José Javier Cobos Castillo (born 23 April 1968), known as Cobos, is a French retired

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, Cobos started playing professionally with hometown club

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

, helping it

return Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or t ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

in 1992. He had already played in the top flight in the 1988–89 season, his official debut coming on 30 July 1988 in a 1–0 away loss against

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current i ...

. Afterwards, Cobos spent three-and-a-half years with

Paris Saint-Germain FC 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 ...

, helping with 14 matches as the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

side won the league in 1994 and he was a more important part of the first-team unit in the following season, as they conquered the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

. Additionally, in the latter season, he played in all the games to help his team reach the last-four in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. He also helped them win the 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but he was not part of the squad for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, and the

1995 Trophée des Champions The 1995 Trophée des Champions was a football match held at Stade Francis-Le Blé, Brest on 3 January 1996, that saw 1995 Coupe de France winners Paris Saint-Germain F.C. defeat 1994–95 Division 1 champions FC Nantes 6–5 on penalty kicks ...

. Late into 1996, Cobos moved to the land of his ancestors, signing with

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 ...

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

and being a regular during his stay. Aged 30, he returned to his country, playing one year with

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club is French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the premier division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse lo ...

then joining

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

, which he helped promote to the top level in his third season by appearing in ten matches – ironically, he would feature significantly more in the following years, with the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

side always maintaining their division status. After retiring, with French first division totals of 251 games and 13 goals (plus 170 and five in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

), Cobos continued to work with his last club, serving a two-year spell as assistant coach. In January 2009, two years after leaving Nice, he joined

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

as its

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

, but only lasted three months in office.

Personal life

Cobos' older brother,

Vincent Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer''). People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor *Vincent van Gogh ...

, was also a footballer and a defender. He too played mainly for Strasbourg, and the siblings shared teams from 1988 to 1991.

References

External links

* *
RC Strasbourg archives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobos, Jose 1968 births Living people French people of Spanish descent French men's footballers Footballers from Strasbourg Men's association football defenders Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players La Liga players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Toulouse FC players OGC Nice players RCD Espanyol footballers OGC Nice non-playing staff French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain