Johan Etienne Anthony Cavalli (born 12 September 1981) 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 ...

Club career

Early career

Whilst at Lorient Cavalli played as a substitute in the

2002 Coupe de France Final The 2002 Coupe de France Final was a association football, football match held at Stade de France, Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis on 11 May 2002, that saw FC Lorient defeat SC Bastia 1–0 thanks to a goal by Jean-Claude Darchevi ...

in which they beat

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football ...

Watford

Cavalli joined

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

on deadline day of the 2007 January transfer window, on a free transfer from French side

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location Istr ...

, signing an 18-month contract. He made his debut in the 1–0 win against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 10 February 2007. He had his contract with "Hornets" cancelled by mutual consent on 20 August 2007.

Mons

On 18 October 2007, it was announced that Cavalli had signed a two-year contract with Belgian club

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

. In May 2008, he left the club my mutual consent.

Ajaccio

Cavalli joined his hometown club

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccio ( co, Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ''ACA'' or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and ...

in November 2010 on a contract running until 2013. He started on the opening day of the 2011–12 Ligue 1 season, playing 77 minutes in a 2–0 loss to

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. He was also in the starting eleven for Ajaccio's trip to the

Stade Gerland The Stade de Gerland (known for sponsorship reasons as Matmut Stadium de Gerland and otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland ) is a stadium in the city of Lyon, France, which serves as home to Top 14 rugby club Lyon OU. It has a ...

the following weekend and played 78 minutes in a 1–1 draw with hosts

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. In Ajaccio 1–1 draw against fellow Ligue 1 newcomers

Evian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

on 20 August 2011 he set up midfield partner

Frédéric Sammaritano Frédéric Sammaritano (born 23 March 1986) is a French former professional footballer. Career Born in Vannes, Sammaritano spent three seasons at local club Vannes. In his last campaign with the club, he converted three goals and added seven as ...

for the 7th-minute 1–0 lead following a "great combination" between him and

Benjamin André Benjamin Michel Édouard André (born 3 August 1990) is a French professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder or defensive midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lille. Club career Ajaccio André was with the Corsica-based club Ajaccio since h ...

. Following a five-match suspension, Cavalli returned on 10 April 2015 to face

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. He scored via penalty as Ajaccio beat Dijon 1–0 at the Stade François Coty. At the end of the 2019–20 season, after ten years with Ajaccio, Cavalli retired from playing.

International career

Cavalli was capped for the

Corsica national football team The Corsica national football team ( co, Squadra Corsa di Balò) is the unofficial football team for the island of Corsica, France. It is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA. The selection has played against national teams thirteen times. In the p ...

, which is not a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

member, as it does not represent a fully sovereign nation. On 31 May 2011, he scored the only goal to help his team to a prestigious 1–0 win over

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

Personal life

Cavalli's father

Jean-Michel Jean-Michel is a French masculine given name. It may refer to : * Jean-Michel Arnold, General Secretary of the Cinémathèque Française * Jean-Michel Atlan (1913–1960), French artist * Jean-Michel Aulas (born 1949), French businessman * Jean-Mic ...

is also a former footballer and coached him during his time at

Créteil Créteil () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Cré ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalli, Johan 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Ajaccio Footballers from Corse-du-Sud French men's footballers Corsica men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Lorient players US Créteil-Lusitanos players RCD Mallorca players FC Istres players Watford F.C. players R.A.E.C. Mons (1910) players Nîmes Olympique players AC Ajaccio players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Spain