Stéphane Zubar (born 9 October 1986) is a Guadeloupean

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 defender for club A.F.C. Totton. He is the younger brother of Ronald Zubar and cousin of Claude Dielna, both of them being footballers. Zubar began his career at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

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 ...

club Pau and

Belgian First Division 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 te ...

club

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He spent the 2009–10 season with Romanian Liga I club Vaslui, where he experienced European football after helping the club to the 2010 Cupa României Final. Zubar signed with English club Plymouth Argyle in November 2010, and moved on to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as Bo ...

in September 2011. He was loaned out to Bury in January 2013 and to Port Vale in September 2014. He joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...

club York City in November 2014, where he played for the rest of 2014–15. Zubar returned to York on loan in August 2015, but returned to Bournemouth after he suffered a cruciate ligament injury. He joined Weymouth on non-contract terms in August 2016, before returning to full-time professional football with Yeovil Town in June 2017, but after suffering another knee injury left without making an appearance. He returned to Weymouth and helped the club to two successive promotions: winning the Southern League Premier Division South title in 2018–19 and the

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the ...

play-offs in 2020, before joining A.F.C. Totton via Gosport Borough in October 2020.

Club career

Caen

Born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, Zubar began his career with

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Ronald Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form of ...

. He signed a three-year professional contract with Caen in the summer of 2006. He spent time on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

with

club Pau in 2007 and

club

in 2008, but did not make a first-team appearance for Caen.

Vaslui

Zubar was transferred to Romanian Liga I club Vaslui in 2009, where he made his debut for the club in a 1–1 draw against Steaua București on 27 February. He scored his first goal for the "Yellow-Greens" in a 2–2 draw with

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

at the

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

. He helped the club to finish third in Liga I and reach 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 ...

of the

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

during 2009–10, where Zubar was not used in the substitute bench, only to lose to

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , l ...

5–4 on penalties in the final.

Plymouth Argyle

He joined English

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club Plymouth Argyle on a trial during the summer of 2010, following a recommendation from

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later h ...

. His trial at Plymouth was successful and he signed for club after international clearance was granted on 16 November. He made his debut four days later as the "Pilgrims" lost 2–1 to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings which ...

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.Curtis Nelson. On 28 December, Zubar scored his first goal in England as Plymouth drew 1–1 with Notts County. Seven days later he scored his second goal for Plymouth in a 3–2 win over

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

. On 11 January 2012, Zubar received a red card after a second bookable offence in a 3–2 defeat to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

. At the end of

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 ...

Argyle were relegated to

and Zubar was the only player to be offered a new (two-year) contract by a club, which he signed in July. However he had his contract with the club terminated at the end of August, citing "personal reasons"; club chairman Peter Ridsdale said that "Stephane will remain a friend of the club and leaves with our best wishes".

AFC Bournemouth

In September 2011, Zubar joined

on a free transfer, signing a one-year contract with the option for a second, having spent time with the club on trial. He made his League One debut for the club on 24 September in a 2–1 defeat to Hartlepool United at

Dean Court Dean Court, currently known as the Vitality Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England and the home ground of AFC Bournemouth. History In 1910, Boscombe F.C. was ...

. He scored an own goal on 25 October which cost the "Cherries" two points in a 1–1 draw at

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. On 12 November, Zubar scored his first goal for Bournemouth in a 3–3 draw with Gillingham in the

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 competit ...

. Some impressive performance for the club kept him in the first team at the expense of Adam Barrett and led manager

Lee Bradbury Lee Michael Bradbury (born 3 July 1975) is an English football manager and former footballer who is currently manager of National League club Eastleigh. As a player, he was a striker who made more than 500 appearances in the Football League wi ...

to offer him a new three-and-a-half-year contract, which was signed in February 2012. He fell out of favour under new manager

Eddie Howe Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the head coach of Premier League club Newcastle United. A defender during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playi ...

, and signed for

Kevin Blackwell Kevin Patrick Blackwell (born 21 December 1958) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who since retiring as a player has worked as a coach and a manager. He is currently the manager of Thai League 1 club Nakhon Ratchasima. ...

's Bury on loan until the end of

2012–13 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 ...

on 24 January 2013. Howe agreed to loan Zubar out to league rivals as he felt he needed to get game time in order to "get his career back on track". Despite only playing six games for the "Shakers" Blackwell said that the

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gig ...

faithful had appreciated Zubar's contribution and "have become massive Zubar fans". However he picked up an anterior cruciate knee injury in March and was ruled out of action for nine months. Bournemouth were promoted to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

at the end of

, and the higher standard of football and his injury effectively ruled him out of action throughout 2013–14. He was expected to join Bury on a free transfer in July 2013, but a deal was never completed. Stéphane Zubar 15-08-2015 1

Zubar had a trial with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in September 2014. He joined League One club Port Vale on a one-month loan on 29 September. He made three appearances for the "Valiants", and was sent off in the last of these games for striking out at

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

's Joe Garner in a 2–0 defeat at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". Histo ...

. He did not return to the starting line-up and manager Rob Page elected not to extend his loan spell at Vale Park. Zubar instead joined Russ Wilcox's York City on a two-month loan. The loan was extended to the end of 2014–15 and he impressed in his performances at

Bootham Crescent Bootham Crescent in York, England, was the home of York City football club and York City Knights rugby league club. With a capacity of 8,256, it is near the city centre, just over a mile from York railway station. York City leased land at Bo ...

enough to warrant speculation in the local press that he would be offered a contract by York in the summer. Despite having not played for Bournemouth for more than two-and-a-half years, the club's promotion to the

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 F ...

in May 2015 triggered a one-year extension to his contract. Zubar rejoined York on a one-month loan on 7 August 2015, and made his debut a day later in a 3–0 away defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, the opening match of 2015–16. He suffered cruciate ligament damage during York's 0–0 away draw with

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on 22 August 2015, which was expected to rule him out for the season. He returned to Bournemouth for treatment, ending his loan at York on five appearances.

Weymouth

Zubar had a trial with

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 ...

, playing two closed-door friendlies in June and July 2016. He joined Southern League Premier Division club Weymouth on non-contract terms in August 2016. He made 46 appearances across the 2016–17 season, scoring five goals.

Yeovil Town

On 28 June 2017, Zubar joined

club Yeovil Town on a one-year contract. After failing to make a competitive appearance due to injury Zubar was released by Yeovil, on 8 August 2017.

Later career

Having recovered from his knee injury Zubar returned to Southern League Premier Division club Weymouth in November 2017, and made his second debut for the Terras in a 2–0 victory over Biggleswade Town. Weymouth ended the season in fifth-place, losing to King's Lynn Town in the play-off semi-finals. He signed a new one-year contract in May 2018. He scored seven goals in 45 appearances during the 2018–19 season, helping Mark Molesley's side to win promotion as champions. He scored one goals in 22 appearances in the 2019–20

season, which was permanently suspended on 26 March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Publi ...

, with Weymouth in the play-offs in third-place. Weymouth went on to secure promotion after beating

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

on penalties in the play-off final; Zubar was an unused substitute in the game. He announced his retirement on 17 September 2020. However, two days later he signed for Gosport Borough. On 2 October 2020, he joined Southern League Division One South club A.F.C. Totton. He made seven appearances before the 2020–21 season was curtailed early due to the ongoing pandemic. He signed on for the 2021–22 season, and played nineteen games, though was not in a matchday squad after December.

International career

Zubar made his international debut 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 th ...

at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He played in the 1–0 defeats to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world ...

and eventual runners-up the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

Style of play

Zubar was a pacey and strong defender, able to play at centre-back and right-back. Speaking in February 2012, Bournemouth manager

stated that Zubar "works very hard, is really passionate about the game and is a deep thinker".

Personal life

He is the younger brother of Ronald Zubar and cousin of Claude Dielna, both of whom are footballers.

Career statistics

Club

International

:Source:

Honours

Weymouth *

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Premier Division South: 2018–19 *

play-offs:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zubar, Stephane 1986 births Living people People from Pointe-à-Pitre Guadeloupean footballers Guadeloupe international footballers Association football defenders Stade Malherbe Caen players Pau FC players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players FC Vaslui players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Bury F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players York City F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Gosport Borough F.C. players A.F.C. Totton players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National players Belgian First Division A players Liga I players English Football League players Southern Football League players National League (English football) players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Guadeloupean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Romania