Jonathan Zebina (born 19 July 1978) is a French retired professional footballer. Having started his career as a striker, he played right-back for much of his career before being increasingly used as a centre-back. During his playing career, Zebina was an athletic defender, with good man-marking skills. However, Zebina, at times, was criticised throughout his career for being error-prone. He spent his club career with several French and Italian clubs, most notably Roma – with whom he won a Serie A title and a Supercoppa Italiana in 2001 – and Juventus. At international level, Zebina obtained his only senior cap for the France national team in 2005. Club career Cannes Born in Paris, France, Zebina began his football career at US Palaiseau, first joining the club when he was seven years old and started out playing as a striker. However, due to competitions in the striker at the club's youth system, he was left out and soon playing in the right–back position. Zebina then played for ES Viry-Châtillon before joining AS Cannes, where he began his professional football career there. After progressing through the youth system, Zebina made his debut for AS Cannes, where they were playing in the French Division 1 in a home game against Metz which ended 0–0 on 8 March 1997. He later made six more league appearances at the end of the 1996–97 season. The following year Zebina continued to develop and he made 21 league appearances as Cannes were relegated to Ligue 2. Cagliari Zebina was then signed by Cagliari Calcio, whose president had spotted him during a match against Marseille while scouting Cyril Domoraud. He made his debut for the club, starting the whole game, in a 2–2 draw against Inter Milan in the opening game of the season. Since making his debut for Cagliari, Zebina was given a chance at a right-back position after injuries to two other defenders and soon made the position his own, in the process, he established a reputation as one of the most promising defenders in Europe. In the second half of the season, Zebina found himself placed in the substitute bench in a number of matches, at times, he returned to the starting line–up. In the last game of the season against Fiorentina, however, he scored an own goal, in a 1–1 draw. At the end of the 1998–99 season, Zebina went on to make twenty–four