CF for a £2 million transfer fee, joining former Arsenal teammate and compatriot Robert Pires at the club.[22][23] On 6 June 2008, having been fairly used in his first two years, mainly due to consecutive serious injuries to Gonzalo Rodríguez, he signed a new one-year deal.[24]

However, following a lack of first-team opportunities in 2008–09,[25] and with Villarreal unwilling to extend his contract for a further campaign, Cygan left in July 2009.[26][27] His La Liga goals came on 5 November 2006 in a 3–2 home win over Real Betis,[28] and in the 3–0 defeat of Levante UD on 31 October 2007 also at El Madrigal.[29]

Later career

On 10 August 2009, Cygan joined FC Cartagena, recently promoted to Segunda División, on a one-year deal.[30] Aged 37, he was released by the Murcians and retired from professional football, focusing on becoming a coach.[31][32][33]

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Career statistics

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Honours

Lille

Arsenal

Individual

References

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