Benoît Croissant (born 9 August 1980) is a French former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. During his career, he played for eight clubs in eight countries.

Career

Croissant graduated from

INF Clairefontaine The INF Clairefontaine (), known as INF or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of sixtee ...

in 1997, before beginning his career with

Troyes AC Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a football in France, French professional association football club based in Troyes that competes in Ligue 2. It plays its home matches at the Stade de l'Aube. Foun ...

where he played for the reserves. He moved to England to play with Sheffield United in 2001 but failed to make a competitive appearance for the Blades, and was subsequently loaned to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club Stormvogels Telstar for the 2002–03 season to gain match experience. In 2003, he transferred to the Dutch side permanently. He was released in 2005 when his contract expired. He then signed for

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

club Asyut Cement SC, before joining Chinese club

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

. He subsequently changed continents once again, joining Indianapolis Braves. Croissant then signed for the Bahrain club Al-Najma in June 2007. In August 2007, he scored his first goal with the Bahraini club against

Al Wakrah Al Wakrah () is the capital city of the Al Wakrah Municipality in Qatar. Al Wakrah's eastern edge touches the shores of the Persian Gulf and Qatar's capital Doha is situated immediately north of the city. Governed by Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Jassi ...

during the Gulf Cup in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

. In his first season with Al-Najma, he won the Bahraini King's Cup, qualifying for the

2008 AFC Cup The 2008 AFC Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualified teams 20 Football team, clubs competed, including champions of the :National association football ...

. In November 2008, he signed for

Tampines Rovers Tampines Rovers Football Club (currently known as BG Tampines Rovers due to sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football, football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of t ...

in the Singapore S.League, winning both the S.League and the Singapore Charity Shield in 2011 and 2012 consecutively. He participated for the second time in the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, scoring in the group stage against Victory Sports Club from the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

, before the Rovers were eliminated in the last 16 against Iraqi side Arbil SC in extra time.

Honours

;Al-Najma * Bahraini King's Cup: 2007 ;Tampines Rovers * S.League:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Singapore Charity Shield: 2011, 2012

References

External links

*
Benoît Croissant Interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croissant, Benoit 1980 births Living people People from Vitry-le-François French men's footballers Footballers from Marne (department) Men's association football central defenders Eerste Divisie players Singapore Premier League players INF Clairefontaine players ES Troyes AC players Sheffield United F.C. players SC Telstar players Liaoning F.C. players Indianapolis Braves players Al-Najma SC (Bahrain) players Tampines Rovers FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China French expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States French expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Expatriate men's footballers in Bahrain French expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Association football agents Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University 21st-century French sportsmen