Pascal Chimbonda

Pascal Chimbonda (born 21 February 1979) is a French football coach and professional player who is the player-manager of English non-league club Skelmersdale United.

He replaced Emile Heskey in the 79th minute, Heskey having scored the winning goal earlier.

Chimbonda, a right-back, began his professional career in 1998 with Le Havre, where he featured over 100 times combined for the club's first team and B team before moving to Bastia in 2003.

He began his career at Le Havre in France in 1999, making his debut against Strasbourg on 29 April 2000.

He spent four years with the club, until Le Havre were relegated to Ligue 2, when he transferred to Bastia.

During his stay at Bastia, Chimbonda received racist taunts from his own fans after a heavy loss against Saint-Étienne; this may have contributed to his leaving the club.

However, his former teammates at Bastia firmly denied Chimbonda's accusations of racism.

In 2005, he moved to Premier League club Wigan Athletic for their first ever season in the top flight.

At Wigan, his tremendous season earned him a place in the Premier League Team of the Year.

But on the last day of the 2005–06 season, he handed in a transfer request.

He was subsequently signed by Tottenham Hotspur that summer.

After Bastia were relegated in July 2005, he left the club, turning down an offer from Marseille, and moved to Wigan Athletic for £500,000 on a three-year contract.

He cited the fact that he was "ready for a new challenge and coming to Wigan is the perfect opportunity to test myself against the best players in the world" as the reason for selecting Wigan Athletic.

After signing for Wigan Athletic, Chimbonda was one of the stars of the Latics' first ever season in the Premier League.

He played 44 times for the club in all competitions and featured in all but one game of the 2005–06 Premier League season.

He scored two goals for the club, both in the 2005–06 season, in consecutive league games against Fulham and Portsmouth.

After a hugely successful first season in English football, Chimbonda was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2005–06 season, having been voted as best right back in the Premiership, ahead of Gary Neville, Steve Finnan and Paulo Ferreira.

On the final day of the 2005–06 season, he handed in a transfer request after Wigan lost 4–2 to Arsenal in the final game played at Arsenal's old Highbury ground, only six months after renegotiating his contract for a further four years.

This riled the Wigan management, who set a high price – higher than many prospective buyers were willing to pay – and informed Chimbonda that he could "play in the reserves until his contract is over", if he was not bought.

Tottenham Hotspur replied with a £2 million transfer offer and then a £3 million offer; however, both were rejected, as Wigan had stated that any offers below £6 million would not be accepted, despite previously stating that, according to his agent Willie McKay, "they wouldn't step in the player's way if a top club came in for him".

Further, according to McKay, £3 million "was a terrific offer", and Chimbonda was still hopeful of a move to Tottenham.

Chimbonda has stated that "moving to Tottenham will help me take the next step forward", and has called Wigan a "stepping stone".

West Ham also made a bid, reportedly £4 million, for the player, though this was also turned down because it fell short of the asking price.

Despite initially playing his international football for Guadeloupe, Chimbonda went on to be selected for the France squad for the 2006 World Cup, but he was an unused substitute in each of France's matches including the final, in which they lost on a penalty shoot-out to Italy.

His only French cap came in a World Cup warm-up match against Denmark.

Chimbonda agreed to manage Skelmersdale United in October 2023.

In January 2024, Chimbonda was registered as a player for Skelmersdale United, following a three-match touchline ban by the FA.

Chimbonda was born in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe.

Whilst at Wigan he started in the 2006 Football League Cup Final.

He was linked with a move to a range of clubs and was subject to an offer from West Ham United based on a clause in his contract that allowed him to switch clubs for an offer of £1 million – which was subsequently renegotiated and removed.

He made his last appearance for Wigan on 26 August 2006 in a win against Reading as a substitute.

He eventually joined Tottenham on transfer deadline day, 31 August 2006, after a summer of negotiations.

On 31 August 2006, Wigan Athletic accepted a bid from Tottenham Hotspur of £4.5 million, with the transfer being completed just before midnight.

He made his Tottenham debut against Manchester United on 9 September 2006.

After two seasons with Spurs he later moved on to fellow top flight club Sunderland before briefly returning to Spurs in 2009.

In the summer of 2009 he signed for Blackburn Rovers which is where he remained until 2011 when he joined Football Championship club Queens Park Rangers.

During the 2011–12 season he was one of a number of ex Premier League players who turned out for Doncaster Rovers but he went on to be released at the end of the season.

Having remained clubless for the following year, Chimbonda dropped six leagues down to sign non-contract terms with Market Drayton Town, remaining at them briefly before joining Carlisle.

He retired following a short stint with AC Arles-Avignon.

In 2017 he came out of retirement and spent two spells with English non-League sides Washington and Ashton Town.