Steve Savidan - Club Career

Club Career

Savidan's first year of professional football was spent with Angers SCO, his hometown team. He attracted attention from LB Châteauroux and was transferred after two seasons. Out of 20 games, he only managed to score three goals as a substitute and, at the end of the year, was sold to AC Ajaccio.

Savidan would spend also only one year at his new club, before returning to former side Angers. In 2002–03, he was bought by AS Beauvais, and failed to score a single goal over the entire course of the season, being transferred to AS Angoulême subsequently. As the club operated then in the third level, thus lacking professional status, Savidan would also work briefly as a waste collector and bartender. He finished that season with his best individual effort at the time, with 12 goals.

At age 26, Savidan signed with Valenciennes FC, also in the third division. Mainly due to his impressive scoring rate, the club went straight into the top flight in just two seasons. During the latter, Valenciennes were crowned league winners, as Savidan finished joint-top scorer, at 16.

In his first game in the first level, at AJ Auxerre (aged 28), he netted in a 1–1 draw, on 5 August 2006. On 10 February of the following year, Savidan had an impressive performance, scoring four goals in a spectacular 5–2 away win, against FC Nantes. He would finish the season as the competition's second top scorer, behind veteran Pauleta.

Settled in Valenciennes, Savidan opened a restaurant called K9 (K for wife Karine, and 9 for his shirt number). However, he signed for SM Caen in summer 2008 for a reported fee of €5 million.

Savidan scored fourteen goals in the 2008–09 season, but Caen was relegated to division two. Subsequently, he arranged a move to AS Monaco FC, in the €5million region; however, a defect in his heart was detected upon his medical, and the 31-year old ended his career on 4 July 2009, on the advice of the club's doctors.

In the fall of 2009, Savidan - who played ice hockey in his childhood - joined hometown club ASG Angers, serving as coach of the under-9 team.

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