Pascal Cygan

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Pascal Cygan
Personal information
Full name Pascal Cygan
Date of birth April 29, 1974 (age 32)
Place of birth    Lens, France
Height 6'4" / 1.93m
Nickname 'Zinedine' Cygan
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Villarreal
Number 12
Youth clubs
1994-1995 ES Wasquehal
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1995-2002
2002-2006
2006-		 Lille OSC
Arsenal
Villarreal		 111 (9)
63 (3)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 2006-07-12.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of n/a.
* Appearances (Goals)

Pascal Cygan (born April 29, 1974 in Lens) is a French football player, currently playing for Villarreal. His favoured position is central defender.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Lille

Cygan played for ES Wasquehal as a youth player but made his French League debut for Lille OSC in 1995. With Lille he spent two seasons in Ligue 1 before relegation (1997), and three seasons in Ligue 2 before promotion (2000). Lille qualified for the UEFA Champions League by finishing third in 2000-01 and were fifth in 2002. In this time Pascal was promoted to Captain of Lille FC as he was seen as an influential member of the squad and could help the younger players around him. He was also winner of the 2001-02 Etoile d'Or in France before joining Arsenal.

[edit] Arsenal

He joined Arsenal in the summer of 2002 for €3m (at the time worth £2.1m). Cygan made his Arsenal debut in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea as a substitute for Nwankwo Kanu on September 1, 2002. While Cygan featured notably in some of Arsenal's more important fixtures, he was not usually a first choice player. He did however pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 2003-04.

Cygan scored three goals for Arsenal in Premiership action, including an unlikely brace in his first match of the 2005-06 campaign against Fulham. Until that match, he had only scored one previous goal for the team, against Everton in March 2003.

In the 2005-06 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 January 9, 2006.[1] Overall, Arsenal won 11 of the 20 matches Cygan played in and kept 12 clean sheets in the process.[citation needed] Cygan suffered a hamstring injury in January and was unable to play again that season.By the end of the season he was Arsenal's fourth choice central defender behind Sol Campbell, Kolo Touré and Philippe Senderos, with the young Johan Djourou also competing for a place. In total he played 98 games for Arsenal (including 20 Champions League appearances), scoring three goals.

In his time at Arsenal, Cygan was known for making comical mistakes and became affectionately known, by Arsenal fans especially, as "Zinedine Cygan". He was often the brunt of jokes even on serious football coverage and in phone-in shows for his poor performances.

[edit] Villareal

During the summer of 2006, Cygan was linked with moves to various other clubs in England and Europe. On August 31, 2006 it was announced that Pascal Cygan had completed a transfer to Villarreal for a £2m transfer fee.[2] He links up with his former Arsenal team-mate Robert Pirès, who also moved between the two clubs in the summer.

[edit] Honours

  • French 2nd Division Championship 1999-00
  • Etoile d'Or winner: 2001-02
  • FA Premier League Winner: 2003-04
  • FA Cup: 2003, 2005

[edit] References

  1. ^ Arsenal-Mania.com - Look who's made it into Opta Team of the Week!
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/5304198.stm

[edit] External links


Villarreal CF - Current Squad

1 Viera | 2 Gonzalo | 3 Arruabarrena | 4 José Enrique | 5 Forlán | 6 Josico | 7 Pirès | 8 Riquelme | 9 Franco | 10 Cani | 11 Tomasson | 12 Cygan | 14 Tacchinardi | 15 Nihat | 16 Quique Álvarez | 17 Javi Venta | 18 Somoza | 19 Senna | 20 Fuentes | 21 Mati | 22 Peña | 23 José Mari | 24 Josemi | 25 Barbosa | 27 Marcos | 28 Bruno | 33 Jonathan | Manager: Pellegrini
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