Ludovic Sylvestre (born 5 February 1984) is a French 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

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 ...

. He is the sporting director at

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

Club career

Youth career

Born in the commune of

Le Blanc-Mesnil () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle Airport and le Bourget Airport. Name The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th centur ...

in Seine-Saint-Denis, as a youth, Sylvestre spent time at Clairefontaine football academy until 2000, Guingamp and then

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 ...

Barcelona

In 2005, he was signed by

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 ...

side

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Playing for B teams he made just two league appearances for Barça. His debut came on 13 May 2006 as a 64th-minute substitute in a 3–2 away defeat to Sevilla. His full debut, seven days later, was also his last appearance for the club, a 3–1 away defeat to

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

Sparta Prague

In 2006 Sylvestre moved to Czech First League side Sparta Prague. His debut came on 29 July 2006 in a 0–0 home draw with

Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...

. His European debut came on 14 September in a 2–0 win away to

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' ...

side Hearts in the

First round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

of the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match ...

. He went on to make a total on 19 appearances in the 2006–07 season as Sparta won the league. He started the 2007–08 season with Sparta Prague, making six appearances, before joining

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

on loan in early 2008. He scored on his debut, a 2–0 home win over 1 FC Brno. He went on to make a total of 14 appearances, scoring one goal for Viktoria Plzeň that season. Sylvestre made a total of 25 league appearances as well as eight appearances in the UEFA Cup for Sparta.

Mladá Boleslav

Later in 2008 Sylvestre joined

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; german: Jungbunzlau) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 42,000 inhabitants. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region and a major centre of the Czech automotive ind ...

, signing a four-year contract with the club. He made his debut on 2 August 2008 in a 1–0 defeat away at former club Sparta Prague. His first goal came in the 2–0 home win over 1 FC Brno on 25 August. He made a total of 29 appearances in the 2008–09 season, scoring four goals as Mladá Boleslav finished 6th, just missing out on qualifying for the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spain ...

by two points. The 2009–10 season saw Sylvestre score seven goals in 27 appearances.

Blackpool

On 8 August 2010, Mladá Boleslav stated on their official website that Sylvestre had travelled to England for a medical the following day with newly promoted

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 ...

side

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and that he was due to sign a two-year contract with them. Three days later it was confirmed that Sylvestre had signed a two-year contract with an option of a further year with Blackpool. On 14 August he made his debut as a 59th-minute substitute as Blackpool marked their Premier League debut with a 4–0 win over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

at the DW Stadium. His full debut came on 21 August in the 6–0 defeat to

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 ...

at the

Emirates stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

in the club's second game of their debut season in the Premier League. Three days later he scored his first goal for the ''Tangerines'' in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

League Cup, a 4–3 defeat to

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

Stadium MK Stadium MK is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League One side Milton Keynes Dons and FA Women's National ...

Red Star

In September 2016, Sylvestre joined

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 ...

club

, marking his return to his homeland after playing abroad for twelve years. He retired in summer 2018 having contributed 23 matches and 2 goals during the club's promotion from

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

Post-playing career

In August 2018, Sylvestre was appointed at Red Star F.C.

Personal life

Sylvestre was born in France and is of Martiniquais descent.

Career statistics

Honours

Sparta Prague * Czech First League: 2006–07

References

External links

* *
Mladá Boleslav profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sylvestre, Ludovic 1984 births Living people People from Le Blanc-Mesnil Footballers from Seine-Saint-Denis French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players AC Sparta Prague players FC Viktoria Plzeň players FK Mladá Boleslav players Blackpool F.C. players Çaykur Rizespor footballers La Liga players Czech First League players Premier League players English Football League players Süper Lig players Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic French people of Martiniquais descent