Étienne René Capoue (born 11 July 1988) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

. He is a French youth international, having earned caps at under-18, under-19, and under-21 level, serving as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for a portion of his stint with the latter team.

Club career

Early career

Capoue was born in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the u ...

in Deux-Sèvres, and began his career playing for hometown club

Chamois Niortais Chamois Niortais Football Club (often referred to as ''Les Chamois'', Chamois Niortais, or simply Niort) is a French association football club based in the commune of Niort, in the Deux-Sèvres department of western France. It was founded in 1 ...

. In 2002, he departed the club and joined FC Chauray, a local club in

Poitou-Charentes Poitou-Charentes (; oc, Peitau-Charantas; Poitevin-Saintongese: ) is a former administrative region on the southwest coast of France. It is part of the new region Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprises four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, D ...

. Capoue stayed at the club for two years before joining

Angers SCO Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest, commonly referred to as Angers SCO or simply Angers (), is a French professional football club based in Angers in Pays de la Loire in western France. The club was founded in 1919 and plays in Ligue 1, the fir ...

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

. While playing in a youth league match against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, Capoue drew the attention of the club's scouts who offered the player a one-week trial. Prior to agreeing to the internship, he was also approached by

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

, and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. Capoue chose Toulouse because of the club's training facilities and the good weather.

Toulouse

Capoue began his club career with Toulouse in 2006 playing on the club's under-18 team. During the early portion of the 2007–08 season, he played on the club's

Championnat de France Amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

team in the fourth division making eight appearances. Midway through the season, Capoue was called up to the senior team by manager

Alain Casanova Alain Casanova (born 18 September 1961) is a French former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He most recently was manager of Swiss side FC Lausanne-Sport. Career Born in Clermont-Ferrand, Casanova played for Cournon, INF Vichy, Le Havre ...

. On 8 December 2007, he made his professional debut appearing as a substitute in a 1–0 victory over Lille. The following week, Capoue made his first professional start against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

at the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

. Toulouse won the match 2–1 with Capoue playing 71 minutes. On 7 February 2008, Capoue, along with teammate

Cheikh M'Bengue Cheikh Sidy Bouya M'Bengue (born 23 July 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a left-back. He has played professional club football for Toulouse and Rennes. Born in France, he represented them at youth level before playing for the Sen ...

, signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal until 2011. For the 2008–09 season, Casanova paired the young defensive midfielder with former youth teammate

Moussa Sissoko Moussa Sissoko (born 16 August 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as midfielder for club Nantes and the France national team. He plays as a box-to-box midfielder in the centre of the pitch, and is capable of playing in eith ...

and new signing

Étienne Didot Étienne Didot (born 24 July 1983) is a French former professional footballer who primarily played as a centre midfielder. Didot made over 400 appearances in Ligue 1 playing for Stade Rennais F.C., Toulouse FC, and En Avant de Guingamp. Club ...

, who arrived from

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. The trio performed well in the midfield with Capoue flourishing making 36 total appearances. On 18 October 2008, Capoue scored his first professional goal against Bordeaux in a 2–1 defeat. During the season, he also received 14

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

s in all competitions, second to only

Siaka Tiéné Siaka Tiéné (born 22 February 1982) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who primarily played as a left-back. Having begun at ASEC Mimosas in his native Ivory Coast and Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa, he went on to spend most of his ...

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

in the league. For his efforts, he was nominated for the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award and awarded a contract extension until 2013 by his club. During the 2009–10 season, Capoue appeared regularly in the first team and drew interest from Italian club

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

clubs

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. On 26 November 2009, Toulouse responded to the interest by reaching an agreement with Capoue on a one-year contract extension until 2014. Capoue appeared in 41 total matches for the season collecting 17 total yellow cards, 13 of which came in Ligue 1, leading all players. In July 2013, Toulouse accepted a reported £9.5 million bid from

side

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. However, personal terms were not agreed and the deal was not finalised. On 15 August 2013, he completed an €11m (£9.3m) transfer to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Tottenham Hotspur

Étienne Capoue vs Arsenal - 1 September 2013

On 15 August 2013, Tottenham Hotspur officially announced the signing of Capoue. The day before the announcement of Capoue, Tottenham and France's first choice goalkeeper,

Hugo Lloris Hugo Hadrien Dominique Lloris (born 26 December 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Tottenham Hotspur and the France national team. He is a three-time winner of the National Union of Professional Footbal ...

told French paper L'Equipe that joining Tottenham is a big step in Capoue's career. He stated his delight to see the fellow countrymen join Tottenham. Capoue made his debut for Spurs on 18 August 2013, replacing Mousa Dembélé in a 1–0 win away to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

Watford

On 6 July 2015, Capoue joined newly promoted

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

for a club-record transfer fee, reported to be around £6.3 million, on a four-year contract. Etienne Capoue

He began his second season at Watford with four goals in his first six games, including the opening goal against Manchester United in a 3–1 win at Vicarage Road and another in a 4–2 comeback win against West Ham United. In May 2019, Capoue was named as Watford's Player of the Year for the 2018–19 season.

Villarreal

On 30 December 2020, it was announced that Capoue had signed a two-and-a-half year contract with Spanish club

for an undisclosed fee, starting on 4 January 2021. Capoue was named the man of the match in Villarreal's victory over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the

2021 UEFA Europa League Final The 2021 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA ...

on 26 May 2021. The win delivered Villarreal its first major trophy in club history.

International career

Capoue was eligible to play for

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

, due to his father being from there. Capoue has been active with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on the youth level. He has received caps with the under-18 and under-19 teams. Capoue made his youth international debut with the under-18 team on 14 March 2006 in a 2–1 victory over

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He finished the under-18 campaign with four appearances. He made his debut with the under-19 team at the 2006 edition of the Sendaï Cup in Japan in the opening match against the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

national team. In the team's next group stage match against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Capoue scored his first youth international goal in a 3–1 victory. On 23 January 2007, he scored his second under-17 goal in a 2–0 win against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. During

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA U-19 Championship 2007 Final Tournament was held in Austria with matches played from 16–27 July 2007. Players born after 1 January 1988 were eligible to participate in this competition. The draw was made on 13 June 2007. The venues were ...

, Capoue scored his only goal in a 3–1 positive result against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in the Elite Round. At the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, Capoue missed the first two group stage matches, but appeared in the team final one against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and the team's semi-final defeat on penalties to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. On 15 August 2012, Capoue made his debut for the French senior team in a friendly match against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. On 11 September, he scored his first goal for France in a 3–1 World Cup qualifier win over

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

Personal life

Capoue's younger brother,

Aurélien :''see also Aurélien (given name), for individuals with the masculine given name. ''Aurélien'' is a novel by Louis Aragon, the fourth of the ''Le Monde réel'' cycle. It was ranked 51st in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, ''Le Mondes 10 ...

, is a former footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

:Source: :''France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Capoue goal''

Honours

Watford *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Villareal *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2011–12 *

Watford Player of the Season Watford Football Club are an English football club, from Watford, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1881 as Watford Rovers, the club has competed in the Football League since 1920 and since the 2015–16 season have competed in the Premier League. ...

: 2018–19 * UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Capoue, Etienne 1988 births Living people People from Niort Sportspeople from Deux-Sèvres French footballers France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers France international footballers Association football midfielders Toulouse FC players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Watford F.C. players Villarreal CF players Ligue 1 players Premier League players English Football League players La Liga players FA Cup Final players UEFA Europa League winning players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French people of Guadeloupean descent Footballers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine