Pascal Cygan

Pascal Cygan

Personal information
Full name	Pascal Cygan
Date of birth	29 April 1974 (1974-04-29)
Place of birth	Lens, France
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
	Wasquehal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–1995	Wasquehal
1995–2002	Lille	179	(9)
2002–2006	Arsenal	63	(3)
2006–2009	Villarreal	46	(2)
2009–2011	Cartagena	57	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 June 2011. † Appearances (Goals).

Pascal Cygan (born 29 April 1974) is a retired French footballer. His favoured position was central defender, but he could also play at left back when needed.

After starting out at Lille in his country, Cygan would play four years in the Premier League with Arsenal and three in La Liga with Villarreal, in a 17-year professional career.

Football career

Lille

Born in Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Cygan started his senior career in the ranks of lowly ES Wasquehal, before going professional with Lille OSC in 1995, making his top division debuts that year, but would go on to also spend three seasons in the second level: 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 UEFA Champions League qualification.

In this time, Cygan was also promoted to captaincy, seen as a role model to help develop the younger players. He was also winner of the Etoile d'Or, in his last season in France.

Arsenal

Cygan joined Arsenal in the summer of 2002 for £2 million, making his debut in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea, as a substitute for Nwankwo Kanu, on 1 September 2002. While he featured notably in some of Arsenal's more important fixtures, he was mostly considered only a fringe player, but did, however, pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 2003–04, with 18 appearances.

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

Also in 2005–06, 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. Overall, Arsenal won 12 of the 20 matches Cygan played in, and kept 11 clean sheets in the process. He suffered a hamstring injury in January and was unable to play again that season, as he was then fourth-choice, behind Sol Campbell, Kolo Touré and Philippe Senderos, with the young Johan Djourou also competing for a place. In total, Cygan played 98 games for Arsenal (including 20 Champions League appearances).

Spain

During the summer of 2006, Cygan was linked with moves to various other clubs in England and Europe. In August 2006, the Frenchman completed a transfer to Villarreal CF for a £2 million transfer fee, joining former Arsenal teammate and countryman Robert Pirès at the club.

On 6 June 2008, after having been fairly used in his first two years, mainly due to consecutive serious injuries to Gonzalo Rodríguez, Cygan signed a new one-year deal. However, following a lack of first team opportunities in the 2008–09 season, and with Villarreal unwilling to extend his contract for a further season, Cygan left the La Liga club in July 2009.

In August 2009, Cygan joined FC Cartagena, freshly promoted to the second level, on a one-year contract. Aged 37, he was released by the Region of Murcia club and retired from professional football.

Honours

Team

• French Second Division: 1999–2000
• Premier League: 2003–04
• FA Cup: 2002–03, 2004–05
• FA Community Shield: 2002, 2004

Individual

• Etoile d'Or: 2001–02

External links

• L'Équipe stats (French)
• Pascal Cygan career stats at Soccerbase
• BDFutbol profile