Julián Esteban (born 16 September 1986) is a Swiss 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 ...

. He spent most of his playing career at Servette FC.

Football career

Born in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Estebán was an academy product of hometown club Servette FC. He made his first team breakthrough in the 2006–07 season, and scored a remarkable 14 goals in 17 games for the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side, in only the first half of the season. A host of top European clubs, including

Arsenal FC Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (incl ...

, Ajax Amsterdam and

NK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

were interested in his services. In October 2006, Esteban signed a four-year contract with

Stade Rennais FC Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

, worth approximately 7 million Swiss Franc, effective as of January of the following year. He became the fourth Swiss to join the French outfit, after Christophe Ohrel and

Marco Grassi Marco Grassi (born 8 August 1968) is a Swiss former professional footballer, who played as a centre forward. He was part of the Switzerland national team squads at the 1994 World Cup and at the UEFA Euro 1996. Club career Grassi was born in Ch ...

and

Alexander Frei Alexander Frei or Alex Frei (born 15 July 1979) is a Swiss professional football coach and a former player who played as a forward. He is currently the manager of Basel. He began his career at Basel, going on to various other clubs in Switzerla ...

(who also played for Servette before Rennes, which also eventually led to some comparisons between the pair, due to their goalscoring prowess). On 3 March 2007, Esteban played his first

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

match for Rennes, against

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division ...

, appearing four minutes in a 0–1 away loss. He appeared very rarely throughout his first two 1/2 seasons combined, less than 10 matches. In summer 2009 turned back to his home club Servette FC on loan from

until 30 June 2010. During this loan spell he appeared 14 times, scoring twice. On 31 July 2010, Estéban signed for Servette on a permanent contract, after

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

agreed to terminate his contract. His time at

was disappointing and he was very injury prone, therefore not being able to take part in many games and unable to prove himself. On 8 January 2013, Estéban, in his 26th year, decided to hang up his playing boots as the injuries kept on piling up for him.

International career

Esteban was also a Swiss under-21 international.

References

External links

Stade Rennais profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteban, Julian 1986 births Living people Swiss people of Spanish descent Swiss men's footballers Men's association football forwards Servette FC players Ligue 1 players Stade Rennais F.C. players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Footballers from Geneva Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France