Cyril Théréau (; born 24 April 1983) 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 ...

who played as a striker. He represented

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

in France, Charleroi (two stints) and Anderlecht in Belgium, Steaua București in Romania, and

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

and Cagliari in Italy.

Club career

Early career

At senior level, Théréau started playing for Gap FC in the "Honneur régional" league in France's seventh tier. He joined fourth-tier side

US Orléans Union Sportive Orléans Loiret Football (; commonly referred to as US Orléans or simply Orléans) is a French association football club based in Orléans. The club was founded in 1976 and currently play in Championnat National after being relega ...

in 2004 where he scored 12 goals in 10 matches.

Angers

After half a season with Orléans, he moved to Ligue 2-side

Angers SCO Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest, commonly referred to as Angers SCO or simply Angers (), is a French professional football club based in Angers in Pays de la Loire in western France. The club was founded in 1919 and plays in Ligue 1, the first ...

in the winter transfer period. In his first professional match, a

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 ...

round of 32 tie at Stade Vélodrome on 8 January 2005, he netted the third goal as Angers won 3–2 against

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

who at the time fielded

Fabien Barthez Fabien Alain Barthez (born 28 June 1971) is a French racing driver and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, AS Monaco, Manchester United ...

in goal. In his second season at Angers, with whom he had been relegated to the third-division

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, ...

, he attained 8 goals in 29 league matches.

Charleroi

In summer 2006, Théréau joined Charleroi. Having bagged three goals in his first four matches, he left the club in the same transfer period.

Steaua

On 29 August 2006, Théréau signed a four-year contract with Steaua București. The reported transfer fee paid to Charleroi was €1 million while Théréau's salary multiplied by seven to about €240,000 annually. The move happened after the Steaua's coach saw him play against

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 ...

and thought he could make a good replacement for the injured

Victoraș Iacob Victoraş Constantin Iacob (born 14 October 1980 in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea County, Romania) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as striker. Club career Rocar București Iacob started to play professional football at AS ...

. Months after playing in the

for Angers, Théréau made an appearance in the Champions League being substituted on in the 70th minute in Steaua's 1–4 win away to

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

on 13 September 2006. He was used in all six matches in the group stage without scoring as Steaua failed to progress from the group which also included Real Madrid and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. He scored his first hat-trick for Steaua in a win against FC Naţional in the Romanian top division on 12 November 2006. Théréau became a fan favourite at the club and this did not change when he was sent off in the Bucharest derby against Dinamo. In total, he amassed 10 goals in 17 leagues games.

Anderlecht

On 26 June 2007, Théréau agreed to a four-year deal with Belgian champions

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

for a transfer fee of about €3 million.

Return to Charleroi

He returned to Charleroi on 14 January 2008, initially on loan. On 29 February 2008, he struck a brace against title contenders Club Brugge. Charleroi secured Théréau's services permanently on 9 June 2008 on a three-year contract. On 10 March 2010, he reached a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 4–1 defeat of relegation rivals Lokeren – his club's first win of the year – which all but guaranteed Charleroi's

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 tea ...

status.

Chievo

On 24 August 2010, Théréau signed for

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

. In October 2010, he scored his first goal against

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. ...

. By the end of his spell with Chievo, having spent four seasons there, he had made 129 appearances in all competitions for the club and with 26 league goals he was the Chievo's most prolific foreign goalscorer of all time.

Udinese

During the 2014 summer transfer window, Théréau signed for

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a foo ...

on an annual salary of €700,000. In his first season, he scored 10 goals. On 23 August 2015, he scored the decisive goal as Udinese beat Juventus 1–0. It was the first time in history Juventus lost on their home debut. He completed the 2015–16 season scoring 11 goals and contributing three assists in 36 league matches for his club.

Fiorentina

On 31 August 2017, Théréau signed a new contract with another

club

, after three years with

Cagliari loan

On 31 January 2019, Théréau joined Cagliari on loan until 30 June 2019.

Style of play

Théréau is a skillful striker, who can score from practically every position. He reached fame in Belgium when he scored a goal after dribbling from the middle of the pitch to the penalty box. Although he is very tall, he has good ball shooting skills and is a technical player.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thereau, Cyril 1983 births Living people People from Privas Sportspeople from Ardèche French footballers Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Association football forwards Ligue 2 players Belgian Pro League players Liga I players Serie A players Angers SCO players FC Steaua București players R.S.C. Anderlecht players A.C. ChievoVerona players Udinese Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players Cagliari Calcio players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate footballers in Romania French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy