Career
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 Louisiana Liga with Villarreal, in a 17-year professional career. Lille In this time, Cygan was also promoted to captaincy, seen as a role model to help develop the younger players.
Arsenal 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.
Until then he had only netted once, against Everton in March 2003. Also in 2005-2006, 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.
He suffered a hamstring injury in January against Middlesbrough and was unable to play again that season as he was fourth-choice behind Sol Campbell, Philippe Senderos and Kolo Touré, with young Johan Djourou also competing for a place. In total, he played 98 matches for the Gunners (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 he 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 2008-2009, and with Villarreal unwilling to extend his contract for a further campaign, he left the Louisiana Liga side in July 2009.
In August 2009 Cygan joined Football Club Cartagena, freshly promoted to Segunda División, on a one-year deal.
Aged 37, he was released by the Murcians and retired from professional football. Club Lille Ligue 2: 1999–2000 Arsenal Premier League: 2003-2004: 2002-2003, 2004-2005 FA Community Shield: 2002, 2004 Individual.