Jean Beausejour
Encyclopedia
Jean André Emanuel Beausejour Coliqueo (born 1 June 1984 in Santiago
), nicknamed Palmatoria or Francés, is a Chile
an footballer who plays for English club Birmingham City
. He is the son of a Haiti
an father and a Chilean-Mapuche
mother.
in 2001 and has since played for several clubs.
In 2004 he signed a contract with Servette
and stayed in Switzerland
for a year before joining Grêmio
in 2005 and then Gent in 2006. In 2007 he returned to Chile spending one year with Cobreloa
before joining O'Higgins
in 2008.
Since joining O'Higgins
Beausejour has impressed Chile
national coach Marcelo Bielsa
and has been called up for national duty three times. On 1 December 2008 Club América
of Mexico signed him for three and a half years.
After a full season and a half in Club America, where he admittedly underperformed, he moved to the English Premier League.
for an undisclosed fee. Manager Alex McLeish
stated that Beausejour was a player that had been on their "list of targets for a long time because he is strong and quick with the ability to beat his man and get crosses in." His debut was delayed while he awaited a working visa, but he made his first appearance on 18 September as a late substitute, replacing Alexander Hleb in the 83rd minute as Birmingham lost 3–1 at West Bromwich Albion. He made more impact on his first start, setting up goals for Hleb and Nikola Žigić
in the 3–1 League Cup
victory over MK Dons. Described by the Sunday Mirror
as "at the heart of everything good about Birmingham" in the FA Cup
third round against Millwall
, Beausejour provided the assist for the opening goal and "crashed a 20-yard strike off the bar". He scored his first goal for the club, six minutes into the FA Cup fifth-round defeat of Sheffield Wednesday, with a side-footed shot from a Lee Bowyer
cut-back. He was a second-half substitute as Birmingham won the 2011 League Cup
, beating favourites Arsenal
2–1 at Wembley Stadium
, thus earning qualification for the Europa League
. On 5 March 2011, Beausejour scored his first league goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion, and his second came four days later in a 1–1 draw at Everton
.
Beausejour was the Birmingham Mail
s man of the match
in Birmingham's first appearance in major European competition for nearly 50 years, the Europa League play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, which finished goalless. Just days after Birmingham manager Chris Hughton
suggested he wanted more from Beausejour in an attacking role, the player had an eventful man-of-the-match performance in a 2-0 defeat of Leicester City. In the first few minutes of the second half, he "hit the angle of post and bar with a fierce shot", was considered fortunate by visiting manager Sven-Göran Eriksson
to escape a second yellow card, and was tripped by Andy King
to earn a penalty kick from which Marlon King
opened the scoring.
's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
in South Africa, on 16 June 2010 he scored in the 34th minute of the victorious match against Honduras
.
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
), nicknamed Palmatoria or Francés, is a Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an footballer who plays for English club Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
. He is the son of a Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an father and a Chilean-Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
mother.
Early career
Beausejour began his professional career in Universidad CatólicaClub Deportivo Universidad Católica
Club Deportivo Universidad Católica is a professional football club based in Santiago, Chile, which plays in the Primera División.Universidad Católica is one of the most successful and popular football clubs in Chile and considered one of the three "big teams"...
in 2001 and has since played for several clubs.
In 2004 he signed a contract with Servette
Servette FC
Servette FC is a Swiss football club, based in Geneva currently playing in the Swiss Super League. They were playing in the Swiss Challenge League, the second highest tier of Swiss football having been relegated from the Swiss Super League at the end of 2004/05 season...
and stayed in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
for a year before joining Grêmio
Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense
Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, commonly known as just Grêmio , is a Brazilian professional association football team based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul founded by English and German immigrants on September 15, 1903. Major titles captured by Grêmio include one Intercontinental Cup, two Copa...
in 2005 and then Gent in 2006. In 2007 he returned to Chile spending one year with Cobreloa
Cobreloa
Club de Deportes Cobreloa is a Chilean football club from the Atacama Desert mining city of Calama which has established itself as one of the country's most competitive clubs. The club was founded on January 7, 1977 and play in the Chilean top flight, the Primera División, where they have played...
before joining O'Higgins
Club Deportivo O'Higgins
Club Deportivo O'Higgins, is a Chilean football club based in the city of Rancagua. The club was founded on April 7, 1955 following the merger of the clubs America and O'Higgins Braden, and plays in the first division of the Chilean football league. The club was previously called PARHS FC...
in 2008.
Since joining O'Higgins
Club Deportivo O'Higgins
Club Deportivo O'Higgins, is a Chilean football club based in the city of Rancagua. The club was founded on April 7, 1955 following the merger of the clubs America and O'Higgins Braden, and plays in the first division of the Chilean football league. The club was previously called PARHS FC...
Beausejour has impressed Chile
Chile national football team
The Chilean national football team represents Chile in all major international football competitions. The team is controlled by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile which was established in 1895. They have appeared in eight World Cup tournaments and were hosts of the 1962 FIFA World Cup finishing in...
national coach Marcelo Bielsa
Marcelo Bielsa
Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera is an Argentine association football coach and former defender, born in Rosario, Santa Fe...
and has been called up for national duty three times. On 1 December 2008 Club América
Club América
Club América is a Mexican Professional football club based in Mexico City. It competes in the Primera División, the top professional league in the country. The team's nickname is Las Águilas ....
of Mexico signed him for three and a half years.
After a full season and a half in Club America, where he admittedly underperformed, he moved to the English Premier League.
Birmingham City
On 31 August 2010, Beausejour signed a three-year contract with Premier League side Birmingham CityBirmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
for an undisclosed fee. Manager Alex McLeish
Alex McLeish
Alexander "Alex" McLeish , is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager, who is currently managing English Premier League club Aston Villa...
stated that Beausejour was a player that had been on their "list of targets for a long time because he is strong and quick with the ability to beat his man and get crosses in." His debut was delayed while he awaited a working visa, but he made his first appearance on 18 September as a late substitute, replacing Alexander Hleb in the 83rd minute as Birmingham lost 3–1 at West Bromwich Albion. He made more impact on his first start, setting up goals for Hleb and Nikola Žigić
Nikola Žigic
Nikola Žigić is a Serbian footballer who plays for English club Birmingham City as a centre forward.At , Žigić is among the tallest professional players in the world...
in the 3–1 League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
victory over MK Dons. Described by the Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...
as "at the heart of everything good about Birmingham" in the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
third round against Millwall
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...
, Beausejour provided the assist for the opening goal and "crashed a 20-yard strike off the bar". He scored his first goal for the club, six minutes into the FA Cup fifth-round defeat of Sheffield Wednesday, with a side-footed shot from a Lee Bowyer
Lee Bowyer
Lee David Bowyer is an English professional footballer born in Canning Town, London, who plays as a midfielder for Ipswich Town of the Football League Championship....
cut-back. He was a second-half substitute as Birmingham won the 2011 League Cup
2011 Football League Cup Final
The 2011 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Football League Cup, the 51st season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and the Football League. The match was contested by Arsenal and Birmingham City, at Wembley Stadium in...
, beating favourites Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
2–1 at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
, thus earning qualification for the Europa League
2011–12 UEFA Europa League
The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League is the third season of the competition since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with the first legs of the first qualifying round, and will end on 9 May 2012 with the final to be held at Stadionul Național in Bucharest, Romania...
. On 5 March 2011, Beausejour scored his first league goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion, and his second came four days later in a 1–1 draw at Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
.
Beausejour was the Birmingham Mail
Birmingham Mail
The Birmingham Mail is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, UK but distributed around Birmingham, The Black Country, Solihull, Warwickshire and parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. The newspaper, which was re-branded from the Birmingham Evening Mail in October 2005, is one of the biggest...
s man of the match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
in Birmingham's first appearance in major European competition for nearly 50 years, the Europa League play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, which finished goalless. Just days after Birmingham manager Chris Hughton
Chris Hughton
Christopher William Gerard "Chris" Hughton is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Birmingham City F.C....
suggested he wanted more from Beausejour in an attacking role, the player had an eventful man-of-the-match performance in a 2-0 defeat of Leicester City. In the first few minutes of the second half, he "hit the angle of post and bar with a fierce shot", was considered fortunate by visiting manager Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson , in Sweden commonly referred to just by his nickname Svennis, is a Swedish ex-football manager. From October 2010 to October 2011 he managed Football League Championship side Leicester City....
to escape a second yellow card, and was tripped by Andy King
Andy King (footballer born 1988)
Andrew Philip "Andy" King is a Welsh international footballer who plays for Championship club Leicester City as a midfielder.-Early career:Born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, King joined Chelsea when he was nine years old...
to earn a penalty kick from which Marlon King
Marlon King
Marlon Francis King is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Birmingham City. After starting his career in non-League football with Dulwich Hamlet, he played for Barnet, Gillingham, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest before moving to Watford in 2005...
opened the scoring.
Titles
| Season | Club | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 |  Universidad CatólicaClub Deportivo Universidad Católica Club Deportivo Universidad Católica is a professional football club based in Santiago, Chile, which plays in the Primera División.Universidad Católica is one of the most successful and popular football clubs in Chile and considered one of the three "big teams"... |
Torneo Apertura 2002 Champion |
| 2011 |  Birmingham CityBirmingham City F.C. Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the... |
2010-11 Football League Cup Champion |
International career
A member of ChileChile national football team
The Chilean national football team represents Chile in all major international football competitions. The team is controlled by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile which was established in 1895. They have appeared in eight World Cup tournaments and were hosts of the 1962 FIFA World Cup finishing in...
's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
in South Africa, on 16 June 2010 he scored in the 34th minute of the victorious match against Honduras
Honduras national football team
The Honduran national football team, nicknamed Los Catrachos, La Bicolor or La H, is the national team of Honduras and is controlled by the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras...
.
International goals
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 June 2009 | Estadio Nacional de Chile Estadio Nacional de Chile The Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos is the national stadium of Chile, and is located in the Ñuñoa district of Santiago). It is the largest stadium in Chile with an official capacity of 47,000, and is part of a 62 ha sporting complex which also features tennis courts, an aquatics center, a... , Santiago Santiago, Chile Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level... , Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... |
1–0 | 4–0 | FIFA World Cup qualifier 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) The South American zone of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification saw 10 teams competing for places in the finals which were held in South Africa. The format is identical to that used for the previous three World Cup qualification tournaments held by CONMEBOL... |
||
| 21 June 2010 | Mbombela Stadium Mbombela Stadium Mbombela Stadium is a newly built, all-seater, 40,929-seat stadium and was one of the ten venues for the FIFA World Cup 2010. It is located on open land six kilometres west of Nelspruit, South Africa, the capital of the Mpumalanga province.... , Nelspruit Nelspruit Nelspruit is a city of more than 500,000 people situated in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province . Located on the Crocodile River, Nelspruit lies about west of the Mozambique border and east of Johannesburg. The towns of Nelspruit are Kanyamazane and Pienaar... , South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
1–0 | 1–0 | 2010 World Cup 2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010... |
||
| 29 March 2011 | Kyocera Stadion, The Hague The Hague The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam... , Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match | ||