Pascal Cygan

Pascal Cygan (born April 29, 1974 in Lens, Pas-de-Calais) is a France football (soccer) player, currently playing for Villarreal CF. His favoured position is Football (soccer) positions Centre back.

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 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.

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 F.C. 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 FA Premier League winners' medal in 2003-04 in English football.

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

In the 2005-06 in English football 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. Overall, Arsenal won 11 of the 20 matches Cygan played in and kept 12 clean sheets in the process. 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.

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 CF for a £2m transfer fee. He links up with his former Arsenal team-mate Robert Pirès, who also moved between the two clubs in the summer.

Honours

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