Pascal Cygan

Football player infobox
playername = Pascal Cygan


fullname = Pascal Cygan
height = height|m=1.93
nickname = 'Zinedine' Cygan
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|4|29
cityofbirth = Lens
countryofbirth = France
currentclub = Villarreal CF
clubnumber = 12
position = Defender
youthyears = 1994–1995
youthclubs = ES Wasquehal
years = 1995–2002
2002–2006
2006–
clubs = Lille OSC
Arsenal
Villarreal CF
caps(goals) = 111 (9)
063 (3) 042 (2)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = August 1, 2008
ntupdate = n/a

Pascal Cygan (born April 29, 1974 in Lens) is a French football player, currently playing for Villarreal CF. His favoured position is central defender although he has previously played at left-back with some success.

Biography

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, Cygan was promoted to Lille captaincy, 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 his last season in France.

Arsenal

He joined Arsenal F.C. in the summer of 2002 for €3m. Cygan made his 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. [ [http://arsenal-mania.com/news/1005812/Look-whos-made-it-into-Opta-Team-of-the-Week.html Arsenal-Mania.com - Look who's made it into Opta Team of the Week!] ] Overall, Arsenal won 12 of the 20 matches Cygan played in and kept 11 clean sheets in the process. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=21731&seasonid=135 Soccerbase season 2005/2006] ] He 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, Cygan played 98 games for Arsenal (including 20 Champions League appearances), scoring three goals. Cygan will be most notably be remembered by football fans after his own personal highlights on Match Of The Day, being described as a "fish out of water".

Villarreal

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 the Frenchman had completed a transfer to Villarreal for a £2m transfer fee. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/5304198.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Arsenal | Cygan secures Villarreal transfer ] ] He linked up with his former Arsenal team-mate Robert Pirès, who also moved between the two clubs in the summer.

On June 6, 2008, he signed a new one-year deal with Villareal.

Honours

*French 2nd Division Championship: 1999–2000
*Etoile d'Or winner: 2001–02
*FA Premier League: 2003–04
*FA Cup: 2003, 2005

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=21731|name=Pascal Cygan