Cédric Roussel (born 6 January 1978) is a Belgian former 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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Early career

In 1997, Roussel took part in the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

. In the season that followed the tournament, he was promoted to the

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

senior team.

Coventry City

Roussel signed a season-long loan deal for

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 ...

club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on 12 October 1999. He made his debut on 16 October, during the 4–1 win over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, coming on as a late substitute for

Gary McAllister Gary McAllister MBE (born 25 December 1964) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. McAllister played primarily as a midfielder in a career spanning over nineteen years. He started his career at local side Motherwell b ...

. On 22 November 1999 he scored his first goal for the club, a header against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game o ...

. Having impressed during his initial loan spell, Coventry signed Roussel in January 2000 for a fee of £1.2 million, despite "substantial" bids from

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

and

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 ...

. He finished his first season in the Premier League with six goals, including two goals in the 3–2 defeat to

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 February 2000. Roussel also formed a successful strike partnership with young Irishman

Robbie Keane Robert David Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish professional Association football, football coach and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Keane served as Captain (association football ...

. However, the following season he began to struggle on the goalscoring front, owing partly to injury setbacks. Midway through January 2001, with Coventry struggling in the league, a number of bids were made for Roussel's services, including one from

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. After refusing to sign for Wimbledon, he criticized the Coventry board for trying to use him as a makeweight in a deal to bring

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...

to the club. He was particularly critical of the club's chairman

Bryan Richardson Bryan Anthony Richardson (born 24 February 1944) is a former English cricketer. Richardson was a left-handed batsman (cricket), batsman who bowled leg break. He was born at Kenilworth, Warwickshire. Richardson made his first-class cricket, fir ...

for forcing through the Wimbledon transfer, accusing him of not repaying the loyalty Roussel himself had shown in signing permanently for the club, despite interest from "several classier clubs." Roussel would however later describe his time at Coventry as "the best part of my career."

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Roussel was eventually sold a few weeks later to the First Division club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, in a £2 million deal. Generally disappointing at Molineux, he left after 18 months, having scored two goals in twenty five appearances. He was loaned out for the 2002-03 season to his hometown club

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

, who had recently been promoted to the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

. He finished the season as the division's joint top scorer with

Wesley Sonck Wesley Sonck (born 9 August 1978) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who manages the Belgium U19 national team. He played as a striker for Molenbeek, Germinal Ekeren, Germinal Beerschot, Genk, Ajax, Borussia Mönch ...

; both players scored 22 goals.

Genk and Rubin Kazan

His goalscoring form attracted interest from bigger clubs in the league and Roussel signed for

Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

in 2003. His reputation in Belgian football increased and he made his first appearance for the Belgium national team in 2003. After just one season at Genk, in which he scored on thirteen occasions, he moved on again, this time signing for

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

in Russia.

Standard Liège, Zulte Waregem and Brescia

Roussel never felt at home in Russia and returned to Belgium to play for

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. At Standard he struggled to break into the first team and after two unsuccessful years at the club he signed for Zulte Waregem. His time there was again short-lived and a year later he signed for Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

. Roussel soon found himself frozen out at Brescia, and the club became open to offers for him. In August 2007, he spent a week on trial with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

but returned home without signing the agreed loan deal.

Return to Mons

He instead chose to return to his former club Mons, where he signed a three-year contract.

In the lower leagues

On 25 November 2010, Roussel agreed with Dutch side

HSV Hoek Hoekse Sportvereniging Hoek, known as HSV Hoek, is a football club based in Hoek, Zeeland, Netherlands, that competes in the Derde Divisie. History The club was founded in 1950. Indian football legend Syed Abdul Rahim has appeared with the clu ...

to play in the

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

. In August 2011 he moved to RUS Beloeil in Belgium. On 13 February 2015, Roussel announced his retirement from football at the age of 37.

Outside football

Roussel has a son Cameron (born 2001) with former girlfriend Kirsty Wood. Following his retirement from football, Roussel began a career in real estate.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roussel, Cedric 1978 births Living people Footballers from Hainaut (province) Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Association football forwards Belgian Pro League players Premier League players Russian Premier League players Serie B players R.A.A. Louviéroise players RAAL La Louvière players K.A.A. Gent players Coventry City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players R.A.E.C. Mons players K.R.C. Genk players FC Rubin Kazan players Standard Liège players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Brescia Calcio players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Sportspeople from Mons Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus AEK Larnaca FC players