Pascal Cygan
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Pascal Cygan | ||
| Date of birth | 29 April 1974 | ||
| 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) |
| Total | 343 | (14) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Pascal Cygan (born 29 April 1974) is a French retired footballer. His favoured position was central defender, but he could also play as a left back.
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.
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 Ligue 1 debuts that year but also going on to also spend three seasons in Ligue 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 to the UEFA Champions League.
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 year in France.
Cygan joined Arsenal in the summer of 2002 for £2 million, making his debut in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea on 1 September after coming on as a substitute for Nwankwo Kanu. While he featured notably in some of the team's more important fixtures, he was mostly considered only a fringe player, but did pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 2003–04 after contributing with 18 appearances.
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