Juan Manuel Cobián (born 11 September 1975) is a former Argentine footballer who played mostly as a right-back for clubs including

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

Career

Cobián started his career at

youth side as a central defender and later as a right-back, although he preferred to play as a defensive midfielder. His only first team appearance with

was in January 1997 in a friendly match against

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

as a substitute. In the same year, he was loaned to

Huracán de Corrientes Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

to play in the

1997–98 Primera B Nacional The 1997–98 Argentine Primera B Nacional was the 12th season of second division professional of football in Argentina. A total of 32 teams competed; the champion and runner-up were promoted to Argentine Primera División. Club information In ...

after the team was relegated from its first and only season ever at the top flight. Cobián scored once in an 8–2 loss to

San Martín de San Juan Club Atlético San Martín, mostly known as San Martín de San Juan, is an Argentine football club from the city of San Juan. The team currently plays in the Argentine Liga Profesional de Futbol, the first division of the Argentine football league ...

. With a Spanish passport, Cobián was signed by

in 1998 on a free transfer and made his debut in the opening round of the 1998-99 Premier League playing the 90 minutes against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, becoming the first Argentinian ever to play in the Premier League alongside

Horacio Carbonari Horacio Angel Carbonari (born 2 May 1974) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was nicknamed "Bazooka" due to his powerful free-kicks. Career Rosario Central Born in Santa Teresa, a town in the southern e ...

, who was at

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. He started in 7 of the first 8 Premier League matches, including a 1–0 win against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and had his last match as a starter in a 4–0 loss against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. Cobián appeared as a substitute twice in the second half of the season. He also played the whole League Cup match that ended in a 1–0 loss against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

, then in the

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

. Early in the game, he played the ball back to goalkeeper

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach, former professional goalkeeper, and goalkeeping coach and assistant manager for Gainsborough Trinity. As a player, he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier Leagu ...

, who allowed

Trevor Benjamin Trevor Junior Benjamin (born 8 February 1979) is a former professional footballer and manager who played as a forward. He is famed for being a prime example of a journeyman footballer, having represented 29 teams in his career, and making over ...

to get the ball and score the winning goal. He left the club at the end of the season and went on a trial with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. He signed with the Addicks, but left the team months after signing his contract as he had no playing time. He joined

where he played 3 league matches against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

, St. Johnstone and

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

and one

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

match, where he went off injured in the first half in en eventual extra-time victory against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. He was promised a new contract if he could recover from his injury and return to the first team. In 2000, Cobián joined

on a free transfer. He made his debut for the Town in the League Cup, in a 1–1 draw with

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

on 22 August 2000 and his league debut came just four days later in a 4–1 defeat at home to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. However, after

Andy King Andrew or Andy King may refer to: *Andrew King (astrophysicist) (born 1947), British astrophysicist *Andrew King (architect), Canadian architect and cross-disciplinary artist *Andrew King (mayor) (born 1960 or 1961), former mayor of Hamilton, New Z ...

was appointed manager, his first team chances were limited. In 2003, after months struggling to agree a financial settlement with the board and an unsuccessful trial with

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

, he was released by the club. After his release, he moved to Spain to play for

CD Linares Club Deportivo Linares was a Spanish football team based in Linares, Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1990 and dissolved in July 2009, it played its last season in 2008–09, in Second Division B - Group 4. The team's ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

but played only a few matches after being sidelined with injury and later surgery. He was released after the end of the season, but his release was considered illegal by the

Jaén Jaén may refer to: Places Peru *Jaén Province, Peru, a province in Cajamarca Region, Peru ** Jaén District, one of twelve districts of the province Jaén in Peru ***Jaén, Peru, a city in Peru, capital of the Jaén Province Philippines * Jaen ...

court which demanded either the player to be reinstated or a financial compensation to be paid to Cobián, with the latter option being agreed. Cobián returned to Argentina in 2004 and made four appearances before retiring in 2006.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobian, Juan 1975 births Living people Argentine men's footballers Aberdeen F.C. players Huracán Corrientes footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players CD Linares players Club Almagro players Footballers from Buenos Aires Province Premier League players Scottish Premier League players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Scotland