Aurelien Cousin

Aurélien Cousin born in France on February 1, 1980 is a Maltese international water polo player, playing for Exiles S.C..

Personal life

Cousin was naturalised in March 2015 further to his marriage to a Maltese female and on "sporting merits".[1][2][3]

Cousin was previously romantically involved with , daughter of .

His naturalisation came along with controversy as it was deemed too fast by rival teams, especially Neptunes WPSC, who claimed that it was too fast-tracked unlike that of footballers Alfred Effiong and Joseph Mbong whose Maltese citizenship took much more time to be granted. Both the San Giljan A.S.C. and the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta administrations denied any interference. It was claimed that since he was seen training again in February 2015, he must have known he would soon become eligible.[1]

Club career

Aurélien Cousin made his first swims at CN Livry Gargan in 1989. He then went to Racing Club de France where he made his Championnat de France (water polo) debut. At 17, he went to Olympic Nice and won his first titles of the French first league (from 1997 to 2001) and 2 French Cups (2000 and 2001). After a season with CN Marseille (2001-2002), Aurélien became the first French to start in one of the major European Championships, precisely with RN Bogliasco (2002-2003). The following year he returned to Nice for 3 seasons (from 2003 to 2007) and won 2 new titles of Champion of France. In 2007 he signed for SN Strasbourg for 4 seasons. He used to play in France for 9 months a year and visit Malta to take on the Maltese water polo Premier League in summer.[4]

Cousin was introduced to Malta by Exiles S.C.. He was a player and eventually coached them, resigning in 2014. He came out of retirement to play for San Giljan A.S.C.. Cousin was an important player for San Giljan, having contributed towards honours such as the Summer League 2017. He left to return to Exiles to see off his retirement, in September 2017.[5][6]

International career

He was a member of the France men's national water polo team, and obtained over 150 caps.[4]

After being naturalised in March 2015, he became a member of the Malta men's national water polo team.[1]

He was included for the tournament squad during the final phase of the 2016 Men's European Water Polo Championship[7] and the 2018 Men's European Water Polo Championship[8] He was the oldest player at the tournament.[9]

Coaching career

Cousin coached Exiles S.C. and was instrumental in introducing young players into the squad. He resigned in April 2014.[10]

References
  1. Ltd, Allied Newspapers. "'Fast-track' citizenship for French waterpolo star is causing ripples".
  2. Ltd, Allied Newspapers. "Priso applies for Maltese passport".
  3. FC, Valletta. "Priso applies for Maltese passport: Valletta FC".
  4. "Interview d'Aurélien Cousin, l'ancien international Français qui joue aujourd'hui pour Malte". 6 March 2018.
  5. "Aurelien Cousin jiddeċiedi li jħalli liċ-Champions San Ġiljan biex itemm il-karriera ma' Exiles - NETnews". 21 September 2017.
  6. "Exiles". exiles.com.mt.
  7. "Players selected for the 2016 European Water Polo Championships".
  8. "Waterpolo - Imħabbar it-tim nazzjonali Malti li ser jikkompeti fil-Kampjonati Ewropej f'Barċellona - TVM".
  9. "Barcelona 2018: The youngest is Croatian and the oldest, Maltese - 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships Barcelona 2018". www.wp2018bcn.com.
  10. "Waterpolo: Aurelien Cousin resigns as Exiles Ferretti's coach".
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