Mathieu Cafaro (born 25 March 1997) is a French 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Paris FC Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...

Club career

Toulouse

Cafaro is a youth product of

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. He made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

debut on 10 September 2015 against

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

. On 3 April 2017, he was released from the club, along with

Odsonne Édouard Odsonne Édouard (born 16 January 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Crystal Palace. Having progressed through the youth ranks of AF Bobigny, Édouard signed with Paris Saint-Germain in Ju ...

, due to inappropriate behavior outside the club involving the shooting of a passer-by with an

airsoft gun Airsoft guns are air guns used in airsoft sports. They are a special type of low-power smoothbore guns designed to shoot Airsoft pellets, plastic pellets often colloquially (but incorrectly) referred to as "BB (ammunition), BBs", which are typ ...

. Cafaro later admitted that he was the one who shot the gun. On 13 June, the Toulouse Prosecutor requested a four-month suspended prison sentence and a €6,000 fine for

Édouard Édouard is both a French given name and a surname, equivalent to Edward in English. Notable people with the name include: * Édouard Balladur (born 1929), French politician * Édouard Boubat (1923–1999), French photographer * Édouard Colonne ...

's involvement. Édouard claimed that Cafaro was the shooter while Cafaro stated he was not in the car at the time of the incident.

Reims

Cafaro helped

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

win the

2017–18 Ligue 2 The 2017–18 Ligue 2 (referred to as the Domino's Ligue 2 for sponsorship reasons) season was the 79th season since its establishment. Teams There are 20 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from Championnat National replacing the t ...

, which earned them promotion to the

for the 2018–19 season. He participated in one league match during the campaign, a 3–1 win over

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

on 27 April 2018. Cafaro would go on to score twelve goals in eighty-two Ligue 1 matches for Reims before leaving the club in January 2022.

Standard Liège

On 11 January 2022, Cafaro signed for Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. The deal reportedly involved no transfer fee, although Reims were given a "considerable" sell-on percentage fee.

Saint-Étienne

On 20 July 2022, Cafaro joined

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

club

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

on a season-long loan with an option-to-buy. He eventually joined the club permanently in June 2023.

Paris FC

On 3 February 2025, Cafaro signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

Personal life

Cafaro is of Italian descent through his paternal grandfather.

Honours

Reims *

: 2017–18

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafaro, Mathieu 1997 births Living people Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers French sportspeople of Italian descent Toulouse FC players Stade de Reims players Standard Liège players AS Saint-Étienne players Paris FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Belgian Pro League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 21st-century French sportsmen