Boštjan Cesar (born 9 July 1982) is a Slovenian 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Cesar played in Slovenia, Croatia, France, England and Italy. With 101 international appearances, he is

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

's most capped player of all time, and represented them at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Club career

Cesar signed a three year-deal with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club p ...

in 2005. He joined

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

on a season-long loan in August 2007, with a view to a permanent move. He made his debut for Albion in a 1–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory over

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

on 14 August 2007. His league debut came more than two months later when West Bromwich defeated

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

2–1 on 23 October 2007. He scored his only West Bromwich goal on 2 February 2008 in a 2–1 win against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

. Cesar made 24 appearances for West Bromwich in all competitions, but returned to Marseille at the end of the season after the manager

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with ...

decided against pursuing a permanent deal for the player. He signed a two-year deal with

Grenoble Foot 38 Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears whit ...

in January 2009 and scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance; a 1–1 draw against

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The ...

. In May 2010,

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 ...

announced the capture of his signature on free transfer, and he officially joined them on 1 July. On 31 May 2011, he signed a new two-year contract.

International career

Cesar made his international debut on 12 February 2003, playing the entirety of a 5–1 friendly defeat to Switzerland in

Nova Gorica A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

. On 9 October 2004, he scored his first international goal to defeat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in a World Cup qualifier; it was Italy's only defeat as they went on to win the World Cup. On 15 November 2014, he made his 81st appearance for the national team, surpassing Zlatko Zahovič as their most capped player of all time. On 8 October 2017, Cesar became the first Slovenian player to earn 100 national team caps, in a 2–2 home draw with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

in the

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

. He was sent off at the end of the match. Cesar retired from the national team on 27 March 2018 in a home match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cesar goal.''

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

: 2002–03; runner-up: 2000–01, 2003–04 * Croatian Cup: 2001–02, 2003–04 *

Croatian Supercup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

Marseille *

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

: runner-up 2006–07 *

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 professio ...

: runner-up 2006,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

West Bromwich Albion *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

: 2007–08

Notes

External links

Player profile
at Olympique de Marseille
Player profile
at NZS
Player profile
at LFP * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cesar, Bostjan 1982 births Living people Footballers from Ljubljana Slovenian footballers Association football central defenders Slovenian expatriate footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Croatia Sesvete players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players Croatian Football League players First Football League (Croatia) players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Ligue 1 players Olympique de Marseille players English Football League players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Grenoble Foot 38 players Serie A players Serie B players A.C. ChievoVerona players Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in France Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in England Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Slovenia youth international footballers Slovenia under-21 international footballers Slovenia international footballers 2010 FIFA World Cup players FIFA Century Club Slovenian football managers